What beauty 'wisdom' do you think is rubbish?

[MarieFromStMoritz]

Mine are:

Do not shave the same day as applying fake tan
Why? I always shave about half an hour before applying fake tan. If you shave the day before, then you will have a lovely tan - but stubbly legs.

Apply blusher to the apple of your cheeks
Unless you are under 30, applying blusher to the apples of your cheeks can make your face look flat and your cheeks sunken. It is much more flattering to apply blusher to your cheekbones then blend inwards.

Wait for mascara to dry before applying second coat
Why? I never wait and never have problems.

Applying eye liner all around your eyes makes them appear bigger
This is from Bobbi Brown and it's rubbish, IMO. If you want your eyes to appear bigger, then do not apply liner to the inner corners. Instead, apply from 1/3 in going outwards, getting thicker as you go along.

Never apply lip liner to outside your natural lip line
I always go outside my natural lip line. It makes my lips look plumper, especially when I apply it well into the corners. Add a generous coat of lip gloss and almost anyone can have luscious lips.

What are yours?

The last bit about lip liner. Someone I work with does this and it looks terrible. She obviously thinks it doesn't.

Anyway - moisturise at night. Forget it. It makes your skin softer and wrinkle more.

It's all in the application, echt. You should use a lip liner the same colour as your lips. You should not be able to see the line.

Interesting about moisturising at night... I will have to have a think about that one.

Never sleep in your make-up/night time cleansing - ever since I stopped sleeping in my make up (was just too lazy) and started using cleaners/face washes, my skin has been terrible.

Bobbi Brown does seem to spout a lot of nonsense in my opinion. The above comment on eyes really depends of the individual.

My Bobbi Brown huge bug bear is the one about yellow based foundations being the most flattering for everyone. Nonsense! Especially if you have pink undertones.

I used to take great joy when the Sloaney women used to come into MAC with their tween-age daughters and tell them in front of me that if they don't take off their make up at night it will make them age more quickly, by telling them that I rarely did and I tend to get accused of being 10 years younger than I am. (Just fortunate fact, not stealth boasting! )

With the lipliner thing, as long as you keep the inside edge of the line along the edge of the natural lip line you can get away with it. it's when you start drawing on the skin with no contact with the actual lip that it starts looking bizarre.

Oh, and leaving mascara to dry between coats will make your mascara go all clumpy. I usually advise on the opposite.

Putting on concealer before foundation - why wipe off all of your careful work and how do you know how much you really need if you do it that way round.

Don't curl lashes after mascara - holds better afterwards and does not pull out all your lashes contrary to popular belief.

Toner. What is it for? It's a complete myth in itself. Who really, truly needs toner?

I can't believe people are advocating/celebrating not taking makeup off at night. So skanky! I dread to think what your pillows must look like. What about the germs? The clogged skin.

shudder

Okay, I do not really belong in S&B as my beauty regime pretty much starts and ends with 'brush your hair and try not to smell bad'.

But I was thinking about foot filing this morning - I think it makes your feet crustier. If I were to start regularly filing my legs I would expect the skin to get tougher and thicker. Surely the same applies to feet? Your foot skin doesn't know that it is being pedicured, it just thinks "bloody hell I'm wearing away a bit quickly, better grow thicker or all my foot bones will fall out".

cleanse, tone and moisturise every night - ruined my skin while I tried it.

Washing it in plain water, nothing else, is the best thing I could do for it. I don't use any body moisturiser either - drinking enough water and taking in enough decent oils in foods is good enough. My skin is mostly lovely and soft except the bits I walk on.

allhail - I pumice the hard skin on my feet once a week - has to be done or it gets really bad. Weekly pumicing keeps it down and saves me having to go to a chiropodist. My Mum had to do the same (and she was no great one for beauty regimes either). I've had hard skin on my feet since I was a teenager though.

Yes, too much cleansing definitely bad. My mum has this friend who is in her 70s but looks much, much younger, in spite of smoking and being quite thin. Her skin is beautiful. I asked her what she did with it, and she said that she only washes it once a day - in the morning - then covers it with panstick foundation. That's it.

I read Ben Goldacre's book 'Bad Science' he described anti-ageing products and moisturisers as 'a voluntary tax on people who don't understand science'. Reading that book had saved me £££. Now just buy simple rather than dematalogica.

I agree, JanetPlanet. I used to spend a fortune on skincare years ago... Creme de la Mer, that kind of thing. Then I stopped spending so much money and gradually I am looking older. The thing is, I would anyway.

What convinced me of this was that lady from the Daily Mail, the one that had the facelift... Liz Jones? She has spent a fortune on skincare, doesn't smoke, doesn't go in the sun, etc. Yet she still needed a facelift in her fifties. Her surgeon (Mr Karidis) said these creams don't work. And I believe him. She is living proof.

At that point, I decided to stop giving myself a hard time about 'letting myself go' ie, not spending GBP 250+ per month on skincare.

drink litres of water a day to keep your skin clear-crap it just means you wee more.

my mum has amazing skin at 76
she has always just used a bar of soap to wash her face-she never goes in the sun though which has prob got more to do with it

I never take my makeup off before I go to bed, and I have much better skin than my friends who do (not boasting there but its true).
I also used to spend a fortune on skin care and my skin was awful then, now I just use Nivea lotion to cleanse, take it all off with a hot flannel and thats it, no moisturiser.
I wear quite a bit of make-up but I hardly have any wrinkles (am 36 btw) and rarely get spots. I don't think its always about good genes either I just think most skincare stuff is unecessary and doesn't work.

The whole matching your skin tone when you buy foundation... what an earth for? I want some colour - that's why I wear make up.

No I have to disagree with you there, china - I have exceedingly pale skin but even one shade too dark and I just look completely fake and plastic. No chance of blending it anywhere unless I take it right down inside my neckline either.

LOL @ "foot bones falling out"

Ya'know foundation that "matches the pigments of your skin so looks more natural"

What if you're covering up dark circles, rosy cheeks, dark pigmented areas and spots ?

I don't take my make up off. Just wash face morning and night with warm flannel and use bio oil some times if skin gets dry. (I'm out in wind etc lots)

Agree with earlier poster about drinking all that water - what an enormous con trick that is.

unles you're sitting out in the sun turning leathery, and so regular weeing gives you regular breaks in the shade?

Mine is hair straighteners. I spent the first 25 years of my life wingeing about my dead straight, flat hair and trying to give it "body". Then I ahve a baby and when I re-emerge everyone is straightening. Not to mention when I go to the hairdressers they offer to use them on me...erm WHY?

I never, ever, ever take my make-up off before I go to bed, and never have done. I don't use any cleansers; I just wash my face with plain water in the morning, and my skin is brilliant. I've never left any on my pillow, though; I guess I don't wear that much slap.

I do moisturise, though (well, I am 44).

I think this is turning into a rather ironic thread consisdering the thread title

Many of the posters are coming along with their own rules which are just as silly as the ones they are critising.

it's carzy to go to bed with make up on.

Your face will be dirty just like your hand etc!

If your skin is worse after cleansing then it means you have chosen the wrong products for your skin type.

I have never "washed" my face since I was about 14- 40 years back. My gran used to boast that she got by on a thorough wash with soap and Ponds cold cream- good for her but she had dark hari, presumably oily -ish skin and dark eyes- I am fair with sensitive, fine skin prone to eczema.

I am not boasting either but strangers compliment me on my skin and think I am 10+ years younger than i am- yes, it's down to genes, but I also take care of myself not simply through creams etc but diet too.

Oh god, sorry you lot but this thread is making me itch!

Not matching foundation to skin tone, i didnt realise anyone actually did that on purpose, assumed they just had bad lighting.

Lipliner outside of lipline. Well sure, never did jodie marsh any harm.

Sleeping in make-up is filthy.

Ameliagray - my skin is very fair and pale, freckly and has an oily t-zone. I am in my 40s now and it is still in pretty good nick, most people are shocked to hear my age (honestly) - despite not using any cleansers or moisturisers. Genes and good diet/sufficient internal hydration win out, not expensive creams.

The only thing that buggers my skin up is ingesting too much sugar/alcohol, which causes an acne rosacea breakout.