10 Beauty Routines to Break

Whether you're a teenager, a mother, or a CEO, you can be afraid of breaking some routines. If you're dying to break some routines without any serious consequences, check out these outdated beauty routines. How many can you break today?

1. You can’t go out with chipped nails

How many times have you been on your way out the door only to realize you needed a manicure? So you apply a quick-touch polish and blow-dry them like crazy until you think they’re dry enough to not get stained. Well, good news: Thanks to the reappearance of the ugly nail, you no longer have to. While you really don't want to go out with nails that look like they were chewed by a critter, you can ignore these nail chips.

2. Gray hair makes you look older

Gray hair has always been wrongly accused. Many women start to have gray hair when they are 30, or even in their 20s. And more and more of them are choosing to ignore their gray hair, especially the gorgeous silver-gray color. If the rest of your look is dull, gray hair will only make you look older; however, when combined with trendy clothes and a perfect outfit, gray hair can make you look hot, trendy and fashionable.

3. Visible roots make you look cheap

This is another convention to deservedly reject, dark roots can add depth to the tone of your hair. The secret is: they shouldn’t look as if they were drawn with a ruler. To make your roots look stylish and natural, ask your stylist to create a few different looks for you and let them become a more casual and natural part of your body.

4. Women over 40 cannot have long hair

Following the lead of stars like Sarah Jessica Parker and Courteney Cox, women are choosing to grow their hair out as they turn 40, rather than jumping on the bandwagon and chopping their locks off after a milestone birthday. Of course, tired and over-processed looking hair needs a fix, but it actually has nothing to do with age. Healthy and shiny hair looks beautiful on women of any age.

5. Match your fingernails to your toenails

Who said that? The more intricate the nail designs become, the harder it is to match the hands and feet. Create an elaborate design on your nails and give your toes a complementary solid color. Or try a shimmery polish on your toes and a matte color on your fingers. Neither the hands nor the feet should conflict, but they don't need to match either.

6. Use makeup brushes frequently

Of course, professional makeup artists use brushes, but just like we said, professional bakers use professional industrial ovens, but that doesn’t mean you have to. In fact, relying on your fingertips to apply concealer and foundation has a warming effect, making it blend more smoothly. When you use your fingers to apply makeup, it's easier to control the amount and coverage, so you don't look like you're wearing a mask.

7. People with red hair cannot wear red lipstick

Of course you can. When choosing a lipstick color, it's important to focus on your skin tone rather than your hair color. If you have a pinkish undertone to your skin, choose a "blue-red". If your skin tone has olive or golden undertones, choose an "orange-red" color. Within these two color families, we have a lot of options to choose from, so don't be afraid to find only one that suits you.

8. You can only wear eyeliner on your upper eyelid

There is some truth to this rule: completely surrounding your eyes with eyeliner will make them appear smaller. But it all depends on your makeup skills. We can't just follow the eye contour and paint the entire eye with the same color and concentration. Instead, we can selectively touch your lower eyelid line, or paint it slightly below your eyeline. Remember, not above it. Another trick is to use a lighter shade of the same color as your upper eyelid. Still unsure? Try drawing a thinner line with a white or nude pencil on the top right side of your lower eyelid to make your eyes appear larger.

9. Use lip liner frequently

The idea behind this routine is to prevent your lipstick from going out of bounds. An unfortunate unintended consequence is "coloring book lips," which is when your lipstick fades and there's nothing left but a dark outline. The secret is to use a lip liner. If you don't want to look cartoonish, choose a lip liner that's the same color as your lipstick and fill your entire lip, not just the outline. Then you can use lipstick on the lip line.

10. Blush should only be used on your cheeks

This is one of those rules that works for some women, but shouldn’t apply to all women. We want to use blush to contour the face, not just to brighten the widest part of the cheeks. If you don't want to be that adventurous, use it where your face naturally gets red, usually on a smaller area on the cheeks and forehead. A side benefit of breaking this rule is that it lets you get away with breaking another rule: Don't wear blush with bold lipstick. If you use blush further away from your cheeks, you have no reason not to use both.

Don't let the same old, same old routine dictate your beauty. Go ahead – go on adventures and break some routines. But don’t just stick to these. If there's another beauty routine you've always hated, it's time to throw it out there and create your own.