I’ve made plenty of beauty mistakes in the past. Way more than I can even count. (I used to use Vaseline as a face moisturizer because I didn’t know it was clogging my pores! It made my acne so bad.) In the past year or so, I’ve discovered four tools that have truly changed my beauty routine for the better and have helped me avoid some of my beauty mistakes. Read more for the four beauty mistakes I made and the tools that helped me overcome them!

Mistake #1: Using the wrong type of hair brush.

I have quite thin hair that gets easily tangled. I used to use a regular cushion brush with plastic bristles that was harsh on my hair. It caused breakage and lots of split ends because instead of detangling my hair, it would just pull and break the hair off. All the hair on the underside back of my head (the area near the neck) was completely damaged because that’s the place where my hair ends up tangling the most. I expressed an interest in trying something else since my current hair brush clearly wasn’t working and Christophe Robin kindly sent over their Boar Bristle Detangling Hair Brush for me to try. I’ll admit that I was definitely hesitant at first but it changed my entire haircare routine. The brush makes it so easy to work through knots without breaking the hair plus it also redistributes oil from the scalp to the ends. The first week I used the brush, three of my friends complimented my hair! It made my hair so much silkier, shinier and healthier. Life. Changer. If you’re going to invest in one haircare item, this should be it!

Mistake #2: Over-tweezing my eyebrows.

I’m still dealing with the consequences of this mistake. I was very heavy handed with tweezers in middle school and high school. I don’t really touch my brows as much now because I’m still trying to get them to grow out. I had no idea that brows made such a difference in framing the face! I only tweeze on occasion and don’t touch the top of my brows, only the bottom. When I do tweeze, my tool of choice is this stainless steel one from Rubis. It is so good at precision tweezing and grabbing even the tiniest of hairs. My friend Tiffanie recently used it and was impressed with how good it was! (If you’re interested, I have a blog post called How to Achieve Full, Fluffy Brows.)

Mistake #3: Not curling my eyelashes.

So this mistake is more of a personal preference thing. Some of my friends have amazing naturally curled lashes and they never need to curl their lashes. Unfortunately, I have thin, straight lashes that almost point down, lol. I never really got into curling my lashes in the past because my eyelash curlers never did a great job. I started using this eyelash curler last year that really gets every single lash and holds the curl for the entire day. I think it makes me look more awake, like I’ve gotten a good night’s sleep. It’s a small step that makes a large impact!

Mistake #4: Not using lip liner.

I’ll admit that I never understood the purpose of lip liner before I started using it. What was the point of lip liner if you were just going to cover it with lipstick? Ever since I started using lip liners, however, I swear by them. They make your lipsticks last longer. They help shape the lips better. Sometimes I wear only lip liner! My favorite types of lip liner are nude-pink tones, like this one from Smashbox or this one from Lord+Berry.

You can find more tutorial posts here, such as how to get perfume samples or how to remove gel manicures at home!