How To Look Prettier: Quick Ways To Look Pretty in 2021

Because my Exact Secrets to Look Pretty post is possibly lost in my archives somewhere, I wanted to make an updated version! There are so many tips I want to share and so many things I want to say, because often ‘pretty’ can feel like an exclusive club we’re not part of but NOTHING could be further from the truth!

Here is how to look pretty in 2022, out of the box realistic and real tips that will make a real difference to how you look and feel, to celebrate your amazing self. PS definitely also check out these extra How to Look Pretty tips, How to Look Pretty Without Makeup tips and Best Makeup Dupes for everything from Clinique Moisture Surge Dupes to Best Nars Makeup Dupes!

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How To Look Pretty in Five Minutes.

For times when you just want to grab all things glam, polish yourself, and look prettier because maybe you have a cute date, you wanna impress your crush, there’s an important presentation at work or you just feel like you want to look prettier!

1. Wear the Nars Orgasm Afterglow lip balm 👈🏻

The cheapest price for the Nars Afterglow Balm is here (UK) and here (US)

It really is proven to be the number one lip product that ‘gets you hit on’, for a good reason! Applying a red lip is scientifically said to make you look more attractive but it doesn’t have to be a stark red, this is proven to be the shade that gets the most attention!

2. An acne safe full coverage concealer 👈🏻

The best ever price for the E.L.F Hydrating Camo Concealer is here (UK) and here (US)!

This is a gamechanger and gives such great coverage, it is so, so worth it! It is perfect to ‘spot treat’ any areas of the face you want to cover (like popping plasters on) so you can even go without foundation.

It is so kind to skin too and perfect for sensitive and oily skin types, as well as being vegan and cruelty free, I can’t recommend this one enough!

3. Get that coveted dewy skin look quickly!

The cheapest price for the Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood Flawless filter is here (UK) and here (US)!

For the perfect dewy skin look, try liquid highlight or illuminator under your foundation or BB cream for an effortless glow. The Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood Flawless filter is absolutely golden for this and I have never been able to find ANYTHING like this gem. We can use it alongside a heavy duty concealer, with no need for foundation, as it creates that delicious blurred look all on its own, just like a filter. After applying to the higher parts of the face for a glowy complexion, we can then use that full coverage concealer delicately on any places on the face we want to cover, like popping little plasters on.

4. Use a highlight or illuminator on the highest points of the face

Like the inner cheekbones, the brow bone, the bridge of your nose, anywhere the light might naturally touch. Pop highlight on the eyelid, dot just above the iris to open the eye up. I love the glowy, dewy look as it helps me to look and feel much more put together.

5. To give your skin that incredible flawless airbrushed look, set makeup with this genius translucent powder 👈🏻 

Sweep it under the eyes and around the face to create that velvety, poreless finish, it’s so beautiful and finely milled. Using it over the Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood Flawless filter creates the MOST PERFECT ‘lit from within’ look that is everything. The only two items you will need for that heavenly and otherworldly instagram makeup look. They make your face look beautiful!

6. The NYX Slim Lip Liner in Peekaboo Natural 👈🏻 makes lips look insane

The cheapest price for the NYX Peekaboo Neutral lip liner is here (UK) and here (US)!

This is EVERYTHING for a gorgeous full lip look, no matter how big your lips are naturally! It’s an incredible dupe for the Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat liner in shade Pillow Talk. Use it it along with a heavy duty concealer to sharpen up your Cupid’s Bow, such a magical part of the face to enhance, sharpen it up with your favourite red, an angled brush or lip liner and define around it with a little concealer to keep the sharp edge, with a little touch of highlight to finish.

7. The prettiest, most enjoyable comfortable lip gloss of all time!

The cheapest price for the ELF Lip Lacquer is here (UK) and here (US)!

Hands down is the ELF Lip Lacquer, its formula is identical to the Fenty Gloss Bomb and it is rare in that you will WANT to put it on, it feels so good to wear! It also has incredible shine factor, for the juiciest lip look that feels incredibly comfy and silky smooth. There is no gloss better than this and crazily, it only costs around $3, which means you never need to feel guilty about wearing this all the time! One of the best makeup products of all time!

7. This eyeliner for when you want to wear makeup while repairing your lashes 👈🏻

This amazing eyeliner stays put like magic, it’s waterproof and also contains ultra nourishing ingredients like castor oil, biotin and ginseng to beautifully condition your lashes and repair them while looking stunning at the same time. This is everything I ever wanted, it’s a must try!

8. Line your eye from the outside in

When using an eyeliner pen like the above! So you are starting at the very end of the wing and drawing inwards. The point will look super sharp and not blunt at all and it should feel so much easier, to glide the line along your lash line in almost one swipe. Using eyeliner feels so much easier and quicker!

9. Use concealer to make your eyeliner nice and sharp 

Or to correct any mishaps or blobs super easily! Often the eyeliner looks we see haven’t ended up that perfect just by a steady hand, it’s all to do with applying that high coverage concealer where we want it, to really make an eyeliner wing stand out and make it how we want it, to better imitate our lashes. Now we can use brow pomade for our eyeliner, to make it super natural and achieve that famous ‘foxy’ liner look. We could even use eyeshadow for this. Just use concealer to carve it out afterwards, to make it look how we want.

10. Pony Popper to get the illusion of longer, thicker hair 👈🏻

This genius tool is everything! You simply clip it around the base of your ponytail and it gives your hair extra volume, making it look thick and luscious and like there is so much to tie back. It changes how the ponytail sits on your head, it’s like extensions without the extensions! This is the best hair hack in the world!

11. Another illusion to try is to make a braid.

Then where it gets thinner and thinner towards the end, gently pull apart the plait and loosen it, to make the end as thick as the top of the braid. A ‘bubble braid’ works really well for this too!

This is perfect for anyone wanting an easy style as it requires no actual braiding. Just make a pony tail and secure multiple bobbles a few spaces apart. To make the hair look thicker, just make sure the end part of your pony is as thick as the top, by gently pulling the sections apart a bit wider. The wider the braid, the thicker the hair looks! This is perfect for fine hair.

12. Curl hair away from your face

To get curls to stay, wind them in this direction!

13. Show different angles of your face

It sounds simple but is a crazy effective way to get eyes on you. Show off a different side of your face by trying out different hairstyles that you wouldn’t normally wear, a great way is to french braid little sections to take the hair back from your face, or twist sections in to a half pony.

14. Shape your brows to open up the face

An amazing tool for this is some small, sharp scissors like hairdressing/craft scissors as you can be really precise and exert a lot of control over the area. Towards the end of the brow, brush the hairs down and towards the opposite direction to make them all bushy and crazy. 

Then, along the inside of the brow, trim any hairs that are sticking outside of the brow and neaten them all in a straight line. It might take several goes to trim the hairs that are ‘misbehaving’ and never clip too much at once. Take breaks to reassess and keep a brow pencil handy, just in case of emergencies!

15. Brow tips for your particular brow

For smaller eyebrows, put emphasis on the very front of the eyebrow. Let the hairs there grow natural and long and put more attention on them than any other part of the brow. Try gel to emphasise the individual strands at the start of the eyebrow. This will make the brow automatically look voluptuous, however light your hair is.

For eyebrows on the larger side, fill out any areas you are conscious about but keep them as natural, soft, fluffy and light as possible, sharpening them up too much can steal the attention from the rest of the face and make the eyes look smaller.

Focus more on bringing out the eye instead and the brow will compliment them perfectly. I always think, the eye takes the centre stage and the brow is the backing dancer supporting it haha.

16. Size down one or two sizes in tops

To streamline your shape and accentuate your curves. This is a great and exciting trick to try as it creates gorgeous proportions about the body, especially with thicker and tightly woven fabrics that hug your body comfortably, they will fit and adhere perfectly to the curves and crevices of your body.

17. Show your shoulders

A sneaky hack that never fails to attract the eye, show your shoulders really helps to elevate your look and boosts your confidence immediately!

How To Look Pretty Overnight

AKA treating yourself like a Goddess because it’s never a bad thing to invest in yourself. Putting in goodness means getting out goodness! Here are easy and cheap ways to look prettier than normal all day every day.

1. This wonderful hydrating lip plumper 👈🏻

Simply apply before bed to wake up with pillowy soft and visibly larger lips, there’s nothing else like it and it’s amazing.

2. Use the watermelon and white tea cleansing milk 👈🏻 

Cleanse your skin with this beautiful and ultra gentle cleansing milk, it’s an absolute dream, plus try using with these adorable reusable cotton pads too!

3. African black soap and honey gentle cleanser 👈🏻 

The easy way to follow those glow up skin routines of the internet! African black soap is regarded as a holy grail substance and the essential ingredient for glowy, glass skin and you can reap the benefits of it with this clever cleanser, that is golden for oily skin types, uber gentle and sure to clear any breakouts!

4. Glow Recipe watermelon sleeping mask 👈🏻

Glowing summer skin in a bottle, this comforts your skin and makes it feel unreal, so silky and soft. This works wonders on your skin, it creates a glass-like, glossy complexion. It’s 90% watermelon too, the Watermelon range is heavenly and I can’t stop feeling my face after using it. I love how it gives instant results, no more waiting weeks on end trying to make out if a skincare product has made any difference!

5. Use a gamechanging Lash conditioning growth serum 👈🏻

Create a pamper routine for your lashes, this is perfect to nourish and condition your lashes and help them to grow thick, long and strong. Just apply as a dreamy ritual before you sleep, a little bit goes a long way to growing them!

6. Use a dab of anti fungal cream to treat stubborn mini forehead bumps

These are often caused by a skin fungal imbalance and appear as a whole host of mini skin coloured bumps – just work in half a pea sized amount of Canestan cream in to the area after cleansing skin and instead of apply moisturizer to that area.

7. Put on Schwarzkopf dry shampoo before going to bed 👈🏻

A little known but epic overnight beauty hack is to apply dry shampoo before you sleep, to create some gorgeous voume and wake up with those voluminous sexy 90’s waves naturally!

To get gorgeous locks over time we can also use dry shampoo on the roots to help our hair to last longer between washes. Washing it less will allow the lengths of your hair to be steeped in your hair’s nourishing and protective oils and these create a special barrier to stop the lengths and ends of your hair getting damaged. I swear by this particular dry shampoo as it utterly transforms my hair with no chalk white finish or powder at all! It’s my best kept beauty secret.

8. Dream lengths no haircut cream and Dream lengths rapid reviver 👈🏻

I love love the Dream Lengths range, most of all as it gives such quick results. I have ‘Hagrid hair’ on the first day of washing, my hair goes to instant frizz.

These are really intensive conditioning products, like those really nice conditioners you get with at home hair colour. They transform the ends of your hair, especially this cream and the rapid reviver conditioner and my hair always goes so, so sleek and silky, it looks great on the first day of washing and I never experience frizzy ends anymore!

9. Use a Silk Pillowcase

This is a beauty tip you might have heard before – but it makes for the most wonderful investment! It really does make a difference in improving your skin and hair for good, preventing fine lines and wrinkles, and getting smoother frizz-free hair when you wake up.

Silk is also antibacterial, meaning it is wonderful to use for your skin if you are trying to tame acne prone skin and is so gentle on sensitive and easily inflamed skin types. Switching to silk pillow covers is one of the best secrets to clear skin, as normally our pillowcases provide a perfect place for bacteria to grow as they collect and absorb oils, dirt and fluids like saliva, which breed bacteria, which then come in to contact with, and constantly rub against, our skin while we sleep.

How To Look Pretty: Get The Basics Right

Here are some of the best beauty tips and hacks you may have heard before but are so good still – oldies but goodies!

1. Wear an uber kind and acne safe SPF 👈🏻 daily

The Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel Sunscreen is gold standard and is also an amazing dupe for Glossier’s Invisible Shield Sunscreen! It is super lightweight on the skin, caring and nourishing and costs around the $14 mark.

For so long I didn’t even wear SPF on hot and sunny days because I was more afraid of setting off my sensitive skin than early skin damage. I just couldn’t deal with the bad breakouts that would occur and inflamed patches, plus increased oiliness that just felt like it was making my skin worse and feeding the whole problem!

Even if you don’t have sensitive skin, finding a good SPF is hard because it could be upsetting the balance of your skin, plus all skin types are different so it’s so hard to know where to go! If this is you, definitely go for the easy option, the Neutrogena Hydro Water Gel Sunscreen is so kind and gentle on the skin, actively soothes inflamed and sensitive skin types and emulates the skin’s natural barrier to keep it happy and calm. It’s one of the best ever reviewed facial sunscreens for your face!

2. Have Plenty Of Sleep

The moment you know you have a big day or event approaching, schedule your beauty sleep. You don’t even know how much of your body needs really depends on that 8 hours of sleep you waste on Netflix and chill. From lesser puffy eyes, glowing skin, healthier hair, better appearance, to almost everything is directly related to your sleep. And these are just the beauty benefits!

Also tell me, what is more, relaxing and fun than lying down and resting every limb? Haha, sleeping is probably my most favorite thing to do.

3. Make Hygiene A Priority & Smell Good

Staying clean and smelling good is one of the loveliest things that will kickstart your confidence and make you feel pretty inside and out.

There are so many fun ways to smell good with or without perfumes. An amazing perfume can really make your whole day. I recently got my hands on this Lush scented baby and OMG, it easily is one of the best fragrances I have ever tried. So worth every penny!

4. Keep Your Skincare Routine Simple

Keeping your skincare routine simple means you get to know your skin better! Most often the best way to your best skin is to emulate its natural oils and formulations, with simple and gentle products that your skin won’t react to. Skin that is irritated and inflamed goes on to cause whole vicious circles of problems, for example, a products that irritates the skin may disturb its natural moisture barrier, which may in turn make oil production go in to overdrive and throw off the whole balance of your skin!

Sometimes the best steps are to gently cleanse and slough any dirt and bacteria away, then repair the moisture barrier afterwards with a kind and gentle moisturizer that closely emulates the skin’s own natural substances. Then the skin will have nothing to complain about lol!

5. Give Yourself A Pretty Manicure

Having cute nails always makes you look and feel so put together and pretty! By manicure, I don’t mean that you have to go to a salon and get your nails done, there are so many cute and easy nail designs to try at home – or just trim them, file them to a proper shape and if you want, paint them with a pretty nail polish color. I always go for a nude shade or transparent coat, because obviously, they go with everything in the world! You could even opt for some kind to nails silk nail wraps to strengthen your nails and makes them uber strong and glossy again!

6. Choose Nude Underwear!

Having nude underwear comes so much in handy when putting together outfits, it gives you so much freedom when deciding what to wear as you never have to shy away from items that are slightly see through and you can feel safe in the knowledge that, whatever you wear, your bra strap won’t be showing! Nude underwear never has to be boring either, there are so many cute and lacy options to feel adorable all day long and wearing cute matching underwear is one of the most fun ways to feel put together!

7. Iron, Steam and Debobble Clothes

Taking care of your clothes is a wonderful way to look and feel put together, elegant and confident wherever you go! Taking care of every piece means you can treasure your favourites and have a better knowledge of what you are keeping in your wardrobe and, using the Marie Kondo method, what no longer brings you joy. It also means you get the best kind of insight as to what you really need in your wardrobe and you are less likely to impulse buy and regret your purchases!

8. Keep Your Body Soft and Dewy

Part of dressing is to dress the skin beautifully too! Try these for the softest skin you’ve ever EVER felt, to keep it always moisturized and glowy.

8a. Natural bamboo exfoliating brush 👈🏻

Its bristles are so much coarser than those brushes you find that are super soft, meaning it’s so much easier to exfoliate and also reach any tricky bits that are hard to get to. Exfoliating is possibly one of the best glow up tips, as it removes the dead and dull skin, revealing the new, glowy, baby soft skin underneath!

8b. The Soap and Glory Breakfast body scrub is everything! 👈🏻

It’s the ultimate sugar fix and leaves your skin beautifully soft, glowing and smelling like honey and chocolate for ages after! It’s such a powerful scrub too so you don’t need to work much to get super silky, glowy legs. It’s the equivalent of eating chocolate in shower form haha

8c. Lather yourself with the in-shower Soap and Glory Whipped clean moisturiser 👈🏻

Perfect for moisturing in the shower when you’re on the go, but also feels like whipped silky marshmallow. It makes my skin softer than I’ve ever known – it feels like pure silk afterwards – and smells incredible, like french desserts! Nothing compares to this, seriously.

Extra Tip: Whenever you have to look pretty in pictures, apply a few drops of body oil to make your arms and legs gleam and shine brighter in it!

9. Shave Your Body And Moisturize It

Sometimes forgoing a shave can be the best thing ever and so liberating, but often shaving/waxing your legs and making them uber soft can automatically makes you feel feminine and confident, like a character from a Venus advert. Why not try using hair conditioner instead of shaving foam? It will make your legs so, so soft!

10. Pair Cute Accessories With Your Outfits

10a. Pearl earrings

Or any kind of pearlescent earrings will catch attention, even budget or plastic varieties will have the same effect! Instant glamour vibes.

10b. Over the knee boots

Or even knee boots are really big this season, for real kickass vibes, or to feel like an actual power ranger, opt for a lighter hue. Perfect to accord with your winter outfits, to wear with cosy jumper dresses or tights and long socks.

10c. A low pony complete with a satin bow or scrunchie

For insane off duty glamour, plus pull down little sections by the face to soften the look for extra prettiness.

A few rings for your fingers, cute neck chains, bracelets, a watch, or earrings, whatever you love, accessorizing your simple outfits just a little is a game-changer and actually helps you stand out. Even without putting in much effort.

11. Pamper all parts of your body

Treat yourself by indulging every part of your body, omega3 for your brain, but also hair, nails and to help along blemishes, treat your muscles to some work outs, add things to your diet that your body will enjoy, treat your eyes to pretty things.

12. Have A Straight Body Posture

This always makes a difference to your confidence and vibe and the way you feel in yourself! Try leaning backwards to counteract hunching forwards, which naturally happens when we are trying to hide ourselves in public. A great trick is to imagine you are balancing a full jug of water on your head – you must stand straight and upright and lean back enough to keep the water level!

13. Know that EVERYONE Looks Different to How You Think!

Many of the hyper pretty people we see on instagram are all an illusion, they are a creation and curated that way and there are SO many secrets for you to learn in the Absolute Goddess Handbook! They are also incredibly multifaceted and we are only seeing one carefully curated side to them, our brain often fills the rest in with our assumptions.

There are so many different kinds of beauty and ways to feel incredible in today’s world, just waiting for you to explore! Our assumptions can often be our enemy here and stand in our way of everything we want to be.

14. Radiate Positivity And Be Friendly

What will make me prettier? Inner beauty makes up so much of a pretty person and is definitely not just for Disney films! Project kindness and positivity out in the world if you can, and it will be sure to come back to you!

15. Blow A Kiss/Smile To Yourself In The Mirror

A really cool and positive activity to exude confidence and channel your powerful alter ego, this step has more impact than we ever realise! Definitely do it about 10 times a day, especially the times where you feel least confident!

16. Always Compliment Yourself

You are deserving of that loving! Continuing with that mindset, practise giving tons and tons of compliments to yourself. Definitely the cringier the cooler! “Babe, that eyeliner is perfecttttttt!” or “Girl, that smile is gonna kill someone someday!”

If you are loving your very own compliments, trust me, you won’t need any validation from people on how pretty you are or look. You’ll be happy in your own little world. And that’s the happiest thing you can do to yourself!

Final Thoughts On How To Look Pretty

As I put in my glow up post, you are b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l and absolutely have the potential to become the person you always wanted to be. It is not about having ‘perfect’ features, or looking like someone else, it’s all about how your features come together to compliment each other. Have fun with your features and try different trends, be curious about your features as if you were looking in the mirror for the first time. I hope you liked my tips! Let me know yours in the comments below ♡