7 Weird but useful beauty tricks

Desperate to no longer look like a deranged, sleep-deprived panda, I recently slathered my face in Preparation H. Yup, the hemorrhoid cream. Turns out the same stuff that’s meant to help decrease swelling where the sun doesn’t shine also works it’s magic on those puffy little half moons residing under your sleepy eyes by constricting the blood vessels in the skin and reducing the swelling that causes bags under the eyes. Who knew?

I’ve made avocado face masks before but it never occurred to me to mash up enough of that yummy, green goodness to make a full-body mask–that is, until bikini season rolled around and I realized I was still wearing last season’s skin. To remedy the problem, I mixed 1 ripe avocado, 1/4 cup of greek yogurt and the juice from one whole lemon, then rubbed it all over and let it sit on my skin for 15 minutes. I’ll admit, I looked weird covered in green and white goo, but it was worth it. When I rinsed, my skin was renewed and glowy, and actually smelled pretty good. I have to say, it was time (and an avocado) well used.

I recently started replacing my VO5 hot oil treatment with olive oil because: a) I have tons of EVOO my cabinet; and b) it’s high fat content makes it the ideal salve for dry parched hair. Also, the treatment is pretty straight-forward. In a microwave safe bowl or mug, pour about 1/2 cup of olive oil into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for just about thirty seconds. You want the oil to be warm, not scalding hot. Massage the warm oil onto your scalp and hair, then pin it up under a shower cap and wait thirty minutes before rinsing. But a quick word to the wise: use extra virgin olive oil, it works the best and it won’t leave you smelling like a tossed salad.

If you’re like me, you barely have enough time to eat a full meal let alone wait for your mani to dry. Try this trick I learned from my beauty-obsessed sister: submerge your still-wet mani into a–wait for it–bowl of ice water for three minutes. Yup, wet your mani to get it dry. It sounds insane, but it works.

Okay, so don’t judge me, but I’ve found that clean toilet seat liners make the best face blotters. That’s because they, like oil blotting sheets, are made from rice paper. A friend of mine suggested the cheap-o swap years ago when my face was especially oily. So when a Google search confirmed it was safe to try, I went with it and never looked back.

My mother doesn’t believe in throwing things away until they’ve been used to death. I’m pretty sure that’s how we ended up exfoliating with coffee grounds. But whatevs, it's done wonders for my skin. The gritty, caffeine-laden grounds pack a one-two punch to your skin, exfoliating the outer layer while dialting the blood vessels located under your skin to give you the appearance of smooth, dimple-free skin.

Is your chronic acne a pain in the neck? Break out the aspirin. I learned this trick from a friend in college, who upon seeing a honker of a zit on my forehead prescribed this little trick: Crush an aspirin and mix with water to create a thick paste, then dab it on the offending zit. Leave the paste on for 15 minutes and rinse to reveal a much smaller, less angry looking pimple.