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24 hours with…Now To Love’s Beauty Editor Sinead

Now To Love's Beauty Editor reveals her beauty regime and makeup must-haves.

Morning beauty routine

The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is brush my teeth. I’m obsessed with brushing my teeth – I do it three times a day at least, and if I happen to wake up too early for my alarm – I HAVE to go and brush my teeth before I go back to sleep, I’m insane about it.

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After I shower, I’ll put on some Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Serum (I know, I know, it’s a hundred million dollars but trust me, it’s worth it), Ki hydrating moisturiser from Caci Clinic, and Dermalogica Stress Positive Eye Cream – and that’s it.

Even though I’m a Beauty Editor, most days I won’t wear any makeup to work unless I’ve got a meeting or an event– because I’m usually just at my desk all day anyway and barely see a soul, so would rather let my skin breathe.

I have had my eyebrows tattooed by the amazing team at Lash Noir though, so I’m not a completely bare badger!

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I’ve got the kind of hair that only needs to be washed once or twice a week, as its super thick, wavy and coarse.

I’ll usually wash it on a Thursday evening so that it’s in prime shape for the weekend, and then again on Sunday night.

When I do wash it, I’ll wash it twice as my hair is so thick that I need to double-cleanse it to get it really clean.

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I never use conditioner as I’m yet to find one that washes out properly, as most tend to stay in my hair and leave it feeling lank.

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While I’ve tried tons of fancy expensive shampoos, for some reason my hair looks and feels the best when I wash it with anti-dandruff shampoo- even though I don’t have dandruff!

I found this out once when I accidentally used Head & Shoulders instead of my normal shampoo, and my hair turned out so fresh and clean, but still super soft – and now I swear by it.

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At the moment my boyfriend and I are both using Angel Green Tea Anti-Dandruff Shampoo, and it’s great.

After I wash my hair, I’ll towel dry it and comb through Moroccanoil Treatment and Moroccanoil Hydrating styling cream.

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I then braid my hair into two Dutch braids, which I leave in overnight. This way when I take them out, my hair is still in its nice wavy shape but it’s smooth instead of mushed up and frizzy from my pillow.

Unless I’m going out to a special event, I never blow dry or use heat tools like straighteners on my hair.

It’s not because I’m insanely protective of my hair or anything, but more that my hair is so ridiculously thick that I just hands down can’t be bothered styling it, as my arms get way too tired – and my natural hair has a nice-ish texture to it so looks pretty fine as-is.

If I’m going somewhere cool and can be bothered doing something special with my hair, I use a GHD to curl it, brush out the curls and put some more Moroccan oil through it.

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Night’s out

For when I do use makeup, I start with MAC strobe cream and will then use either a Smashbox Camera Ready BB Water or MAC Waterweight Foundation applied with a damp beauty blender.

I’ll then use NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer under my eyes and Clinique Anti-Blemish Solutions concealer on any spots.

As I’ve already had my brows tattooed, I’ll only fill in the tail ends a bit to sharpen up the line, using Benefit Brow Zings and Benefit Gimme Brow brushed through for a bit of definition.

As my brows are crazy unruly and thick, just like the hair on my head – I’ll brush through tons of setting gel to make them behave.

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On my cheeks I use NARS Orgasm blush and Mary Lou Manizer highlighter.

Instead of putting it just on the high points of my face like a normal person, I basically brush it all over my mug to be an extra glowy star.

Sometimes I try to contour with my Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit but I’m very honest about having no real idea of what I’m doing, I basically just colour under my cheek bone area and hope for the best.

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If I had a signature beauty look, it would absolutely be a red lip.

I feel like with no lipstick my mouth is just plain and regular looking, but with red lipstick it POPS right out and looks massive and saucy and people will say I look like Billie Piper or Taylor Swift! Just a humble brag.

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While I love a red lip, my pet peeve with lipstick is when you can really feel it on your mouth and your lips feel all dry and horrible.

My favourite red lipstick that I love because it stays on and feels normal is Revlon Ultra HD Matte Lipcolour. It’s also great because it has a little applicator wand so you can just colour in your mouth tidily, which is good if you’re crap at lip liner like I am.

I’ll then set my face with MAC Fix + spray, curl my lashes and apply some Benefit They’re Real Mascara.

My top tip is to always ALWAYS put your mascara on after your setting spray, otherwise you will blink and get black smudges all over your eyes – I forget to do this this every single time and never learn my own lesson.

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Pampering

Once a week I’ll do a face mask. At the moment I’m loving Elizabeth Arden Visible Difference Peel and Reveal Skin Mask because it’s super fun to peel off your face, and leaves your skin glowy as anything.

My new favourite way to pamper myself is to get fortnightly massages every second Sunday afternoon, and I justify the cost by saying it’s for my mental health which is always priority number one in my books.

I go to a wonderful lady called Lai who works at Angel Thai in Onehunga. She is fantastic, and very reasonably priced.

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I get my hair cut and coloured by Rahela at Wolf and Wolf salon. Rahela is my soul sister as she also has ginormous thick hair so she understands my lion’s mane, and I’m always safe in her hands.

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I get my caterpillar brows tamed at Lash Noir, and other parts of my caterpillary body (you know) lasered at Off Wax.

Most of the time I have acrylic nails, as I’m a horrendous nail biter.

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I love going and getting my nails done as it was the special thing I used to do with my mum on the weekend, before she passed away.

Now when I go and get my nails done I always choose the colours that she used to choose, and it’s a really nice way to pamper myself and feel connected to her.

Evening beauty routine

In the evenings I’ll cleanse my face with Clinique Take The Day Off Cleansing Balm, Ki daily cleanser, and use Murad Essential-C toner.

I’ll then put on more Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair, Ki Eye Concentrate and Flash eyelash serum on my lashes to try and help those suckers grow.

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I also always take two magnesium supplements before bed which helps enormously with my sleep, and a weird twitchy eye problem that I used to have. Magnesium is GOLD! I honestly reckon it fixes everything in the world.

As I’ve gotten older my approach to beauty has changed 100 per cent.

When I was a foolish youth in my late teens, I used to dye my hair either jet black or bleach blonde, fake tan my body within an inch of its life, and loved having the fullest-coverage-on-earth-cake-face paired with black eyeliner rimmed eyes to be a sexy saucy minx.

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Now that I am all grown up at the ripe old age of 24 (sophisticated and wise beyond my years) I now know that my mother was in fact right, and less is always more when it comes to makeup.

These days I’m all about taking really good care of my skin, my hair is a natural(ish) blonde and my tan is a normal human colour.

When I do wear makeup, I’m all about looking fresh faced and glowy like I’ve just drunk 20 buckets full of water.

While I do drink about four liters of water a day – highlighter always gives you a helping hand. Don’t be shy with it, just cover your whole face I reckon.

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