Your Best Beauty Resolutions for the New Year (and the New Decade!)

It's a new year (and a new decade), a perfect time for leaving bad habits behind us in the past and look forward to a bright and beautiful new year filled with tons of self care and glowing skin. This time year signifies a new start, meaning a refresh in routines, rules, and approaches. Let's take our good habits and what we learned in the past year and keep the momentum going with this list of new beauty resolutions that will help you (and your skin!) stay on track as you kick off 2020.

1. Self Care is Essential - You’ve heard it before and you’ll hear it again: The mantra of the new decade is all about self-care and will be an important staple in not only your beauty routine, but also the rest of your life. We all have daily stressors around us and they affect our hair, skins, nails, and overall health. Sticking to a self-care routine can create a more harmonious and focused part of your life that can help balance out all of the hectic points in your day. At the end of a long day, it’s important to take the time to decompress and unwind. Instead of just plopping down in front of the TV and calling it quits, utilize your beauty routine as a moment of self-reflection and love. Use a rose quartz or jade roller for a facial massage, treat yourself to a relaxing soak in a

Lavender and Oats bath, or take a moment to meditate with the soothing sounds of the beach or forest in your ear buds.

2. Treat Your Whole Body - Don't neglect the rest of your body when establishing a skincare routine. It's not just your face that should enjoy the benefits of a beauty regimen. Chances are you’re accustomed to slathering your face with serums, lotions, and creams. But what about the rest of your body? Treat your entire body to the pampering it deserves. Your décolletage (AKA the your neck and chest region) are just as prone to the signs of aging as your face. Not to mention your elbows, knees, hands, and feet are the areas most likely to get rough and dry. To defend against these damaging effects, it’s time to give your body the gift of a head-to-toe skincare routine. You don’t need to apply your facial products below your chest, but it’s definitely worth adding a moisturizer like The Midwest Mermaid Company's super hydrating Peppermint Body Butter to your beauty arsenal.

3. Go Green - If some of your products have ingredients that you can’t even pronounce, it’s probably not the best product to be using on your body. There are a lot of amazing eco-friendly, green, and sustainable beauty products on the market, so take some time and do your research to find the ones that are a lot more beneficial to you {and the earth}. Try cleansing with handcrafted soaps made with natural skin loving ingredients like Goat's Milk, Shea Butter, and healthy botanicals or essential oils. Cruelty-free companies such as The Midwest Mermaid Company use eco-friendly packaging and even donate to earth friendly charitable causes, making you not only look good but also make you feel great knowing that you are helping the Earth.

5. Vitamin Sea - You already know that nature is a major source of beauty benefits. But did you know there’s something living deep underwater than can boost your beauty big time? Research has proven that being near the ocean boosts your mood and decreases stress. That's right going to the beach is good for you! 

Think about what it must take for one of the ocean’s two million organisms to thrive in such an extreme environment, where salt and harsh currents would seemingly make it impossible to survive. Not only are the plants found in the deep blue adaptable, but because they live in a mineral-rich waters, they’re also primed to be great for our mineral- and vitamin-loving skin. Products that feature sea worthy ingredients harness the powers of the deep blue sea and beyond and turn them into beauty products that will make complexions happy. Some seriously powerful stuff can be plucked straight from the ocean. Brands like The Midwest Mermaid Company use Seaweed Extract and Spirulina (Blue-Green Algae) that are a favorite beauty gurus.  Minerals, minerals, and more minerals. Seaweed Extract is brimming with powerful nutrients and nourishing vitamins like Vitamin A, B12, C and E. This underwater cocktail of goodness keeps you healthy, fights free radicals, increases your cell turnover rate and keeps your skin firm and radiant.  Seaweed is nutrient dense, plus it has a softening effect on skin. It has been touted as the “ultimate anti-aging ingredient. Seaweed deeply hydrates skin and promotes the appearance of youthful volume and firmness, and helps protect skin from external aggressors such as wind, dry climates and air pollution. It’s also hydrating, helping reduce inflammation and minimizes the appearance of impurities and irritation. There are a number of different types of algae on the market, each of which targets a specific concern, but all skin-types can benefit from its soothing and skin-boosting abilities.  

Just like the perfect little black dress or a classic string of Pearls taking care of your skin is one investment that will never go out of style. Our entry into a brand new decade is the perfect chance to make 2020 the year of the beautiful new you!