15 experts share their favourite piece of mum beauty wisdom

"My mum definitely taught me that less is more, although it took me a while and a lot of heavy-handed makeup application to come to that realisation. I have vivid early memories of her carefully lining her lips with pencil and filling them in with sumptuous red lipsticks from Nars and Chanel. Apart from a bit of eyebrow pencil that was and still is her entire makeup routine. My mother is incredibly beautiful so needs no makeup at all but that tiny enhancement with a perfect brow and a scarlet red pout will always be my no 1 vision of beauty."

My mum was an early adopter of fake tan back in the day. As formulas improved so did her faux glow. Her particular favourite was an early version of Garnier Ambre Soliare which I began 'borrowing' from her in my early teens. Mum described the effect as making her look healthy and I think that's something I've also strived to achieve from my own beauty regime. And why I still think you can't beat a bit of fake tan on a dull complexion day.

“My mum has always really loved beauty and introduced me to so many cool cult beauty brands when I was a teenager: Dr Hauschka, Phyto, Hard Candy, Stila, Kiehl’s. It made me realise that I didn’t have to follow the same path as everyone else, either in the way I looked or the products that I used. She was also keen to emphasise that our skin is very precious and needs to be appropriately looked after and treated with respect. I hope that I do!”

"My mother was a HUGE makeup inspiration to me and honestly growing up I thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world! I used to sit at her feet as she did her makeup at her dressing table and I was mesmerised…I have the very dressing table in my bedroom now and lots of her old makeup and even the mirror she used and they hold massive sentimental value to me…

One of the best beauty hacks I learnt from my mother was to use cutlery dividers to store my makeup! They are slim enough to fit into most drawers and really help to keep everything organised…I have them in my dressing table, my coffee table (yes I store makeup in my coffee table drawers so I can do my makeup in the sitting room in the morning whilst I keep an eye on my son!) and even under my coffee table! She also taught me the importance of mascara! Her lashes were amazing and she’d spend time curling them, slowly and meticulously applying mascara and even using huge great nappy pins to separate her lashes-I’m not recommending you do this, however!”

"Her advice to me was always ‘DON’T PLASTER THICK MAKE-UP ON YOUR FACE LIKE POLYFILLA’ which I flagrantly ignored for pretty much the entirety of my adolescence, spreading a thick mask of market stall foundation over my oily, congested face. It’s only now, at the ripe old age of 33 that I see the true benefit of not overloading the skin – with make-up or just about anything else. Increasingly, what I find beautiful in others, as well as in myself, is the demonstration of restraint; a glossy eyelid with no mascara, a raw complexion with poppy-red dotted onto the lips. The congested skin is still, sadly, a discerning feature of mine so pulling back on foundation is a challenge in and of itself, but I’m softening my grip on it at last, and look and feel all the better for it.”

'My mum was never overtly obsessed with beauty when I was growing up, but there were certain things she always did that at the time struck me as so elegant, and still do. Her once weekly Sunday night nail painting sessions, (always in a fiery engine-red lacquer) taught me the importance of a top coat, because her nails never ever chipped! That, and keeping a lipstick handy in every bag, coat and car glove compartment to reapply when needed – something her mum taught her. These days she still never goes out without several lipsticks to hand!'

“If there was one thing my mum taught me, it’s to apply face masks – and often. My mum has always been fastidious about taking time out of the week to apply masks and growing up it was a ritual she imparted on me. I was a once–a–week mask gal, but now have upped my game to mask three times a week to address different skin concerns (oh, the joys of ageing). If I end up with half as good skin as my mum when I am her age, I will be a very happy lady!”

"Never leave the house without at least lipstick on; if you look good, you feel it.”

Growing up I was and still am in awe of how beautiful my mother's skin is, and how well she's taken care of it over the years. As a teenager, she hammered it into my head to never ever go to bed without taking my makeup off, and fortunately, that beauty tip has stuck with me. She also insisted my sister and I never shave our legs, and go for waxing instead to avoid thicker, darker regrowth. It took a while for me to figure this one out – I wish I'd listened to her sooner! Now it's waxing all the way. 

‘My Mum has always been my beauty icon. I grew up watching her do her makeup in our bathroom mirror, I remember standing on the toilet set to get a good view – I was in awe! I have picked up many tricks from my lovely Ma. One of the main things is her technique of making it look like she's wearing very little makeup. She always looked after her skin and would always have lovely luxury skincare products. Another signature thing my Mum would do which I tend to do on most of my clients… She would always pencil and darken a beauty spot on her cheek. I do the same with mine and use MAC Penultimate in brown as it lasts for days. Also, now that I'm thinking about it – I apply my mascara in exactly the same way as my Ma. She would spend the longest on her lashes and I'm the exact same! The technique of wiggling the wand and blinking through the bristles as you twist. With lipstick my Mum would always clean her teeth free from any lip colour by doing the finger twist trick which used to fascinate me!’

“The best beauty tip my mother gave me was the permission to look through the prism of other eras for my own beauty and rather than judging my appearance by the standards of the day to look at art and culture not commercial beauty as a place where I can be beautiful in my own way.”

“Take care of your neck! You always miss out your neck until it's too late. It's an important piece of advice, taking your cleanser, moisturiser and masks down onto your next is a must”

‘My Mother taught me not to touch my eyebrows when I was young because of the awful trends in the 70/80s, and that has stuck with me! I now only remove hair by hair one at a time, making sure brows will be absolutely perfect’

'Like most little girls I used to sit transfixed by my mother’s side at her dressing table as she’d put on her makeup. I vividly remember that her favourite lipstick was Plum Beautiful from No7 and Estee Lauder’s Beautiful was her go-to scent in the 80s. When I was old enough and started dabbling in cosmetics myself I remember my mum telling me about the restorative power of makeup. How putting on a lipstick or some mascara could instantly improve your mood. She’s right of course, there’s much more to make up than powder and paint. Every time I have a crappy night’s sleep, am recovering from a cold or am having one of those weeks, I linger over my makeup application and feel instantly revived.’

“The beauty tip I picked up from my mum was to never pop my spots as it causes scarring and being a girl of colour I slowly realised she was telling the truth as I still have acne scarring from my youth.”