How to Be Pretty: Simple Tips to Enhance Your Natural Beauty

Why deny it: you want to be liked. There’s no shame in it, really. We all do. It came free with us humans being a social species. But what comes to mind when you ask yourself how to be pretty? Rigorous skincare routines made of hundreds of products (in this economy?!), expensive clothes, starvation diets, experimental food supplements… did we forget anything?

But wait! It doesn’t have to be hard. Focusing on the right areas and using a few tips can be more than enough to help with this. So let’s dive in and help you figure out how to look great—your own style!

Understanding Natural Beauty

Before starting on how you can feel prettier, it’s worth getting on the same page about what beauty actually is. When most people refer to it, they’re thinking about natural beauty. Despite that, they’re often not sure about what the term actually refers to. Let’s take a look at what that is before we get to how you can work on it.

What Is Natural Beauty?

Natural beauty is the kind of beauty that comes from being authentic, unfiltered and comfortable in your own skin. It’s about embracing your unique features and highlighting the aspects you like the best about yourself—like your long eyelashes, healthy hair, radiant smile, or the confidence that shines through when you take care of yourself.

Truth is, you can only discover your natural beauty when you know yourself well. Your skin tone, face shape, hair type, skin type and more will all be core parts of this. But it’s also about your unique personality and style.

Related reading: How to Glow Up and Be Your Best Self: A Step-by-Step Guide

Taking Care of Your Skin

One of the first ways to enhance your natural beauty and be pretty is to look after your skin. Your skin health can often be a marker of your overall health. Think of it as not just an investment in your beauty, but your general condition, too.

That’s easier said than done, however. Many people feel a little overwhelmed by it. How do you have healthy skin? Maybe your oily skin reacts dramatically to everything you eat. Maybe a cosmetologist has told you you have ‘dull skin’ and you don’t have that glowing look of your fav beauty blogger. Maybe acne has left you with lasting skin damage. Getting that smooth, radiant face may seem so hard when you have those pesky skin problems…

But it doesn’t need to be. As it turns out, you might just need to focus on a few particular areas. Let’s have a look at some of the important ones.

Understanding Your Skin Type

Knowing your skin type helps you choose the right skincare and makeup. Oily skin tends to shine and is prone to breakouts, while dry skin might feel tight and flaky. Combination skin has both oily and dry areas, and sensitive skin reacts easily. Identify your type and your needs to keep your complexion balanced and healthy.

Healthy Foods for Glowing Skin

The food you eat plays an essential role in how you look. Great diet = healthy skin! And when we say ‘diet’ here, we don’t mean you have to be needlessly restrictive with yourself. Your taste buds deserve some love, too!

A healthy diet is just a matter of getting enough lean proteins, healthy fats, fresh fruits etc. Pay attention to your sugar intake, too. While it’s necessary for your body to function, added sugar in processed foods may easily become too much.

Just remember: you don’t need to get rid of any foods point blank. Even that iced coffee with syrup can be great for you—in moderation!

Skincare Routine Essentials

The right skin care products can make all the difference. But many people don’t even know where to start with that. Let’s figure out what you need.

First things first: in skincare, it’s quality over quantity. There’s no dire need for an anti-aging cream if you’re not even past your twenties. And good regular sleep will help your dark circles better than an expensive eye cream.

For everyday skincare, try starting with a good gentle cleanser. It should un-clog pores and purify your skin without drying it out. Also, don’t forget to apply moisturizer with SPF that will protect your skin from both UVA and UVB rays throughout the day.

You can also use exfoliators to remove dead skin cells, as well as face masks to give your skin a bit of a boost. They can get rid of dryness, support skin elasticity and more. But they aren’t generally recommended for daily use.

Last but not least, be nice to your skin. Don’t pick at it and don’t rub it. Gently pat your skin dry after washing it.

And if all these tips still aren’t helping your skin get that natural glow, it’s always a good idea to talk to a dermatologist.

Enhancing Your Features

So you figured out your skin type and picked care products for your specific skin concerns. The next step is looking in the mirror and figuring out what you like about your appearance. Then, you can go on and highlight those features, be it your body or face.

Good Posture for a More Attractive You

Good posture doesn’t just make you look beautiful, it also helps you feel good, physically and mentally. If you’re regularly slumped over, your muscles and internal organs may suffer in the long run. You’re much better off practicing good posture. Keeping your chin up and your shoulders back will keep your body healthy and give you a confidence boost.

Wearing Clothes that Fit Well

The clothes you wear play a vital role in how you look. It goes without saying that you need to wear clean clothes, but you can do even more for yourself. Find your personal style! Experiment with different combinations. Wear clothing that makes you feel good, and pick styles that you like on your specific body type.

Dressing for Your Skin Tone

Wearing colors that complement your skin tone can enhance your beauty and make you glow effortlessly. Start by identifying your undertone—warm, cool, or neutral. If you have warm undertones, earthy shades like gold, olive and warm reds will flatter you.

Cool undertones shine in jewel tones like sapphire, emerald and icy pastels. Neutral tones can pull off a balanced mix of both. Experiment with different shades to see what makes your complexion pop.

When you dress for your skin tone, you’ll look more vibrant, polished, and naturally radiant. There’ll be a natural balance between everything, and even your nail polish can play a role. Different styles can all fit into this.

Related reading: How to Be the Hottest Version of Yourself

Highlighting Your Face and Hair

When it comes to your hair, it’s worth making sure it looks and feels as healthy as possible. That often means using the right hair products for your needs. The right shampoo for your hair and scalp type is paramount. For specific concerns you can try hair masks and serums. A leave-in conditioner can help with managing and styling your hair.

Speaking of styling, you can use hair sprays or gels, or try heat styling (but don’t forget heat protection). But even a messy bun will look great when you take care of your hair.

Next, your face is something people will look at a lot. What do you like about it? Spend a little time studying it in the mirror.

Something that immediately comes to mind is your smile. A genuine smile will always look beautiful. And to take care of it, nothing is better than good dental hygiene. Make sure to brush your teeth and floss regularly. You might try a whitening toothpaste to make sure you have an especially dazzling smile, but it’s worth consulting with your dentist before you do.

Lip balm will also help highlight your smile—and also take care of your lips. For a little more dazzle, add some lipstick or lip gloss in a color you like!

If you wear glasses, picking the frames that compliment your face shape is also a great idea.

Related reading: Gen Z Makeup Trends!

Cultivating Inner Beauty

Now you’re taking care of your appearance like the attractive woman you are. Still, there’s a little bit more to it. How do you present yourself? Attractive people who come across as naturally pretty present themselves with confidence. Which is to say, they feel beautiful. To look pretty, you need to feel it.

That begs the question as to how you can do this. Is it about learning to wear makeup and clothes that suit you best? Is it about radiant complexion, shining hair and pearly smile? Or is it about making eye contact, knowing your best features and walking like a queen?

Beauty isn’t just skin deep. Having a glowing complexion, looking after your skin health, good dental hygiene, consistent style and similar things all focus on your external appearance. They can help you look beautiful and feel it. That’s what many people will find attractive.

They’re far from the only areas to focus on, though. You also need to consider your inner beauty. Your looks is what everyone sees immediately, but your personality is the unique beauty that lasts.

Building Self-Confidence

It’s no secret that being confident makes people look beautiful. Your self-esteem plays a vital role in this. As Dr. Sam Bunting notes in an article:

“We can empower ourselves by learning to change the way we think about ourselves. By challenging fixed ideas and false beliefs and cultivating an affectionate, realistic and positive tone with ourselves, we can truly build long-term self-confidence and beauty self-esteem.”

Dr. Sam Bunting

What you need is to feel confident in how you look and who you are. To cultivate inner beauty, start by practicing self-love and positive self-talk. The way you speak to yourself matters, so replace self-criticism with kindness and encouragement. This is often easier said than done, and may even require some professional help if you’re dealing with some deep-seated fears and anxieties. But to feel confident, it’s worth putting in the effort.

Nourishing Your Inner Beauty

True beauty isn’t just about how you look—it’s about how you feel, how you treat others, and the energy you bring into a room. Take care of your mental and emotional well-being by setting healthy boundaries, engaging in activities that bring you joy, and surrounding yourself with people who uplift you. Gratitude is another powerful tool—when you appreciate the good in your life, you radiate positivity and warmth.

Nourish your body with wholesome foods, stay hydrated, and get enough rest. A well-balanced lifestyle enhances your mood and general presence.

Your overall well-being is a key part of this. You’ll need to get enough sleep (and quality sleep), get regular exercise—which improves circulation to your skin and makes it healthier—have a balanced diet, soak in the sun’s rays (with SPF, of course), drink water and more. It’s always a good idea to do regular health checkups and consult with your doctor, too.

You’ll look your most beautiful when you’re well-rested, well-fed and happy with your life.

Summing It Up

Looking and feeling amazing doesn’t need to be difficult. You just need to focus on the right areas. From getting enough sleep to looking after your skin and hair, taking care of the right things will make you look and feel beautiful.