10 Things That Help Me Look More Put Together (Without Spending a Fortune)

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I love a good beauty product, but the older I get, the more convinced I am that looking good has surprisingly little to do with having a complicated beauty routine.

Some of the things that make the biggest difference aren’t beauty products at all. They’re the boring things we’ve all been told to do forever: sleep enough, eat well, drink enough water and move your body. Unfortunately, it turns out there was something to all of that.

Then there are a handful of ridiculously simple beauty tricks that do just enough to make me look a little more awake, healthy and put together without requiring a full face of makeup or an hour in the bathroom.

These are the ones that have earned a permanent place in my routine.

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1. Getting Enough Sleep

I wish there were a more exciting answer, but I don’t think I’ve found a beauty product that can compensate for consistently not getting enough sleep.

When I’m well rested, my skin looks better, my eyes look brighter, and I generally look healthier. When I’m not, I can pile things on my face all I want, but there’s only so much concealer can do.

I’ve also stopped treating needing enough sleep as something I should somehow outgrow. Some people seem perfectly functional on six hours. I am not one of those people.

Getting enough sleep isn’t always possible, obviously. But when I can prioritize it, it’s probably the single biggest thing I can do for how I look and feel the next day.

2. Walking Regularly

Walking is another annoyingly simple answer.

I don’t have an elaborate workout routine. But when I’m consistently walking, I notice it. I feel better, I have more energy, my posture is better, and over time it makes a difference in how my clothes fit.

There’s also something about getting outside and moving that makes me feel more like a functioning human being, which arguably helps with looking like one too.

I’m not trying to turn every walk into a workout. I’m mostly trying to move my body regularly enough that it remembers that’s one of its jobs.

3. Staying Hydrated

Hydration isn’t going to erase wrinkles or magically give anyone perfect skin. But being under-hydrated certainly doesn’t help me look or feel my best.

I’ve learned that I feel noticeably better when I’m intentional about drinking enough throughout the day rather than realizing at 4:00 that I’ve basically been surviving on coffee.

I have a simple hydration drink I make regularly that helps me stay on top of it without obsessing over some enormous daily water goal.

You can find the recipe for my natural hydration drink here.

For me, consistency matters much more than trying to drink a heroic amount of water all at once.

4. Eating Enough Protein

Protein became much more important to me once I started paying attention to how much I was actually eating.

It’s surprisingly easy for me to eat a meal that technically fills me up without getting very much protein at all. Being more intentional about it helps me build meals that are actually satisfying and gives my body the raw materials it needs to maintain things like muscle, skin and hair.

I’ve found little ways to add more without completely changing how I eat—including putting protein in my coffee, because apparently we’ve reached that point.

I don’t track every gram or try to make every meal perfect. I just try to make protein one of the things I think about when I’m putting a meal together.

5. Eating Nutrient-Dense Foods

This goes along with protein, but I think it’s worth separating.

I’ve become much less interested in finding the “perfect” diet and much more interested in making sure I’m regularly eating foods that actually bring something to the table: fruits, vegetables, healthy fats, whole grains, protein and foods with plenty of vitamins and minerals.

That doesn’t mean everything I eat has to qualify as a health food. It absolutely does not.

I just feel and look better when most of what I’m eating is giving my body something useful.

It’s not a quick beauty hack. It’s the decidedly unexciting long game.

6. Wearing Tinted Sunscreen

And now, finally, an actual beauty product.

Tinted sunscreen has become one of my favorite shortcuts because it does several jobs at once. I get the daily sun protection I want, while the tint evens out my skin tone and gives me just enough glow.

Basically, it looks like my skin—only better.

I use Solara Suncare Fortune Teller Tinted Sunscreen Serum in Tint 1. There’s also another tint available for darker skin tones. On me, Tint 1 gives just enough coverage to even things out while still looking like my actual skin, and most days I don’t feel like I need foundation over it.

I also like the added protection a tinted sunscreen can provide against visible light.

It’s one of the easiest ways I’ve found to look a little more polished in less than a minute.

7. Using Sunless Tanning Drops

A little bit of color makes a surprisingly big difference on me. I don’t want to look dramatically tan; I just like looking slightly less like I haven’t seen daylight in six months.

I’ve been using Beauty by Earth Self Tanner Tanning Drops, and I much prefer them to a traditional self-tanning lotion. You mix the drops into your own face or body moisturizer, which means I can use products I already know I like and control exactly how much color I want.

I’m currently using the Light shade, but the color is buildable and there are other shades available. I can add just a few drops when I want a subtle bit of warmth or build it up when I want more color. It lasts several days on me, doesn’t have that strong self-tanner smell, and I haven’t had problems with it transferring onto my clothes.

I also like that it’s EWG Verified. Not every product I use checks every “clean beauty” box, and I’m not interested in making myself crazy trying to achieve that. But when I’m applying something regularly over a large area of my skin, I appreciate finding an option with ingredients I feel comfortable using.

Mostly, it’s just incredibly easy. I can use the same bottle on my face and body, make the color as subtle as I want, and look a little more alive without intentionally baking myself in the sun.

8. Refreshing My Hair With a Gloss

My natural hair color is a fairly dull, mousy brown, and I have a few scattered grays coming in. I’m not particularly interested in completely covering them, but I do like everything to look a little more intentional.

I’ve been using dpHUE Gloss+ in Medium Brown, and it’s almost perfect for that.

It doesn’t completely cover my scattered grays. Instead, it gives them just enough tint that they blend into the rest of my hair and look a little more like highlights. It also adds some warmth and evenness to my natural brown, which keeps the whole thing from looking quite so dull.

The other reason I like it is that it feels more like a conditioning treatment than hair color. My hair looks noticeably shinier and softer afterward.

It’s a subtle difference, which is probably exactly why I like it. My hair doesn’t suddenly look “colored.” It just looks better.

9. Curling My Lashes + Tubing Mascara

This is probably the highest return I get from sixty seconds of effort.

My lashes are fairly straight, so curling them immediately makes my eyes look more open and awake. Then I use e.l.f. Lash XTNDR Tubing Mascara in Soft Black.

I’ve tried more expensive mascaras, and this one works just as well—if not better—for me. The tubing formula makes my lashes look noticeably longer and stays where I put it instead of slowly migrating underneath my eyes. I also prefer the softer look of Soft Black for everyday makeup.

The combination is simple: curl, mascara, done.

Even when I’m wearing very little makeup, it makes me look noticeably more awake and put together.

10. Using a Lip Stain

I’ve realized I don’t necessarily want my lips to look like I’m wearing lipstick. I mostly want them to look like my actual lips—just with a little more life in them.

Wonderskin Lip Stain has become one of my favorite ways to do that.

I have two shades I particularly like. Lovely gives me a very natural lip color with a little warmth and brown to it, while Whimsical gives my lips more of a natural pinky blush.

Both basically make my lips look like they’re naturally a prettier color. Instead of looking washed out, they look a little more flushed, youthful and plump without looking like I’ve slathered on lipstick or gloss.

And then there’s the best part: the color actually stays.

I can eat, drink and go about my day without constantly checking or reapplying it. On me, the stain lasts for several hours and gradually fades while still looking like my own lip color.

It’s exactly the kind of makeup I like at this point—something that makes a noticeable difference without looking like I did very much.

The Point Isn’t to Do More

Looking more put together used to feel like something that required more: more makeup, more products, more time, more effort.

I’m increasingly finding the opposite to be true.

The boring foundational things—sleep, movement, hydration and eating well—probably do more heavy lifting than anything in my makeup bag. Then a few strategically chosen products can take care of the rest.

I don’t do all ten of these things perfectly every day. That’s not really the point.

They’re just the things I’ve found give me the most return for the least amount of effort. And at this point, that’s exactly what I want from a beauty routine.

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