Top Tips for Summer-izing your Makeup Routine!
As far as your makeup and beauty routine is concerned, Summer is pretty high maintenance. Alongside the perks – beach holidays, road trips, cute sundresses, BBQs and long summer evenings – come the not so nice beauty challenges. I’m talking about when your hair colour starts to fade, your foundation slides off, and sweat and suncream cause breakouts (sexy, I know!). Oh, and don’t even get me started on hair frizz. There’s a WHOLE post coming soon all about how to prepare your hair for Summer, just you wait and see!
But with the sunny days and humid weather, it’s a good time to switch up the products in your makeup bag. Push those heavier products to the back of your drawers and reach for lighter and more breathable makeup, as well as bright colours and warm tones to enhance your summer glow.
Here are a few simple tweaks to help you make over your beauty routine this summer.
- Ditch the Foundation
This is the biggest change for me when it comes to changing up my summer makeup routine. The heat means that thick foundations which are great for coverage just end up sliding from my skin, or feeling uncomfortable after a day’s wear. Also, after a few days in the sun, hopefully you’ll be feeling confident with your skins natural glow, so a little less coverage will be necessary.
I like to reach for light, fresh, glowy and long lasting bases and have two firm favourites; firstly the . It’s a perfect colour match for when my skin is sun kissed, but more importantly it’s lightweight and undetectable on the skin. Coverage is medium to light so it’s one that I reach for on good skin days.Slightly more affordable, but equally as wonderful is L’Oreal’s Nude Magique Cushion Foundation (are you bored of me raving about this yet?!). I adore the build-ability of this foundation. One layer of ‘tapping’ will give a very light coverage, enough to even out the skin tone, while it can be built up in areas where more coverage is required. The glow that’s given by both foundations is truly beautiful for this time of year, I just hope that come Autumn my skin is equally as good so that I can get away with the slightly lower coverage!While these two foundations seem to perfectly blend into my skin tone no matter how much sunshine my skin has seen, a few other foundations need a little bit of shade altering. For this, I reach for The Body Shop’s Honey Bronze Drops of Sun creator. A couple of drops added to my foundation give it a deeper colour, while adding it to my moisturiser keeps my tan topped up. I’ll be using this between my sunny escapes to ensure that the addictive bronzed look doesn’t disappear.
2. Don’t Forget to Blot
This is more a memo to myself than a tip for you guys, because let’s be honest, I am notoriously a powder-avoider. I love a glowing complexion so it’s taken me years to trust that powders aren’t going to leave me with a chalky matte finish (I can’t think of anything worse!), but recent additions to my mattifying range have proved me wrong.
I’ve been finishing my morning makeup routine with a swipe of the . Yes, I was drawn in by the word ‘Radiant’ within the title, and I wasn’t left disappointed. I don’t apply too much, just a light dusting across my T-Zone, and it’s enough to lightly mattify, but more importantly keep my base in place throughout the rest of the day (even in Santorini’s 35 degree heat i’ll have you know!).
To combat those moments where the shine does peep through, I’ve got a secret weapon within my handbag. It’s the slim and company. They are teeny tiny so perfect for even your evening clutch bag, and they absolutely do the trick of removing that pesky shiny that pops up in the late afternoon.
3. Lighten your Lips
Similar to foundation, I prefer a lighter consistency on my lips during the warmer months too. Luckily for me (and you!) there is a whole host of new releases from my favourite lippie brands to ensure that I don’t need to sacrifice on colour or comfort during the summer. These three lipsticks in particular all feel balm like upon application, but with a colour payoff to rival any stain or gloss. The finish is a subtle shine but without the stickiness of a gloss, and the comfort factor on the lips is 10/10.
When I want a comfortable yet opaque lip colour, I choose Kiko’s Lip Mirage. It’s a creamy and soft formula with the colour payoff of a lipstick, yet the feeling of a balm. I adore the rose gold tube complete with oddly satisfying magnetic closure and find myself re-applying this constantly while out and about during warmer days.
For extreme comfort and a beautiful hint of soft pink colour, I choose the Bobbi Brown Nourishing Lip Colour. With moisturising oils within the formula, it’s nourishing and quenches the thirst of dry lips. For hours it remains comfortable on the lips, and the shine slowly fades into a beautiful tint on the lips.
Finally, a semi-sheer lipstick giving hours of moisture is the YSL Rouge Volupte Shine. I’ve devoted an entire post in the past to their sheer beauty, and still every time I bring it out from my handbag, my heart gives a little flutter. How can a lipstick bring such excitement?! Well, you only have to look at it to know! But the formula within is equally as wonderful, comfort and care is provided for the lips thanks to the 6 oils within the formula.
4. A Few Extra Steps
Skincare is of utmost importance during the Summer months (see my post on how to thoroughly cleanse your skin here) and the steps you take after cleansing are important for nourishing the skin and providing it with the nutrition that it needs, that sometimes the sun and heat can deprive you of.
Summer is also a time where skin’s defences can weaken, thanks to the sun and time spent outside, so it’s important to use products that can help to strengthen your skin’s natural defences to keep you looking radiant and healthy. The Kiehls Daily Reviving Concentrate is the first product that I use to keep my complexion protected against environmental aggressors; I apply the light oil to my skin after cleansing when it can be thoroughly absorbed.
To increase the protection further, I’ve been using the super light Body Shop Skin Defence Multi Protection Essence (SPF 50) which powerfully protects skin from UVA and UVB rays, and is also jam packed with antioxidants and ingredients to combat dullness that can be an unwanted side effect of a summer spent in the city.
Combined, the two products mean that my skin is protected from aggressors that can speed up the ageing process of my skin cells, as well as fighting damage caused by the environment and the sun – so definitely not a step you want to skip.
5. A Summer Scent
Last but not least, a finishing touch which makes all the difference. But your warm oud-based scents away for the summer months in favour of lighter, fresh scented perfumes. A new favourite of mine is the Jo Malone Basil & Neroli fragrance – it’s fresh, bright and lively with notes of Basil, Neroli (no surprises there then) and white musk making it incredibly wearable and perfect for spritzing in summer. Coming out in September, the fragrance is a huge launch for Jo Malone so is certain to be a hit, and I can see why! Try to visit a counter to experience it yourself if you can.
So there we have it, my 5 tips for updating your Beauty routine for Summer. Do you have any further tips you can share? I’d love to know!
xoxo
