With all the summer heat, keeping makeup in place takes a bit more effort and that's where this spray comes into play. It's like a hairspray for the face that feels like nothing on the skin, doesn't have any type of scent and it manages to keep everything in place for a very long time, especially in combination with the Max Factor All Day Primer.
This still remains my favourite sunscreen for the face. It's slightly tinted, so there is no white cast and it's very light, doesn't feel sticky, plus it's very affordable. With it I hadn't had a single burn in sight and I'm super pale.
A matte version of Sun Dance's fluid for the face, though this one is a bit heavier than the tinted version, but it protects just as well.
Not only is it an excellent primer that is very light, but it also adds an additional layer of sun protection. It helps prolong the wear of foundation (or tinted sunscreen) as well as mattifies the skin, which is something a lot of people look for in the summer months. I would apply this in a thin coat for best performance.
Aside from the fact it has an SPF 15, this is also a base that has one of the most natural finishes on the skin ever and it's very light. It's similar to Healthy Mix Serum in terms of coverage and texture, but with a more satin finish.
Missha's BB already feels a touch greasier on the skin than Bourjois' CC, but it has a higher SPF, 25, a higher level of coverage if you need it, as well as a really light shade that will suit the palest of Snow Whites, but it also comes in darker shades.
Since the base is quite light or in some cases also sometimes no-existent, I go with a high coverage concealer with a good staying power and I use only little dots of product where and when needed. Collection's and Nars' concealers are very similar, but Nars' Chantilly is the lightest shade I ever found, which is what I need it at least at the beginning of the summer, but Collection's shade Fair is pretty light as well and it's much more affordable.
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural
Though it depends on what sunscreen you're using as well as if your skin tends to get oily, I use powders at lot more in the summer than in any other season. I've been using Mac's MSF for years, despite never being a fan of it, but in the summer in mattifies well enough. A lot of people love this powder because they say that it doesn't leave their face flat, but I find this powder too obvious, except in the summer months. It will appeal to those who want some extra coverage.
This might seem like some super extra special powder and it promises you the world - well at least to correct uneven skin tone with its different hues of powder, but the only thing it does it matiffly. And that's what we need in the summer, right? This is actually one of my most used products this summer even though it's nothing special.
I'm not at all a fan of this powder, but just about everyone else is, plus it's very inexpensive, so it made the cut. I actually do like this on bare skin or just over sunscreen and it mattifies well, but over a foundation it looks too much.
Bourjois' Poudre de Riz is a product for those who dislike powders as it doesn't leave a completely flat and powdery finish as well as it kind of blurs the skin and adds a bit of radiance. But if your skin it super oily, this won't cut it.
This is a similar product to the Bourjois' Java powder in a sense that's it's more of a finishing powder with some blurring capabilities, but it also mattifies and doesn't look powdery.
ESSENCE Lash Mania False Lash Mascara Waterproof
Essence might be the one who sells some of the cheapest waterproof mascaras here, so this one could be the most interesting to most of you who don't regularly wear waterproof mascara. Despite the price it's a very decent waterproof mascara. It's similar to Lash Princess and I <3 Extremes in terms of formula, which means that it's very volumising as it deposits a lot of product on the lashes. The brush is a bit clumsy, especially when it comes to lover lashes, but I expect it to be fabulous once it dries a bit. I tested it under a hot shower and it only flaked off a bit, so I would be comfortable to go with this one of the beach as flakes are easy to deal with and the most important thing is that there is no smudging. It also holds the curl well enough.
This is the only mascara I can count on being exactly as just applied at the end of the day. While shower will make it flake a bit, swimming with it should be ok (tested last year if you're wondering). This is a mascara that brings on the volume and big lashes, but you can just wear one light coat if you want a more natural look. This also holds the curl like nobody's business, but if water is involved, the lashes do drop a bit.
This isn't my favourite mascara by any stretch of the word, but as far as being waterproof, it should definitely be able to resist the sweaty panda eyes the heat inevitably brings. It's a very defining mascara that gives more of a natural effect, though with many coats you can build up the volume a bit.
Summer means bronzer time, so again this year my trusted Bronze Goddess got its turn. This is the only bronzer I've found that works with my skin tone because it has a reddish undertone instead of the orange/yellow one. It actually creates a very believable tan colour and love that it's matte. It was quite an investment, but it was worth every cent and it's the only bronzer I've used for years.
When else to wear a bright pigmented lip gloss than in the summer? Magique is a medium pink-coral shade with intense pigmentation and a very glossy finish. The formula feels so different to anything I've tried, as it's a bit cooling on the lips, but not in a minty way. Even though it's a gloss, it actually leaves a bit of a stain behind, so you don't have to reapply it too often.
A cheaper intense lip gloss that I intended to include here as well would be L'Oreal's L'Extraordinaire in Rose Symphony, which smells amazingly like peaches.
It is rare to find a nice light, warm, peachy shade that doesn't look orange againts my pale complexion, but this one is a light peach with a tiny bit of pink in it. It's a type of colour that brightens up my face because of the peachy tones in it and it's a great colour for a natural look. The formula is one of those glossy lipstick ones, so it's not the most long-lasting, but it's moisturising, so very comfortable to wear.
This colour was at the top of my list of products to include in this post and for a good reason. I just feel that warm orange reds were made for this season. I have three such lip colours: Lady Danger, Mac's Dangerous, which is a bit redder and Essence's Lip Cream in Floral Glam, which was unfortunately a limited edition (Guerilla Gardening TE). All are matte and I would definitely wear this shade only in a matte version as it looks way cooler. This is a lip colour that attracts attention and it's no wonder why it's so popular.
I hear a nice similar colour is Milani's lipstick Matte Passion.
I could choose so many similar shades for this post as I appear to be very smitten with this colour and have many variations of it, but I choose Unapologetic because it's the brightest and I like that it's in a pencil form. I did a whole post about similar shades here. For those who prefer Mac's lipsticks try Relentlessly Red and Impassioned, while those who want a drugstore gem, give Catrice' Ultimate Stay Lipstick in 090 IrrCORALbly Pink a go.
I could not write this post without Bourjois' Velvets, not just because of the gorgeous selection of lovely summery bright shades, but also because I find them perfect for this season, especially if you plan on wearing bold colours as these don't smudge, but stay put for a long time. My favourite is, of course, Frambourjoise, which is a lovely pink-red shade, while Olé Flamingo is a super bright warm fuchsia shade.
Two other very long lasting products that are similar to Olé Flamingo would be Catrice Made to Stay Smoothing Lip Polish 060 Mission PINKpossible (about to be discontinued, so if you plan on getting it, be quick about it) and Me Now Generation II Long Lasting Lip Gloss in #36 (from Born Pretty store)
Even the name sounds seaside inspired, but basically this is the prettiest pastel blue nail polish ever as it looks almost a bit grey in some lights, so like the sky.
BARRY M Nail Paint
Turquoise
I have almost forgotten about this beauty, but it's like summer in a nail polish bottle. As the name suggest it's a turquoise shade, so a medium blue with hints of green.
Contrary to Barry M's this one is a greener version of the turquoise shade. Actually, it has very little of the blue on my nails. The formula is widely considered to be very fickly, but I don't get what the fuss is about, as it's just a sheer formula that needs three coats and that's it.
Even though I think this shade isn't sold anywhere any more because it was a LE, it's my only neon shade and I wanted to include it anyway. It's a mix of neon orange with a bit on neon pink and it completely depends on your skin tone how it looks. A similar shade would be Models Own Beach Bag. My fellow blogger Taya loves neons and she showed her pretty collection here, where you might find a shade for yourself as well. If you're a bit scared of neons, then perhaps give a shade like Essence Indian Summer a go.
This shade is gorgeousness in a bottle! If you ever wanted to find a pinker Essie's Cute as a Button, this is it. It's a bright pink with hints of coral and if you ever saw pink flamingos' of Camargue, you'll agree with me that it is indeed properly named. It truly is stunning in real life and I highly recommend you go check it out if you can.
A warm medium pink that looks gorgeous on the nails, but best of all, the formula of this shade is outstanding. It's super pigmented, basically a one coater and you can easily get it right with one swipe of the brush due to a smooth formula. Excellent quality nail polish.
Beach Inspired Nails
I was inspired by several Pinterest images, some included a sea foam and waves design, but this is my first attempt at any nail art, so those things were too much for me. It's a gradient nail made out of three colours: L'Oreal's Colour Riche in 205 Rose Bagatelle for the beach base, Maybelline's Mini Colorama 96 Party Blue (discontinued) and Barry M's Nail Paint in Turquoise for the sea. I put the gradient over a white base - Catrice Colour Brightening Base Coat 01 On Top of the Alps. The gold sand is Catrice's Luxury Lacquer Liquid Metals in 01 Champagne Rain. The gold shells are from eBay.
DOVE Purely Pampering Nourishing Body Oil
with Shea Butter and Warm Vanilla
a.k.a. DOVE Verwöhnendes Körperöl mit Shea Butter und Vanilleduft
Body oils give such a nice glow to the skin, which looks good especially on tanned legs, but this one goes a step further as it has very fine gold shimmer in it (finer than in Nuxe Or). It's quite a light oil and doesn't leave the skin terribly greasy, though there is a light layer of it left on the skin. The scent doesn't fit into this season that well because it's a warm vanilla scent, but it's not overly heavy.
SUN DANCE Transparentes Sonnenspray 50
I dislike the sticky feeling sun creams leave, so this year I got a transparent version. It has tons of alcohol in it, but I wasn't prepared to pay over 10 € for the Garnier version and besides I'll only wear it for a week in total. This one is a lot lighter than any sunscreen I had before, but it still leaves a tiny bit of an oily film behind. It smells like classic sunscreen, so no alcohol.
SUN DANCE Selbst Bräunungs Tonik
This is a very light face self tan in a toner form. The texture is like a regular toner, so it sinks in fast and leaves no greasy or sticky residue behind. That's why it should suit so many skin types, even oily ones. Its effect is gradual, which means it's easier to get an even tan and it took three-four days for me to get a nice colour going. It also smells nice which is always a bonus.
This is instant tan and makeup for legs in a can. The colour is just right for my pale skin to breathe some life in it, as it's about the same colour I achieve with my self-tanner and not at all orange, but rather incredibly believable. It's not the easiest thing to apply, partly due to the spray not distributing the product well and it needs to be blended fast because it dries super quick and after that is doesn't budge at all. For me it's greatest downside is the lack of actual coverage which it promises, but it's the best such product I've tried so far.
This and St. Tropez one are without a doubt the best self-tanners I've tried. Believe me when I say that it's a huge difference between this one and drugstore ones. The colour is more natural due to an olive hue it has, it's much darker with one application than its competition and it lasts about a week on me. It has a marzipan scent that tries to cover the self-tan scent, but the older the bottle is, the more the scent develops, however, it is not as bad as at cheap versions such as Sun Dance's spray.
Not only does it have this gorgeous gold shimmer in it, which also looks good on the hair not just the skin, but it also has a tiny bit of colour. It actually shows up on my milky skin and gives me a subtle tan effect. The oil is a proper dry oil, it is in fact drier than the original, so it sinks in fast.
This smells incredibly refreshing, but sweet and a tiny bit bitter, so it's like a cocktail or a tropical fizzy drink. I just love showering with this on hot days.
HAWAIIAN Tropic Protective Dry Oil Spray
Hawaiian Tropic has probably one of the most recognisable scents of the summer, a mix of tropical fruit with coconut and it's super strong, so you could almost wear it as a fragrance. This sunscreen is in form of an oil, so it will also give your skin a glow.
KNEIPP Badekristale Immer cool bleiben
Stay Cool Bath Crystals
Normally I don't associate baths with cooling down, however, this one contains mint and menthol, so I'll be giving this a try in the next few days.
Shell and Starfish Soaps (Müller)
To give at least your bathroom a summery vibe, these cost merely 30 cents a piece and I love the classic clean scent they have.
Now that we finally have the famous VS body mists here (miracles do happen it seems), I find that a great majority smells very similar to Love Spell, but there is something about this scent that just gets me. It's very Escada-ish in a sense that is smells like a cocktail or maybe more like a fizzy soda, so very refreshing and sweet. The staying power is poor, but that's a good excuse to keep respraying it to cool down on a hot day.
I know Estee Lauder's Bronze Goddess is a cult favourite, but for me Nuxe's Huile Prodigieuse's scent is just as beachy and summery. I only have a sample, which is hardly noticeable on the picture, but it deserves its place here. The scent is more intense than that of the oil, so staying power is actually very decent and I could smell myself after a few hours, which I honestly didn't expect to. Top notes are orange blossom, bergamot, mandarin orange and orange; middle notes are rose, magnolia and gardenia; base notes are vanilla, coconut milk and pebbles - I don't find these notes terribly dissimilar to the Bronze Goddess ones.
I have recently tested Guerlain's Terracota Le Parfum and it's stunning. I desperately need it in my life.
ESCADA Yearly Limited Editions
You can count on Escada to bring their latest version of cocktails inspired fragrances every year. They are sweet, fruity and smell like summer with a refreshing drink in your hand, but alas they never manage to get the staying power any more substantial than an hour or two. Despite that, these LE scents are some of my favourite scents ever as proved by my collection - I got these mini bottles from eBay and it's a selection of best scents they did, though my favourite is still Marine Groove.
When making any type of braids or some other hair styles, using some sort of texturiser makes it a lot easier. Especially those whose hair is very sleek and straight will notice that braiding isn't easy on freshly washed hair. Many such products exist, even regular dry shampoo will do it, but I really like this one because it's a dry shampoo, volumizer and texturiser in one. I just sprinkle a bit of the powder close to the roots and even a bit on the length of the hair, give it a bit of a shake and I have tons of volume. It also smells amazing to me, peachy-floral, I just wish it lasted longer.
Two more texturising product that I consider being very similar. VO5 contains sea salt, so it's kind of like a dry sea salt spray. These two remind me of a dry shampoo on steroids, meaning they gives a lot of grip, volume and a bit of hold (Charles Worthingston's has stronger hold than VO5's). If you plan to wear your hair in a braid or you want to make your beachy waves look that bit better, I'd use either of these.
JOHN FRIEDA Beach Blonde Ocean-Waves
I've never owned a proper salt spray before, but I did try to make it myself, though I didn't like it. This one is highly rated online and available in Müller, so it's worth a try also due to a beachy, coconuty-salty scent it has. I find that the formula would benefit with more hold, but this also means that you can spray as much as you want and it won't make your hair feel sticky or crunchy. It does leave that salt water feeling on the hair and it made decent enough beachy waves, though real salt water does it way better and I still find it works a lot better if you use a curling iron and spray each strand individually after. I used it like that on the right picture row one and left picture row three.
My hair is super long, so if it's really hot outside I always either braid it, put it in a high ponytail or a bun. Fishtail braid is the hair style I do very often and so many people ask me how do it. It's actually very easy, just more time consuming than regular braid and it's a lot more secure because if you lose the hair tie (happens to me all the time), it mostly still keeps in place. I learned how to do it by watching this tutorial years ago.
The half up I've been doing recently is super simple and just involves twisting two strands, then pinning them on each side. I have a better picture of it here and you can find the tutorial here. The starfish hair clip is from eBay for 1 pound here.
Milkbraids are my choice for really hot days. It keeps all the hair away and it's very secure. I even sleep with it and by the morning it's just a bit messy, but nothing falls down. It's really a minimal amount of work that involves doing two braids and pinning in a halo form. The star fish hair pin is again from eBay for 1 pound here.
The beach waves on the second and fifth picture were made by a method used in this tutorial and using the John Frieda Beach Blonde Salt Spray
The last hair style is a bit more complicated, though a dutch braid is actually just inverted french braid. Here is Missy Sue's tutorial on How to Braid for beginners. I just did a side dutch braid and finished braiding all the way to the end, then pinned it in a low bun. A similar tutorial here.
Have a great day!
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