Summer Beauty Essentials
Summer is here! For a few days at least, so get those summer beauty essentials bought! You might need them again this year, and we should all be changing up our beauty routine in the summer months anyway.
For Face, Body and Hair, there are loads of fab products you should try – these are just some of my favourite.
HAIR
Your hair should change in the summer, certainly when on holiday at least. Let is go free! Embrace the curl, leave the straighteners behind, and use a wave spray of some sort. Bumble and Bumble’s Surf Spray is iconic, and now they’re brought it out in a mousse version! Their Surf Foam Spray Blow Dry (£9.50 or £22, 40ml & 150ml, bumbleandbumble.co.uk) will give you soft, beachy texture even in the heart of the city. It’s part mousse – but way lighter – and part salt spray – but less gritty – and it’s fab. Infused with Coconut Water and UVA and UVB filters to help protect against the drying effects of the sun. Spray it all over damp hair, and blow dry with a brush, or rough dry with hands.
I also love Paul Mitchell’s Awapuhi Ginger Texturizing Sea Spray (£20.50, paul-mitchell.co.uk) which gives great wave! Fudge’s Sea Salt Texturising Spray (£6.99, superdrug.com) gives really matte, beachy waves as well. Paul Mitchell’s Ultimate Color Repair Triple Rescue (£17.25) is a great summer rescue product. It protects against heat, so it’s perfect for poolside, or beach days. Top up after swimming. Charles Worthington’s Moisture Seal Hair Healer Leave-in Conditioner (£5.99, boots.com) contains Argan Oil to restore damage, Coconut oil to strengthen, Abyssinian oil to moisturise, Tsubaki oil to restore sheen and Macadamia oil to add softness. Wow! Leave it in before blow drying in the summer months when your hair can get dry. Take on holiday and use on the beach after swimming.
FACE – SKINCARE
Use a tinted moisturiser for a more natural base in the summer months. I love Chanel’s Les Beiges All-in-One Healthy Glow Fluid SPF15 (£24, feelunique.com) which gives your skin a healthy glow, and it has SPF in it to protect it. The Body Shop’s new Honey Bronze Drops of Sun Holiday Glow Creator (£12, thebodyshop.co.uk) is a great little pot of non-shimmery bronze liquid that you can add to your moisturiser or your foundation to give you sunkissed glow. Bobbi Brown Protective Face Lotion SPF15 (£35, bobbibrown.co.uk) is a light summer moisturiser with Vitamin E and Chamomile. If your skin is a bit drier, just use an oil or balm in those patches, along with this.
Change your moisturiser in the summer. Changes are you might not need anything as rich as you use in the winter, and you would do well to add an SPF into your regime. Olay have two perfect summer moisturisers. Olay Regenerist 3 Point Day Cream SPF30 (£29.99, olay.co.uk) is great if you need something that is anti-ageing as well as moisturising. It’s very light, and absorbed quickly, but is hydrating. Olay Total Effects Featherweight Moisturiser SPF15 (£14.99) is for the first signs of ageing, and contains Olay’s SolaSheer technology whch means it doesn’t leave a sticky layer so skin feels fresh. It’s very very light.
FACE – MAKEUP
Makeup in summer months can be difficult. Why should we change the way we look? In short, we shouldn’t. We should adapt the way we look by using more summer-friendly products. And on holiday, maybe a break from the norm is good. Change up your lipstick and blusher for an all-in-one product like Estee Lauder’s Blushing Creme for lips and cheeks (£19, esteelauder.co.uk) from their new Genuine Glow range. This lovely stick gives your skin an ultra-natural, wind-kissed outdoors glow. A flush of colour. A perfect, creamy blend of nourishing, skin-loving hyaluronic acid, vitamin C and E, and luminous optics leaves your skin looking fresh. It comes in two shades – Sweet Cheeks and Peachy Keen. Apply over the apples of the cheeks and on the lips whilst smiling!
Illamasqua’s Sketch Sticks (£15, illamasqua.com) are such summer makeup fun. You can use them wherever you like. The bold pink shade – Fly – is great for quick, bright, bold lip and cheek touch-ups. Clarins Fix’ range consists of two products designed to help your makeup last in the sunshine and heat. Don’t buy a new waterproof mascara, just use the Double Fix’ Mascara (£20, clarins.co.uk). It’s a waterproof topcoat for lashes, and eyebrows. It’s easy to use and it works! I love the Fix’ Make-Up (£24), particularly the lovely tactile bottle. This stuff is just perfect if you need your makeup to stay on on a sticky summer’s day. It is so hydrating, and cooling, and comes out as a lovely mist. It has aloe vera, which contains compound sugars which encourage water retention, therefore maintaining skin hydration. It smells delicious thanks to grapefruit extract and organic rose floral water.
BODY
Melvita’s Nectar De Roses Hydrating Milky Mist (£15, melvita.co.uk, from August) is just delicious! A milky mist that hydrates, refreshes and just brightens up your skincare routine, with the beautiful smell of roses. A good sunscreen is essential and I am a big fan of luxury brand Zelens. Yes, this is not a cheap option, but the Zelens Body Defence Sunscreen SPF30 Silky Oil (£55, zelens.com) is packed full of skincare goodness, antioxidants, anti-ageing ingredients and SPF whcih protects from UVA and UVB rays. And it’s a lovely, easy to apply spray oil. Aveda’s new Beautifying Radiance Polish (£36, aveda.co.uk) is perfect for sloughing off those dead skin cells and prepping you for summer holidays. It contains organic safflower and olive oils, and rosemary, lavender and bergamot for a gorgeous scent. Scoop it out of the pot and massage into your skin before a shower.
Lush’s Shimmy Shimmy (£4.95, lush.co.uk) is a solid body tint that will give you a gorgeous glow and leaves behind a bit of sparkle wherever it goes! Made with shea and cocoa butter to keep skin soft and hydrated as well as fair trade vanilla absolute and clary sage oil to add sweet and sensual scent. Seventeen’s Instant Glow Instant Bronzing Mousse (£5.99, boots.com) is a fab wash-off fake tan, to add a hint of colour when you need it. I love a wash-off tan, and this one is really good – and a bargain price!
Finally, a gorgeous summer night’s fragrance choice is Michael Kors Midnight Shimmer EDP (from £40, from July 20). It’s a rich, woody fragrance featuring an addictive blend of soft musk, jasmine petals and sensual vanilla. It openswith the succulent sparkle of Quince, highlighted with the fresh dew of Freesia and lush Jasmine Petals. The near-black Vanilla Bean reveals a velvety sensuality. The dry down intrigues with Moss and Peru Balsam touched by a hint of Musk. It’s heady and rich. Lovely, and perfect for long, hot, summer nights.
