How To Prolong Your Summer Tan

Summer is coming to an end, and for the most part vacations are over for the season. If you're like me you're maybe not quite ready to trade in your tan for jeans and boots and winter pallor. If you're like me you want to get every last day out of that tan.
So you need a game plan, and I've got one for you.

6 Steps To Prolong Your Summer Tan

1. Cool Showers

Hot water dehydrates your skin and speeds up peeling and flaking.
Turn the temperature down and avoid high lather soaps and shower gels which just strip the extra moisture out of your skin, instead choose something super gentle.

Ren's beautiful Moroccan Rose Otto Body Wash is super hydrating, skin calming and frankly, pampering. It has won the InStyle Magazine Best Body Wash 9 years in a row! You can find it online at Space NK

2. Exfoliate

It sounds counter-intuitive, right??? But part of the key to keeping the tan nice and glowy is to keep it smooth. Gently exfoliating your skin every couple of weeks gets rid of the dead skin cells that are dulling up your tan and helps you to keep whats left looking gorgeous.

Tata Harper Smoothing Scrub micro polishes your skin and has all kind of glorious ingredients that give it a boost of hydration and make you feel luxurious. You can find it online at Space NK

3. Moisturize.

Moisturize. Moisturize. Moisturize. To keep that tan alive you need to upgrade to a serious body balm or body oil. I've been obsessing over these fabulous body products from Reves De Sabine all summer long. The Bath and Body oils are glorious, 

and the Dream Body Balm is a serious body balm. If this doesn't save your tan nothing will. 

Both are available online at Reves De Sabine

4. Drink Water

The key to keeping hydrated is to keep drinking water.
Every cell in your body needs it, every organ needs it, and your skin is the biggest organ on your body, so feed your tan with plenty of extra H2O

5. Fake It

As the color does begin to fade give it a little boost with some self tanner. 

St Tropez self tanning products give beautiful, believable color. They've been best sellers for years, and never let you down.
You can find them online at Nordstrom

6. Wear White

A great trick to keep looking tanned is to wear white next to your face. When its time to throw on jeans again, pair them with a crisp white shirt, some bronzer and a pink glossy lip. It will make you feel good too!

Beauty Tip Of The Week #21 Makeup Tips For Humid Days

Mid- summer humidity can be a beauty nightmare - from melting foundation to frizzy hair, keeping the glam on point can be challenging.

Check out these makeup tips for humid days, and please add any tips that work for you in the comments section below.

Kate Moss for St Tropez self tanner

1. Avoid Foundation.


When the humidity rises here I try to avoid wearing foundation. The more you sweat and shine and melt, the worse your foundation sweats and shines and melts. It's a no win situation!
 If you plan ahead you can build up a faux tan with 
St Tropez Every Day Gradual Tan from Nordstrom.
Check out my blogpost for tips on how to use facial self tanners here

2. Prime Time.

Use a really good silicone based primer to even out your skin tone and texture. Koh Gen Do Maifanshi color correcting primers help to both correct imperfections and keep you a little more polished and matte.

3. Define Your Brows.
Giving a little accent to your brows can create the most impact of your entire look. 
Without overdoing it, define your brow with a waterproof brow product like Makeup Forever's Aqua Brow


4. Use A Paint Pot Eye Shadow Base
I swear by a sheer coat of MAC Paint Pot as an eye shadow base plus primer, to help your eye shadow hold all day as well as pump up the color and keep it vibrant.

If you have a cool skin tone try MAC's Paint Pot in Painterly, if you are warm toned check out Soft Ocher, both available at Nordstrom.

5. Waterproof Mascara
It's a  must.

6. Matte Lips

When your face is getting shiny, a glossy lip can make you look even shinier. Neutralize the gooey glow with a soft matte lip.
Try Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution Lipstick in Miss Kensington

7 Tips For Self Tanning Your Face

Have you been avoiding using facial self tanning products because of the fear factor?Are you afraid of having un-repairable, streaky, patchy color on your face?

Kate Moss has perfected the ultimate in faux tans, with a little help from St Tropez. Here are tips to help you achieve the same results:

Seven Tips For Self Tanning Your Face

1. Exfoliate.

Before you get started you need to create a smooth, even surface to work with. Exfoliating will clear away the dead cells sitting on the surface of your skin.
Try Kate Somerville ExfoliKate Exfoliating Treatment, available at Nordstrom.com

2. Moisturize.

I recommend exfoliating and doing a moisturizing mask the night before, or taking time out to do a moisturizing sheet mask in the morning.
You need your skin to be super hydrated so that your tanning color doesn't grab onto dry patches, but you also need your moisturizer to be all the way soaked in to your skin before you start, with no residue left on the surface.
Try the Moisturizing Recovery Mask sheet mask from Memebox 

3. Protect Your Hairline

Stop the color from bleeding up into your scalp by using a little vasaline at the hairline (at the scalp edge, not along the face), and also in your brows. Don't let the vasaline migrate over onto the skin around your brows.

4. Only Use Products Designed For Your Face.

Don't try to double up by using the same product you use on your body on your face.
Body products are likely to clog your pores and cause you breakouts.
Try St Tropez Luxe Dry Facial Oil or St Tropez Self Tan Bronzing Lotion For The Face from Nordstrom.com

5. Pay Attention To Your Creases.

Go slowly and focus on applying it evenly. Don't forget the creases around your nostrils, any dips or dimples in your chin, and make sure you smooth the product through any fine lines and wrinkles, stretching any areas smooth while you apply. If an area is particularly tricky try using a duo fiber makeup brush.

6. Don't Forget Your Neck.

Your tan mustn't stop at your jawline. Make sure you smooth your self tanner over your throat with an upward motion, starting at your decolletage.

7. Wait It Out.

Once you have applied your facial self tanner be patient and wait for it to completely dry on the surface and absorb into your skin. Don't race to put makeup on, and don't go straight to bed - the last thing you want is pillow case creases tanned into your beautiful face!