6 Must Have Beauty Products For Summer ~ Beauty Tip of The Week #19

image via Harpers Bazaar Mexico

I love summer beauty.

I love fresh, glowing, bronzey, sunkissed skin.

I love the quick and easy to do makeup looks paired with beachy wavey hair.

It's fabulous.

But you do need the right products to pull off the perfect look for summer, so here is my list of essentials:

6 Must Have Beauty Products For Summer

It's Skin Facial Solution Water Mist ($14) is one of my all time favorite products. It's fantastic year round, but extra helpful in the summer. Feeling dry? spritz it on to rehydrate. Feeling oily? spritz it on to refresh. Had a long day in the sun or on the beach? spritz it on to sooth and soften your skin. Need to transition from the office to happy hour? spritz it on to re-energize your makeup. 
This one is always sold out, so when I see it available I buy 3 or 4 bottles at a time.

Chantecaille Radiance Gel Bronzer ($56) Powder bronzers sit on the surface of summer skin and look too dusty and makeup-y. Instead I prefer to use liquid and gel bronzers that give sheer, buildable color and that make the complexion look radiant and luminous. Chantecaille's is extra lovely, and doesn't clog your pores so you don't have to deal with makeup induced breakouts and blackheads at the end of the day.

MAC Fluidline Brow Gel ($16)
Hot weather, humidity, swimming and perspiring all destroy your artfully created eyebrows, leaving them tail-less and disappearing.
Summer makeup relies on a little brow accent to offset the simplicity of the rest of your look, so you want your brows to stay put. I love the MAC brow gel for it's colors, texture and staying power.

MAC Lipstick in Full Fuchsia or Girl About Town ($16)
I love both of these blue fuchsia shades for summer. They are bright and fun and make your teeth and the whites of your eyes look super white. When you are keeping everything else neutral and understated, a bold lip can look both stunning and fresh.

Tom Ford Shimmering Body Oil ($95)
I love everything Tom Ford does.
His Shimmering Body Oil is a sexy combination of a luminous golden shimmer for your limbs and a golden amber sandalwood fragrance. 

Bumble and Bumble Surf Infusion ($29)
The ultimate summer hair is beachy looking waves. Bumble and Bumble Surf Infusion is a yummy mix of tropical oils and sea salts that gives you soft, supple waves, instead of those crunchy, dried out looking sea curls. It is super awesome for dry or coarse hair. 

How To Do Perfect Makeup For Summer ~ Beauty Tip Of The Week #17

Have you noticed that in summer your makeup doesn't look quite so good? 
Maybe your foundation looks super slimy or maybe it looks too dry, your eye shadow turns into greasy pools in the creases of your eyelids, nothing stays where its supposed to, and you look nothing like the fresh faced models in the magazines?

Here are 6 tricks to make your summer makeup work

1. Less is absolutely more in the summer.
The biggest mistake you can make is piling on too much makeup. Summer is all about looking fresh faced and healthy, which doesn't work when you're wearing mask-like makeup.
Aim for a gorgeous complexion. Start with a lighter weight moisturizer, next apply a dry finish facial SPF, and finally a really good primer to even out the texture of your skin. 
If you need some help evening out your color, opt for a BB cream rather than a foundation.

2. Down play your eyes.
Big smokey, bold eye makeup looks stupid in the summer time. Choose a lighter, more nude look, and accent it with loads of mascara. To avoid smudgy mascara use a water resistant formula, and only ever use waterproof mascara if you're planning on swimming or sobbing - waterproofs are so damaging to your lashes and can be difficult to remove.

3. Go easy on the bronzer.
Find a formulation that works with both your skin and your climate (pressed powder/cream/liquid), and then apply it where the sun would kiss your face if you were out and about all afternoon.
Bronzer does not take the place of blush, and regardless of what the you tubers tell you, it is not for contouring with.
Don't make the mistake of trying to color your face in with bronzer - you will look muddy, not tanned.

4. Accent your brows.
Use your brows to add a little structure and polish to your look.
Without going overboard, (as in don't do the brows you see all over Instagram) give your brows a little definition and a hint of color with a waterproof/water resistant brow product. It will frame your eyes and keep your look nicely balanced.

5. Focus on the lip
Add a pop of color to your look with a bright summer lip. If your overall look is glowy try wearing a bold matte lip. If your skin is looking a little dry, liven your look up with a fun colorful gloss.

6. A little highlight goes a long way.
If you are transitioning from day to night, or if your look feels a little flat, adding a tiny amount of highlight to your upper cheek bones, under the eye if your eyes look tired, maybe a hint to the bridge of your nose if you need it, can lighten and brighten your complexion.
Just don't overdo it. There's a big difference between brightening your look and making yourself look glittery-shiny.