Beauty: The Summer Edit

I’m back with another seasonal beauty edit. At the beginning of summer I went trough my stash and picked some products that would fit the season the best and this is what came out of it. It’s a lot more than my previous beauty edit because I wanted mix some of my older products in there as well so I’d use them (more). Who says shopping in your own stash can’t be fun? I even found some gems I picked up last year but hadn’t used yet. It was about time I did something about it!

Summer is often associated with bright peacock eye makeup. Although I think it’s fun and I’ll sometimes experiment with a bright blue or purple, I tend to stick to my comfort zone which is neutrals. During the summer season I usually go for warmer colours with a little more sparkle that kind of give you the bronze goddess look when the sunlight hits your face. Essence has a great palette for that called All About Sunrise. It features 6 gorgeous warm shimmery shades that are really pigmented. I featured the Catrice Made To Stay Inside Eye highlighter Pen last time which is for your waterline, so this time I’m putting the regular Catrice Made To Stay Highlighter Pen in 010 forward. I pretty much highlight my eyes all year round, but during summer I like to take this a step further. This pen is a little bigger and more suitable for areas like the inner corner of the eye and the brow bone. When I do want to give my eyes a pop I go straight for coloured mascara like the blue & Other Stories Brilliant Colour Mascara. A few coats of this mascara will turn your lashes into gorgeous electric blue eye-catchers. You can also make them look more intense by using a white lash primer underneath.

If there’s something I love during summer, it’s adding colour, contour and highlights to my face. Hence the truckload of face products pictured here. You won’t see a foundation this time though. During summer my skin tends to look a lot better and sometimes I feel confident enough to go out barefaced. With or without a tiny bit of Bourjois Happy Light Concealer  in Ivory (unfortunately a tan does not help with the dark circles). On days where I feel like I could use some coverage I go all out. Bronzer, blush, highlighter.. the whole shebang. Digging through my stash has made me rediscover and rekindle my love for an old favourite, the Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick in Pink Quartz*. Isn’t it a beauty? A budget-friendly alternative comes from Makeup Academy (MUA) with the Undress your skin Shimmer Highlighter, which you can now buy at Kruidvat. Unlike many highlighters out there, this one is pink toned, making this a good match for cool skin types.

The Maybelline Terre Indienne (or Dream Sun) Bronzing Powder with Blush in Golden Tropics* has been my biggest go-to for bronzing, contouring and adding a touch of colour since I got it in May. It’s the perfect all-rounder face product, although I find the blush a bit small. I use my contour brush from Real Techniques to apply the bronzer. It has just the right size to contour. Another great powder blush I got this year is the Amazonian Clay 12 hrs Blush from Tarte in the color Fearless. It’s a bright and really pigmented pink that can be blended out to a soft pink. I use the blush brush from Real Techniques with this. It’s really fluffy and slightly tapered, making it the ideal brush shape for cheek product application. Lastly there’s this pretty pink cream blush from Dior in Capri that I picked up during my trip to Barcelona last year. It somehow ended up untouched in the back of my stash, so I made sure I got a lot of use out of it this summer. The light texture and soft pinky shade is perfect for the season as it blends into the skin like a dream.

Then there’s the lip product section. During summer I tend to go a little bolder & brighter. Bright & shiny coral lips are my absolute fave and that translates into my love for the Bourjois Shine Edition in Sunset Peach, the L’Oréal L’Extraordinaire Liquid Lipstick In Coral Encore and the YSL Rouge Volupté Silky Sensual Radiant Lipstick in Jealous Coral. The only lip product with a satin finish here is the creamy Nars Satin Lip Pencil in Lodhi., a beautiful orange coral shade that sits on the lips perfectly without drying them out. My second favourite shade is a bold bright pink and I’ve found a great match in the L’Oréal L’Extraordinaire Liquid Lipstick in Rose Symphony (I’m addicted to these, sorry not sorry) and the new Too Faced Melted Long Wear Liquified Lipstick in Peony that I picked up in the US (Sephora haul spoiler alert). I’ll tell you more about these very soon. Glosses are a big fave when it comes to nudes and that is where the NYX butter glosses in Vanilla Cream Pie and Apple Strudel come in. Lastly I also need to keep my lips hydrated with a good lip balm. For that I like to use the famous EOS lip balms and what flavour can be better for summer than Summer Fruit? AmIrite?

The Maybelline Color Show Bleached Neons have been my darlings this summer in the nail department. They’re bright, yet a bit muted, fun, long-lasting and come in 4 different shades. I did miss a decent blue though, that is why I added this pretty sky blue nail polish from Chanel (Le Vernis in Coco Blue) to the selection. Not as long-lasting as the Bleached Neons, but so incredibly pretty.

The last section consists of some bits and bobs of random product categories. The Bath & Body Works Hand Sanitizers in Malibu Sunset and Waikiki Surf are just 2 of the truckload I brought home with me from New York. They’re so cute looking and smell really good. I keep one of these in my handbag at all times.

When it’s hot and humid, my makeup sometimes has a hard time staying in place. That is why, during summer, I tend to set my makeup more with a setting spray. I picked up the MUA Pro-Base fixing mist during my last trip to London because it was so affordable and a lot of bloggers seemed to like it. I’m still in test-mode on this one, but I’ll let you know what I think of it soon!

 So that was it! What do you think? Let me know if you’re interested in learning more about a certain product, swatches, looks etc..

So what are your typical looks and products for Summer?

Disclaimer: This post contains PR samples (*)