| Loves | Summer Essentials 2016

Summer Essentials 2016

Summer is here and beauty collections have come and gone and now we are anticipating fall collections! But before we delve into that, let's start summer first. I wanted to share some of my summer favorites.

Fresh and clean skin prep is essential for glowing summer skin. Also equally important, is protecting your skin from the summer sun,

The Pur~lisse Blue Lotus Essential Daily Moisturizer with SPF 30 is available on the Pur~lisse website for $55.00 USD for 1.7oz is a wonderful daily moisturizer with sun protection.  This moisturizer provides great long-lasting hydration without  causing oil build up or grease throughout the day. It is a great protective base before makeup for those summer days. It does smell like sunscreen but that's how you know its going to protect you!

For a quick summer skin refresher and pick-me-up, the Dr. Brandt Skincare Oxygen Facial Flash Recovery available at Sephora and other retailers for $70.00 USD for 1.4oz. If you never used a oxygen mask before,  it is the most incredible sensation! After applying a thin layer of product all over your face, it begins to foam and bubble on your face. Its the most wonderful and interesting tingling sensation, as foam forms all over your face! After rinsing it off, my skin feels so refreshed and clean. As summer approaches, we all want to wear less makeup, this mask refreshes my skin and puts the glow back into it. The best part about this mask is it only takes 5 minutes!


One of my favorite skincare releases of this year has to be the Tom Ford Radiant Moisture Souffle, available at Sephora and other retailers for $98.00 USD for 1.7oz. I have a full raving review you can read here. Its the most luxurious glowing moisturizer! It makes an incredible glowing base for your summer makeup. The pearls in it are so fine you can't even see them but on the skin, you're glowing. Trust me, you need this in your life!

Summer is all about the skin- glowing and healthy looking skin. So my picks, of course, will be very glowy!

Pur~lisse BB Cream (medium) is available on the Pur~lisse website for $32.00 USD. This BB cream is a traditional Asian BB cream. It is very creamy and moisturizing without being too emollient.  The texture is a lovely mix of a tinted moisturizer and primer. It glides over the skin like a light foundation and provides a light to medium coverage. It is very buildable coverage without feeling heavy and thick on the skin. I wish there were more shade because I know as I get a tan, it will be too light for me. I see this medium shade suiting a yellow-toned person between a MAC NC30ish-37ish. I love the spf 30, its just enough protection for everyday. It provided a nice glow to my skin and looks very natural.

Giorgio Armani Maestro Glow Foundation in 0 available at Sephora and other retailers for $64.00 USD. This dual-phase foundation provides that supermodel-on-the-runway kind of skin! It give your skin this incredible glossy finish, unlike any dewy foundation I have ever used! Now you're probably thinking "why a white foundation"? For me, I tan crazy easily, so I own a lot of my "summer foundation shades" (which are several shades darker than I normally I am) because after an hour at the pool I'm at least 2 shades darker. So I love to mix this in with my darker foundation shades to create the perfect custom shade and finish for me. But this white foundation is incredibly versatile! You can also use it as a brightening and illuminating base for your foundation or as a natural and luminous highlighter! Anyway you use it, get ready to glow!

I know all season we've been seeing face palettes being released, now i'm not saying this is the absolute best of the season but I think its a beautiful palette and amazing for summer! Becca x Jaclyn Hill Champagne Collection Face Palette available at Sephora and SpaceNK UK for $52.00 USD for 3 blushes and 2 shimmering skin perfectors. I honestly, didn't expect to love this palette so much but it is truly perfect for summer! I have used this palette for my eyes and face, it is very versatile. For me, the star of this palette is the luminous blush in Rose Spritz! This shimmering rose blush is so stunning and glowy. The golden shimmer is so refined it creates such a healthy and fresh look! The shimmering skin perfectors are so fine, yet intense, that they can give you a soft daytime glow or an intense one for night. If you don't already own some of the Becca cheek products, now is the time to snag a few all wrapped up in one package. ( I know there has been a lot of controversy regarding this collection due to the eye palette being removed from shelves but I find the face palette to be excellent quality and it is made in the USA)

For those of you who love cream face products, the Hourglass Illume Sheer Trio available at Sephora, Barneys, and other retailers for $62.00 USD is a beautiful summer palette! Check out my review and swatches here. It is a beautiful compilation of a bronzer, blush, and highlighter! everything you need for a fresh and glowy summer complexion! The texture is so creamy and smooth. A definite must for those with dry skin or those who love cream face products! 

NARS Laguna Liquid Bronzer available at Sephora and other retailers for $40.00 for 1.0oz. I had to include a bronzer on my summer essentials list and this one is perfect for summer! Check out my full review and swatches here. This liquid bronzer is an incredibly natural shade with just a bit of gold shimmer. It blends beautifully into the skin and provides the perfect summer glow!

Eyes

For me summer eye makeup is light and sparkling, whether if its day or night.


I have to, of course, pick my well-loved Tom Ford Cream Color for Eyes available at Tom Ford, Neiman Marcus, and other retailers for $45.00 USD. In the summer, I want keep my makeup as light as possible and these cream shadows are so light and glowy! You will need to use primer but these blend so easily, you can just slap them on and go! The summer collection duos come with a beautiful glitter topper but you can just use any shimmering shadow on top, these make beautiful bases! Tom Ford now offers many shades to choose from! These shadows are just so easy, I love that I can have a really beautiful eye look without much time or effort!


I fell in love with the Tartelette in Bloom Palette, available at Sephora and other retailers for $45.00 USD  for 12 eyeshadows each .053oz. The eyeshadows are incredibly soft, pigmented, and blendable. The shades are so soft and perfect for summer. I love that there are both matte and shimmer shades, all of which are amazing quality.

I love glossy lips but especially for summer.

I'm obsessed with the Giorgio Armani Rouge Ecstasy Lacquers available at Sephora and other retailers for $38.00 for a long-lasting glossy lip color. I can't rave about these enough but here goes... these lacquers are a hybrid product of a lip stain and a lip gloss. Similar to the YSL Glossy Stains but 10X better! The first layer of this product is your lip color/stain. As you layer it, you get more color and more gloss, creating a opaque glossy lip! These lip colors wear so well and as they wear away, you don't get a goopy ring of product around your lips (which happens to me with the YSL). There are so many stunning shades with and without shimmer to choose from! (Since arm swatches really doesn't do this product justice, plan to make some lip swatches and I will post them in a separate post and on Instagram)




The Tom Ford Ultra-Rich Lip Color in Revolve Around Me available at Sephora and other retailers for $52.00 USD is the perfect glossy summer nude lip! I'm not one to spend money on pricey sheer lip colors, I just don't see the point in spending so much for a sheer lip color but this shade is too stunning to pass up! This "sheer" lip color is not as sheer as you'd expect. It's a beautiful glossy nude pink that's very natural and flattering. Although it doesn't last long on the lips, its just such a beautiful lip color that I will continue to repurchase it!

I am the most low maintenance person when it comes to my hair, so I have one product! In the summer with all your sun exposure and swimming in the pool or at the beach, I love a good hair mask!

The Shea Moisture Fruit Fusion Coconut Water Weightless Hair Masque is available at Ulta and other retailers for $12.99 USD for 12.0oz. Now, let me just say, I don't use hair masks the way people typically do, I like to use my hair masks before washing my hair. Here's why, I find that my hair absorbs the product and moisture the best when it is the first product I put into my hair. So I will slather it all over my damp hair from the end to the roots and leave it on for a minimum of 30 minutes to and hour, the longer the better. Then I shampoo and condition as usual. My hair is so soft and silky but it isn't heavy and weighted! The scent is a wonderful tropical fruity scent that lingers in your hair. For the affordable price, I think its an excellent hair mask! Plus the ingredients are natural and chemical-free! I plan to try their other hair masks soon!

Body oils, have been in growing in popularity and they have been my favorite way of getting my skin summer-ready.

One of my favorites is a standard body oil, not a dry oil, from Shea Moisture available at Ulta and other retailers for $9.99 USD for 8.0oz . These are inexpensive and often go on sale, so I don't feel bad slathering my entire body with it.. They come in many scents my two favorites are Coconut & Hibiscus and Fruit Fusion Coconut Water Energizing.  These body oils are multi-purpose and can be used as a massage oil, bath oil, or body oil. They smell incredible, like a tropical cocktail and they are incredibly hydrating. These body oils are greasy and not light on the skin but I often only use these in the evening, before bed. When I wake up my skin feels incredibly soft and hydrated.

The other oil I love is the dry oil from NARS, the Monoi Body Glow II available at Sephora and other retailers for $59.00 USD for 2.5oz. This oil is a very light dry oil that absorbs rapidly into the skin. It smells like a sweet floral coconut scent that last quite a while on the skin. A little does go a long way with this oil but I don't use it too often because it is so pricey. Its a luxurious body oil and a nice summer treat!