The Summer Essentials

So this summer, I’ve been a mess. Aside from working, making plans with friends and taking copious naps, I haven’t managed to get anything done. For a while, I was dreading even having to wear makeup on account of the humidity and heat that we’re experiencing. However, I’m now back into it. I’m just hoping I can pull myself together enough to make posts happen again. I’m still going to pull together a favourites post at the end of the summer, summing up my favourite products for the months I’ve missed posting on, but I’m going to go through some seasonal essentials today:

(Can you tell I’ve had this post waiting in drafts for over a month? :))

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Essie Nail Lacquer in In The Cab-an: Particularly on my toes, I adore a bright blue polish in the summer and this one is perfect, leaning slightly more on the bluer side of turquoise with an easy cream formula. It’s opaque in two thin coats and is easy to work with, lasting a while – on my toes at least.

Skin79 Snail Nutrition SPF 50 BB Cream: In hot and humid weather, everyone – even those like myself who have skin that edges itself towards the truly dry and perpetually dehydrated end of the spectrum – dislikes the feeling of heavy product (or hardly any product at all) on the skin. We all can appreciate a multitasking product that does all three of its functions well – providing necessary sun protection, moisturizing and functioning as an everyday product – and this is it for me. Unless I’m being an idiot, I never burn when I’m wearing this. Impressively, it provides medium natural coverage that works whether or not I’ve gone for a full-face or not and stays put.

Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation: In this truly humid weather of the summer that just passed, I was not in the mood for any sort of makeup experimentation. This left me looking for a foundation that looked like skin, had a bit of glow and left my skin looking far better than before on a fairly regular basis and this one was my pick. With its satin finish, medium-buildable coverage and longevity, it might just be worth its hefty cost.

Physician’s Formula Murumuru Butter Bronzer: Despite being a lover of applying a bunch of cheek products on the daily, my lack of enthusiasm for makeup application left me looking for a one and done cheek product on a regular basis – and that product in question was this effortless and slightly glowy golden-hued bronzer. It’s smooth formula gave that effortless glow with the swipe of the brush and it added much needed life to my face in an instant.

Physician’s Formula Eye Booster Eyeliner & Serum: I suppose this was the summer that I really fell for some Physician’s Formula products. In the very beginning of Summer – or perhaps the tail end of Spring – I broke down and bought the eyeliner that everyone raves about and fell in love. It’s fine tip creates the smoothest lines and makes creating a flick a breeze in seconds. I love that its rich colour and smooth application doesn’t fade after opening for a few months. In my whole not wanting to put a load of makeup on fairly regularly, I’ve been relying on this liner to give me that instantly polished look.

OPI Nail Lacquer in No Doubt About It ($10-12): My infrequent posts in the last six months or so, aside, I have mentioned that I’ve become way more polish obsessed as of late. This summer, I fell for a neon pink – despite not being the kind of girl who is into pink in any shape or form. In my defense, it is a pink-coral kind of hybrid and it’s flattering on my warm undertones. It dries matte so it dries unbelievably fast which is nice, but my only complaint is that it does not cover completely on its own and layered over white, the polish only applies evenly with a perfect coat of white underneath. However, in three coats alone, it does cover 90% of the nail line and looks even.

Zoya Pixie Dust in Vega ($12): This teal tinged pale blue textured polish might not have the same quintessential ‘summer’ quality to it but its ease of use and cool kind of feel left me reaching for it more often than not. The mixture of matte and holographic glitters leave a cool effect on the nail but truly, what I adored the most was that it dried quickly – only requiring two easy coats – and was chip-resistant even without any top coat.

What did you love this summer?
Maggie, x.

 

July Favourites

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This July was one of the worst months I’ve had in a while, to be honest, but I’ll spare you from too many of the details. I’m really not looking for sympathy either — in fact, I abhor the whole institution of writing things just to look for sympathy (genuine or otherwise) from others, so don’t mistake this. However, I have been loving beauty products and I must say that it’s been a particularly good month for product loving — and this month I haven’t had loads of time or energy for makeup and beauty experimentation so there’s a low-fuss theme going on.

Origin’s Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask ($28)

This was one of those products I had always wanted to try as many who I read with similar dehydration concerns to me seem to rave about this but it’s not stocked on the Sephora website and it’s not easily available anywhere close to me so I didn’t fully add it to the shopping list but when I went in to pick up the Hourglass Ambient Palette, I spotted this on the shelves and I couldn’t resist. It was amazing from first use, feeling lightweight and ultra-soothing on the skin, providing intense hydration with that slightly belly oil-rich feeling. I think this one might just beat out my The Body Shop one but I can’t be too sure. It does smell heavenly but I’m not a fan of scented skincare and could easily do without the peach fragrance. It’s truly intensively hydrating and not particularly thick feeling and actually can vastly improve dry flaky skin overnight.

L’Oreal Sublime Sun Alcohol-Free Quick Dry SPF 50 Sheer Finish Spray ($18)

I really never expected to include a body sunscreen in one of these favourites posts but here I am, once again surprising myself. I love the ease of spray sunscreens (as many others do) but I have easily irritated skin and suffer from eczema and some body acne (fun stuff) and this neither irritates with alcohol content, feels greasy or causes breakouts while providing solid sun protection. It does need a little bit of rubbing in in my experience but it’s so much easier and fuss-free than a lotion formula.

 Skin79 Snail Nutrition BB Cream ($20/39)

After my lovely cousin picked this authentic Korean BB Cream up for me at Sasa in Hong Kong last summer, I became really obsessed with the stuff until Summer ended and forgot about its loveliness, especially as an all-in-one skincare-makeup hybrid product but I’ve been gradually adding it back into the routine and this month it’s been an essential. I don’t love it as a foundation as much as Chanel Perfection Lumiere Velvet etc. but the medium-coverage base provides fabulous sun protection and moisture while still looking fairly natural and glowy on the skin. I’m not someone who usually experiences oxidation but this one actually does and when it changes tone it looks phenomenal (not when you just put it on and this is why I’ve probably been neglecting this one). Another word of advice is that these sunscreen-heavy bases need to be worked into the skin well in order to have the desired effect in my experience. However, when I went to a music festival last summer this was a lifesaver – and a timesaver. You can order from the brand’s American site if you’re interested, by the way.

Nivea Vanilla & Macadamia Lip Butter ($4)

With such sensitive and perpetually-chapped lips, lip treatments are essential for me and as a result, you’ll hear about them loads on the pages here. It’s not a miracle treatment but this affordable balm has been a savior for hydrating my lips without ever causing them to become irritated. It can give a milky cast to the lips but the balmy formula instantly soothes and brings moisture to the lips without any weird smell, taste or anything.

Now Solutions 100% Natural Shea Butter ($20)

Somewhere in the early phase of the month, I did something (presumably) that caused quite the painful and unsightly eczema flare-up on my legs and unfortuantely there doesn’t seem to be a miracle cure or fix for the whole itchy situation, applying this basic cream twice daily has helped to soothe the area, prevent itching and help to calm the situation more quickly. As of now, I’m pleased to report that the basic formula has helped my legs to recover tremendously.

L’Oreal Glam Bronze Mono in Universal Sun ($15-16)

I will admit that I’ve raved about this pigmented red-toned matte bronzer numerous times in the last month but in truth I have only done so because the formula and the colour are both so phenomenal. The smooth powder offers impressive buildable pigmentation that remains effortless to blend into the skin. It’s also nice that it wears like a champ. It’s not the most cool-toned or non-orangey of bronzers, with quite a strong red undertone and warmth to it but it is the perfect hue to add that natural-looking sun-kissed hue to the skin.

Revlon Colorstay Moisture Stain in Milan Moment ($14-16)

This is yet another rather pricy (for a product of the drugstore variety) product that I’ve mentioned my love for more than once or twice and have been wearing most of the time. Despite being a stain, the formula does not dry out lips, even after the flattering balmy ‘gloss’ has worn off completely. The lightweight stains also don’t highlight dry patches or textural problems on the lips like thicker formulas can and I’ve been addicted to the summery sheer-but-buildable muted tangerine hue.

MAC Pro Longwear Waterproof Brow Set in Quiet Brunette ($21)

In the last year or so, I’ve become addicted to the results of filling in at least the sparse areas of my brows on a daily basis but in all honesty, I don’t love the effort it can take, especially lately as I haven’t been going all out on my makeup and this tinted brow gel seems to be the perfect solution. The cool-toned light brown hue matches my hair to a t, adding invisible looking definition to the brows that tend to look hairlike. True to its name, it stays in place on the brows until you remove it and can be worn alone for subtler brows or worn alongside some powder or pencil for more of a full-on look – but I’ve been just reaching for this one and it’s suited my laziness nicely.

MAC Eyeshadow in Woodwinked, Soft Brown & Smut ($12/18)

This month I’ve been using my MAC palette consistently and have fallen back in love with new colours to the palette and an old-standby — they are easy shadows to work with and consistently fabulous quality so they have suited my minimalistic mood nicely. The ever-popular antiqued-gold Woodwinked was rediscovered early in the month and I’ve become addicted to applying it all over the lid and blending it well to achieve that coppery hue, generally paired with some lazy-girl liner of some kind. The warm-tan matte Soft Brown and the dirty brown-taupe Smut were additions made throughout the month that I’ve been relying on equally as much. Smut is the perfect shade for smoking out the lashline and adding definition to the crease as it’s an interesting hue and doesn’t have much fallout while still delivering on the pigmentation front and Soft Brown has proven itself as worth the hype, being thrown through the crease for some depth as well as some transitioning-colour goodness. Oh MAC Eyeshadows, how I love thee…

What was your staple product from June?
Maggie, x.