Summer Essentials, Part II, Makeup!

This is the sequel to my Summer Essentials post, and in this I talk mostly about makeup/cosmetic products that are useful! I feel like this is much more my field. There are some great posts and videos out there about the joys of suncream, but I am much much much more of a makeup girl! This is bad, I know, haha. Enjoy!


Tinted Moisturiser.. Sort Of
As you can see, I don't really own a tinted moisturiser. I don't really get the point. Clinique's Dramatically Different Gel is the best thing since sliced bread - all I do is squirt a little bit on the back of my (sanitised) hand, mix with a bit of foundation and it's a blessing. You don't really want to be wearing a full face of heavy foundation when it's thirty degrees outside.


Waterproof Mascara
I hate waterproof mascara with a passion, as it dries out my lashes something shocking, but if you know for a fact you're going to be in and out of the water or near a pool or the sea, you're probably going to want to invest in this stuff. Just use it sparingly.


Bronzer
Since you'll definitely be using SPF (won't you?!), you'll want to make sure your face is nice and tanned. This is my favourite bronzer, because it's lovely and shimmery and a nice goldish-bronze colour. I love ones like this MAC Loose Mineralize powder with a nice wide sifter, so I can use a big 'ole brush and sweep it all over and down onto my chest and neck area too.


Bright Lipstick or Lipgloss
No-one wants to wear a lot of makeup in the summer, and that is that. There's sweating involved and your pores get clogged, and if you're on the beach you don't want to be worrying about smudged eyeliner or mascara.. right? Right. One of my favourite tricks when I'm reaaally lazy is to just throw on some concealer and a little bit of mascara, and then add a really bright lipstick such as Illamasqua's Mistress Lipgloss, shown here, and you're set.


Primer
Generally, I'm not really a big fan of primer. Some people swear by it. I got this one recently and I'm pretty much loving it. It's a weird formula - a mousse, but primer's generally help keep your makeup from sliding all over the place and staying put all day. However, I do sometimes feel like they can clog your pores and make your skin feel really heavy, so apply with a light hand, and because this one has a beige-ish colour to it, all I really need to do after apply is add a little bit of concealer and I'm pretty much good to go.


Blot Powder
I generally don't see many products as a "must-have". This is not one of those products. I love this product and recommend it to anyone who asks me about it. It is a summer-night-out staple, honest to God. Sweep this over your forehead, nose and cheeks, and you will be shine-free all evening. MAC do a Blot Powder, but my favourite one is the Urban Decay one. Firstly, look at that packaging, it's just awesome. I'm a sucker for pretty packaging, and I'll be honest, Urban Decay don't always pull it out the bag, they're a little hit and miss, in my opinion. This is a hit, hit, hit. Another thing is the colour: MAC's Blot Powders have a touch of colour to them, which may or may not be your thing. I always felt I looked a little cakey in it. This is a transluscent blot-powder. In the pan it looks white, with a hinttt of purple or blue to it, but when you put it on, it disappears into your skin.
I'll stop now with my mini-review.. haha.


Hand Sanitizer
This is sort of a summer essential, and really just an all the time essential, but I feel I use it most in the summer, where you might be eating outside or going into cities an sightseeing, or using public transport.. Hand sanitiser is just plain sanitary, and useful, and that's about it really.

Did you like this little departure from everyday blogging? What are your summer essentials..? I love all feedback!

Recent cheek combo.

A few weeks back, I made a little promise to myself that I would try and use some of the products that I don't use as much as I should. This involves two of those colours, MAC's Mineralize Skinfinish in Warmed, and MAC's Hipness Blush from the Fafi collection, so I thought I'd show you how I've been layering my blusher as of late.
Now, don't get me wrong, I do wear blusher, but I don't really ~vary~ too much. For example, I know peachy-coral shades work really well.. and I kind of tend to stick in that zone. I buy other colours.. but I don't really wear them because I fear them. I bought Warmed about a thousand years ago when I was just getting into MAC products and realising what Mineralize Skinfinishes were etc, etc, etc and I was in that phase where I thought that buying everything MAC was good. Oh, how I was wrong. But that's another story.


Warmed is from the old N Collection, it's a warm shimmery bronze, with streaks of light gold running through it which warms the colour up a bit. I've been wearing this brushed over my cheeks and temples, to half contour the face and half bronze, and it does an excellent job, especially when I get a bit more tanned in the sun.


Hipness is from Fafi, like I said, hence the packaging, and it's an inbetweeny pink. It's not too barbie pink, but it's got a hint of coral in it and a teeny bit of summer. I wear this on the front of my cheeks, to add a bit of colour and not just shimmer.


And finally, Soft and Gentle Mineralize Skinfinish. I think this is part of their permanent collection, but don't hold me to that. I don't know how they recommend you wear this, but for me, if I wore it all over my cheeks, it would be a shitload of shimmer everywhere, haha. With this, I just sweep a little bit on the tops of my cheeks and around the temple in a c shape as a highlighter, and I really like the way that looks.


I used the 187 Brush from MAC to apply this, simply because I like the way it goes on, you can apply a little bit of colour and build it up, and apply it directly where you want.


And just so you can see.. this is what it looks like all together.It might seem like a lot of effort, but I really like the way this looks altogether, gives the right mixture of bronzer, colour, and highlight. (: I hope you found this useful, and this is a hint to reach for those colours you might not necessarily! The next one on my hitlist is Light Flush, from MAC, an odd pink-bronze.. haha.