summer beauty regimen

tips to streamline your skin-care and beauty regime:

1 Choose a cleanser formulated for your skin type. Try gel cleansers for oily skin and cream cleansers for dry skin and sensitive skin types.
2 Forgo moisturizer. Because of the warmer weather, your skin actually retains more of its natural moisture. Swap your moisturizer for sunscreen with an SPF of at least 20 to protect your skin from the sun’s harmful rays.
3 Your hair gets damaged by the sun’s rays, too. Protect your hair and soften it in the process by slicking on a deep-conditioning mask while you’re in the sun. The heat will help the deep-conditioner penetrate your strands better.

make-up switches for summer:

Instead of foundations and powders, swap to a tinted sunblock – it provides light coverage, SPF protection, and doesn’t clog pores. Plus, it won’t melt like face powders do under heat.

Instead of a powder blush, opt for a bronzing highlighter for cheekbones. Heat increases blood flow to your cheeks, giving you that faint blush you get from bright blushes, anyway.

For eyes, opt for a bright mascara instead of a heavy black eyeliner. It’ll make your eyes pop while making your make-up look a bit more effortless. For light eyes, use the bright mascara as a topcoat over your usual masacra. For dark eyes, just use the brighter shade in place of black.

Use a berry-coloured lip stain in place of matte lipstick. It looks more natural and can be applied to look sheer or dark.

smoking

Smoking may seem harmless; Models and celebrities are constantly being photographed smoking, so it seems like the thing to do, right? The fact is, smoking has hidden and visible dangers. You’d have to be really naïve to think lighting up doesn’t affect you. Okay, your mom and your doctors probably repeatedly tell you that smoking damages your lungs and can give you all sorts of health problems.

But, all those consequences are hidden. The beauty-conscious side of you probably doesn’t know that smoking can actually affect your expectations of having healthy, glowing skin, shiny hair and a white smile. Maybe it’s something to consider next time you light up a cigarette.

summer beauty trends

carefree spiraling curls and natural beachy, windswept waves
Whatever your natural hair texture, don’t fight it — enhance it!

colourful make-up
Eye make-up shades in pastel colours are really in this season: lavenders, pinks and blues.

bright nails
Corals and blue are really popular this season for nail polish shades. I’m really love Chanel’s line this season for nail polishes. My favourite is Nouvelle Vague. A cheaper alternative, is Essie’s Mint Candy Apple.

a natural-looking, sun-kissed glow
It’s important to protect your skin from the sun, but healthy bronzed skin is also a trend this season. So, protect your skin with SPF or get a safe glow with a bronzing cream.

6 Summer beauty essentials

Chanel nail polish in Nouvelle Vague
L’Oréal Sublime Bronze One-Day
MAC eye shadow in Freshwater
Aveda Sun Care Protective Hair Veil
MoroccanOil Intense Hydrating Mask
Clinique Sun SPF 30 Face Cream

beauty review

Bioré Ultra Deep Cleansing Pore Strips

4 out of 5 stars

“Instantly pulls away oil and dirt build-up from your nose in just one use. Bioré® strips are twice as effective as the other strips on the market at ridding pores of build-up and blackheads. Formulated with a patented system to literally pull out dirt, oil and blackheads instantly. Custom fit to reach dirt and oil in those hard to reach areas. Helps reduce the appearance of pores with regular use. For best results, use once a week.”

I have oily skin so keeping blackheads at bay has always been a problem for me. I exfoliate everyday with a scrub then use a face wash with salicylic acid to avoid breakouts. I’ve been buying Bioré pore strips for a couple of years now and I recommend this product to anyone wanting to get rid of stubborn blackheads.

They’re simple and easy to use, you just wet your nose with warm water (the warmer the better to open up pores to pull out excess sebum better) and apply it to your nose. You leave it on for around 15 minutes or until it’s hard like paper-mâché. When you peel it off, it’s best to just pull it off quick, like a band-aid. I personally don’t think it hurts that much but it might hurt if you have dry skin.

I think that this product really does remove even the most stubborn blackheads. But, if you’ve still have those few that just won’t come out, you can pop them after you’ve used the strip because after using the strip it makes it a lot easier for the excess sebum (which causes blocked pores – blackheads) to come out.

I use the pore strips at least once a week and I can honestly say that they work with even just one use. After using the strips, my skin feels a lot cleaner and smoother.

Bioré Ultra Deep Cleansing Pore Strips, $12 are available at drugstores

natural beauty masks

All-natural masks for every skin type:

for normal skin

a) Blend water and cabbage in a blender until it forms a paste. Apply the cold solution directly to your face. Wait 15 minutes, or until dry and rinse with warm water.
b) Beat an egg and smooth over skin. Wait until it has drip-dried then rinse with water.
c) Peel an apple and use the skin as a skin cleanser. Blend the apple skin in a blender until smooth and use as a face wash.
d) To tighten pores, smear an ice cube over your face.

for oily skin

For tighter, more refreshed skin: blend half a cucumber and apply to your face. Let it dry, and rinse off.

for dry skin

For moisturized skin: mash or blend a very ripe banana with a teaspoon of honey. Apply to face and when it’s dry, wash off.

blemish-prone skin

a) Squeeze the juice of half a lemon onto a cotton pad and rub onto your face. Let it dry overnight – this should dry out the situation and restore skin’s softness and give the complexion a glow.
b) Apply a dime-sized amount of toothpaste only on the area and let it dry overnight. The toothpaste dries up the blemish.

drugstore beauty buys?

I know, I know — the drugstore is hardly known as the best place to buy beauty products, but there are some that actually work well. Plus, they’re cheap. And don’t you hate dropping lots of money on an expensive product that doesn’t work? Here are some of my essentials:

St. Ives Fresh Skin Exfoliating Apricot Scrub

I have oily skin and I use this daily. It exfoliates and literally leaves my skin glowing.

Blistex Lip Medex

I never have chapped lips with this. It goes on smooth and light.

Aveeno Daily Moisturizer

Because I have oily skin, I use this only on some parts of my face: around my eyes and on my lips. I moisturize my lips with this after I wash my face and it always leave my lips smooth.

L’Oréal EverPure Shampoo, Conditioner, Mask

I still can’t believe how well this drugstore find works. I use the shampoo and conditioner daily and the mask twice a week and it leaves my hair glossy and healthy.

Life Face/Hair/Body mask sachets

I’m obsessed with these masks. They’re really cheap and actually work. There are different types according to your skin needs.

L’Oréal Go 360° Clean

I have oily skin and I’ve bought both the green one and the orange one. They both work great and the little scrublet really deep cleans. The best thing about this line is that they have a sample for every skin type.

What are your favourite drugstore beauty buys?

shade solutions

7 sunscreen tips:

1 use a sunscreen with broad-spectrum protection, which protects your skin from both UVB and UVA rays.
2 always wear a sunscreen with SPF 15 or higher, particularly for long-term sun exposure.
3 choose a sunscreen that’s been recognized by experts.
4 apply sunscreen liberally.
5 apply sunscreen 15-30 minutes before sun exposure.
6 re-apply sunscreen every two hours or after swimming (even if the formula is waterproof).
7 apply sunscreen daily, even if you’re just inside because UV rays can penetrate glass.

Sun smart fact: "90% of skin aging is due to the sun."
So, why aren’t you wearing sunscreen?

Sunscreen picks:

Dormer 211 Face Cream is the product that my dermatologist recommended. It’s a protective all-over skin moisturizer with SPF 30. It can be used for all skin types. It’s also hypo-allergenic, so it won’t clog pores resulting in breakouts. Another plus, it’s fragrance-free so you don’t smell like sunscreen when you apply it.

Other good picks for safe skin in the sun are: La Roche-Posay Anthelios XL SPF 60 Face& Body Cream and Vichy Capital Soleil SPF 60 Sun Block Cream.

beauty review

Guerlain Météorites Powder For The Face

4 out of 5 stars

“Tucked into a box inspired by Marie Antoinette's jewelry box, these little powder pearls are the secret to a perfect complexion. The tiny spheres instantly brighten and even skin tone with a blend of soft colors that combat imperfections, and the Mother of Pearl and gold work to lighten and brighten skin. This pearly powder evens skin tone and imparts an out-of-this-world luminosity. Thanks to its multi-color formula of five different shades of pearl, it acts as a luminizer, color corrector, and powder in one.”

To be honest, it was the pretty packaging and unique make-up beads that lead me to buy this product. I was expecting a perfect coverage powder that hid all my blemishes, it wasn’t necessarily what I got, but I’m still happy with the results.

There are three different types of glows: Translucent (Mythic 01), Rosy (Pink Fresh 02), and Golden (Beige Chic 03).

I had originally purchased the Translucent (Mythic 01) glow because I have fair skin. It made my skin appear paler, so I switched to the golden glow shade expecting it to provide the coverage of foundation and more of a bronzed glow. The powder itself doesn’t have that much coverage, but applied on top of foundation or concealer, evens out the skin tone and gives your complexion a nice glow. It has a light, fresh perfumed scent and goes on smoothly. Depending on how much of the product you apply, it can give your skin a subtle to shimmering glow. The powder does what it claims, it provides your face with a sheer brightening, resulting in a luminous complexion.

Guerlain Météorites Powder For The Face, $53 is available at Sephora

the glossy beauty book

The first post is always a little intimidating because you never know what exactly to say… My name is Amanda and I’m a sixteen year-old beauty enthusiast. Despite my young age, I have a lot of knowledge on the subjects of beauty and health. I like vintage everything, European glossies, yoga, polaroids, green tea, music, travelling, sleeping, photography, hippie headbands, Sephora, summer rain, flowers, the sun and dreaming. I also love fashion, music, art, running and simplicity.

I like effortless beauty and I believe that beauty in life, is best to be natural. Beauty can be found in all different shapes and looks. Like every other girl, blemishes are the bane of my existence and a glowing complexion is something I strive for — because, if you have clear skin, why do you need make up? My hair has its good days and bad days and it’s definitely not always perfect. Health and nutrition are really important to me, not being a size zero, but being healthy.

The glossy beauty book is a blog dedicated to all things beauty and health — from a positive point of view. Through my blog, I will share my knowledge on products, offer tips and advice and basically post anything that I think is interesting and helpful concerning beauty and health.