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.