Summer Essentials

Hi everyone,

Today's post is going to be my summer essentials. As you can probably tell I am writing this in August and it is the last month of summer, but living in the UK, August is probably to only month were we get decent summery weather. So lets begin with my essentials for this year.

Makeup

Starting with base products. In the summer, the last thing you want is makeup sliding off your face so you need a concealer that is super long-lasting and stays put. At the moment I have been loving the MUA prime and conceal palette. This has such a great concept as you have different colours that counteract different problems you may have on your face. As well as giving you coverage it also is super long-lasting as it is also a primer so you can even put foundation or even another concealer over. During the summer, you may have them days when your skin just looks really tired and dull, so to help a cream blush is great. I chose a cream over a powder as it is much quicker to apply and also lasts a lot longer. My favorite one is the Collection speedy blush in 02 cheeky. This is a gorgeous coral colour and it just makes you look so much more healthy.

For eyes, again another cream product, is cream eye shadow. This product was massively hyped about this time last year and rightly so, it is amazing. It is the Maybelline colour tattoo in On and on bronze, I chose this over Permanent taupe as it is a lot more of a bronze colour and would be better suited in the summer. The colour tattoos last so so long, so easy to apply and look amazing all day. In the summer you tend to be in water a lot more whether you go the beach, swimming or your on holiday so a waterproof mascara is a must. I haven't purchased a fresh one this year as I am not going on holiday just yet, but the one I was obsessed with last year was the Maybelline the colossal go extreme waterproof mascara. I would still be using this, but sadly it has pretty much all ran out and is not good to use as you are suppose to change your mascara every three months.

For lips in the summer, I don't want to wear pigmented lipsticks as I would just worry that they have either faded or smudged so I would rather use a lip stain in the summer as it still gives off colour but still keeping it really natural. The one I have discovered recently is the Benefit Bene tint, I have the mini and at first I didn't like it, but now it is growing on me, just a little bit. You can also use this on your cheeks as a two in one product but I prefer it one my lips and have the collection one on my cheeks. This is just very natural and great for everyday wear. An essential, even if you don't wear makeup is a lip balm with SPF I never did this and I wish I knew. My lips get dry very easily so something like the Nivea hydra care balm with SPF 15 is ideal. This is the first ever lip balm I have ever owned with SPF in and trust me they make all the difference.

In August, since I am off school I get to wear nail polish which I love, even though I hate painting them. This summer I would recommend the Barry M gelly hi-shine nail paints. I did a whole review on Barry M nail polishes (which is linked here) and these are my all time favorite formula. They were also the first ever nail polishes I ever started using from the drugstore. Amazing price,last a long time and so many colours to choose from. The colours I will be wearing are...

Lychee - Nude

Prickly Pear - Pastel lilac

Grapefruit - Bright pink

Papaya - Pastel orange

This isn't really an essential but I think a matte top coat would be really cool for the summer. I always see so many nail tutorials and they always seem to finish them off with a matte top coat so I think they are going to be a massive trend this summer. Mine is from the trusty Barry M and it is just their Matte top coat.

Body

Body essential for me are the same every year, but this year I am going to try and use some different products so starting with the classic, Sun cream. I honestly don't know someone who doesn't own at least one bottle of this, unless you olive in the north pole or something. Apart from that most people own this and use it in the summer. If you don't use sun cream you don't only get a higher risk of getting burned you can also get things like skin cancer so I suggest you all wear sun cream. Growing up I thought I never needed it as I always tanned but I am so grateful that my mum always forced me to. The one I am using at the moment is the Nivea sensitive sun lotion with SPF 50. I does the job without too much fuss.

Again an essential I think most people own in there household is E45 cream. I have used this my whole life basically and I still use it now. This is such a versatile product as you can mix it with your foundation to create it as more of a Bb cream or use it as a night cream, body lotion, hand cream pretty much anything. It is also very cheap for someone on a budget.

This year I am going to try a moisturize my body a lot more often as last year I never did it and I regret it highly. To achieve this I am going to use The Body Shop Body Milk in Moringa. I got this in the Christmas advent calendar last year and I just avoided it as I didn't know what it was. I finally tested it on my hand and I was impressed immediately. The concept is a super light weight body lotion with a watery consistency to nourish the skin. I have been using this for the last few days and I will continue to as it feels very oily and I feel like they work best to moisturize my skin. I am not the biggest fan of the scent as I am more of a fruity person than a floral person but never the less it is still very nice for the summer.

Now onto my summer scent for this year. Now, if you follow my instagram this may not come as a shock to you, but it is the Zoella body mist in Let's Spritz. I did a colab review of the whole range (linked here) and I have decided for the body mist to be my summer scent. It is not as strong as I would have liked it to be but I think I light scent is great for the summer so I am not complaining. I do really love the smell and I also really love the packaging, it just looks great in pictures.

My main hair care essential is a sea salt spray. The one I am currently using is the Primark P.S. love your hair texturing spray. I really like what this does to my hair, but the one hing that lets it down is the smell. To me it just smells really disguising, but I don't know if it's just me. This adds a lot of volume if your apply it to the roots and adds a lot of wave if you add it in the ends. Really inexpensive and worth trying out.

Random Accessory

I am thinking of doing a whole fashion, summer related post but for now I only have one accessory essential but it is sunglasses. Mine are from Next and they are slightly cat eye with black ombre into pink. Any sunglasses are great, as you always need them to protect your eyes from the sun, because no matter how lovely it is to have sun, it is not always the best for your eyes.

So I hope you enjoyed this post. Leave a comment below telling me your essentials and I will reply to them as always. Next week I will be posting Wednesday and Sunday so stay tuned for that.

Grace xx