The livin' may be easy in the summertime, but looking fresh-faced isn't always so. Summer beauty do's—like faking a sun kissed look and wearing sheerer, more lightweight formulas—can backfire, suddenly turning you into a beauty don't. The good news is that it's a cinch to save face. Read on for easy solutions to six common summer beauty bummers.
Beauty Bummer: Oil rebound and breakouts
Even though you're dutifully caring for your face with a skincare regimen that includes cleansing and exfoliating, your skin is acting up.
Summer Solution: Excessive oiliness and breakouts often occur when skin is irritated by overly harsh soaps and scrubs. Resist the impulse to "control" your oiliness and acne with even stronger formulas—these things will just aggravate your skin even more. Instead, use a soapless cleanser and a gentle scrub (avoid scrubs containing roughly ground particles—if the scrub feels very gritty between your fingers it'll be too much for your face—and stripping ingredients like alcohol or menthol).
Beauty Bummer: Runny makeup
You've made the switch to lightweight, summer-friendly makeup formulas (like tinted moisturizer and powder eye shadow and blush), but your makeup still won't stay put and it often goes streaky by mid-day.
Summer Solution: Your moisturizer or sunscreen may be the culprit. Creamy, emollient-rich formulas can leave a slippery film on your face that makes it hard for makeup to adhere to skin. Switch to a lightweight, less emollient lotion or gel formula that'll hydrate and protect your skin without getting in the way of your makeup. Another tip—after applying your moisturizer or sunscreen, allow a few minutes for the product to fully absorb into your skin before moving on to the rest of your beauty routine.
Beauty Bummer: Bronzer overload
You dusted shimmery bronzer all over your face to create a glowing, sun-kissed look, but you look more fake-baked than natural.
Summer Solution: Since the idea of bronzer is to give you a natural look, piling on the powder defeats what you are trying to achieve. The secret is to apply bronzer just on the parts of your face where the sun would naturally hit—predominantly your cheeks, nose and chin. To ensure a seamless look (obvious lines of demarcation are a dead give-away that you've faked your glow) make sure that you apply the bronzer with a brush that has a big, fluffy head. Inside tip: soft matte bronzing powder looks more natural than bronzer with shimmery, light-reflective particles.
Beauty Bummer: Self-tanner sleeves
Whenever you apply self-tanner, you're inevitably left with telltale tanned arms and pale hands.
Summer Solution: To tan your hands without staining your palms, you have two options. If you're using a self-tanner in a squeezable tube or pump dispenser, squirt about a quarter-sized amount of product onto the back of one hand, then rub the backs of your hands together. Or you can try a self-tanning spray that finely mists the product directly onto the backs of your hands and doesn't need to be rubbed in. For truly natural-looking results, use a Q-tip saturated in non-greasy eye makeup remover to remove self-tanner around the nails and cuticles.
Beauty Bummer: Raccoon eyes
Your waterproof mascara, which is robust enough to last through a dip in the pool, always seems to smudge and smear when you're on dry land.
Summer Solution: Waterproof mascara formulas dissolve when they come into contact with any oils—from the naturally occurring oils on your eyelids to the oils formulated in your eye cream. To avoid raccoon eyes, don't apply eye cream on eyelids and dust them with face powder to absorb excess oiliness. If you have a lot of problems with undereye smudging, skip applying mascara on lower lashes.
Beauty Bummer: Ring around the lips
When you pair lip pencil with lightweight (in other words, less long-lasting) lip formulas like stains, sheers and glosses you often get to mid-day with just a circle of liner.
Summer Solution: Line and fill in lips with the lip pencil, then apply the lip product over it. When the color eventually wears off, you'll be left with a pretty, subtle stain on your lips.
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