Yes, ladies, I hear your call! I love Augusta, GA more than Paula Deen loves butter, but this humidity can wreak havoc on your face! I mean I'm all for looking dewy (seriously-have you seen how hydra luminous I've been taking myself lately?!), but you don't want to go around looking like a disco ball, nor do you want to spend all morning putting on your face only to have it melt off by lunchtime. So here is some advice to get you through the stress of it all!
1. "Before you cosmeticate, cleanse and exfoliate."-Yeah, I totally just made that up. But really, it's super important to get your skin right. Make sure to ALWAYS take your makeup off before bed-this means EVERY night-no excuses. Also, you may not know that a makeup remover and soap are two completely different things-you need both for your whole face. I'll blog more about this at another time. Exfoliation is key! Do it once a week, and DO NOT use that apricot stuff-the "granules" in it (ground up apricot pits) are jagged-they will cause small tears in your skin, allowing bacteria to enter, causing a breakout. Use one that has perfect spheres as their exfoliating beads. My favorites are: Clinique's Exfoliating Scrub (for oily skin) and Clinique's 7 Day Scrub (for normal/dry skin). Basically, exfoliation is going to remove the dead skin cells allowing your skin to absorb your moisturizer better, which will also allow your primer, makeup, concealer, and powder to lay and adhere better to your skin, not to mention it promotes cell turnover. Cell turnover is great because it keeps us looking younger and who doesn't want that?! Speaking of staying young...please tell me y'all are already wearing at least SPF 15 on your face EVERYDAY.
2. For all of my "slick chicks" (oily-skinned girls)-there are many moisturizers out there that are oil-free! Don't skip out on a moisturizer because you think that you're too oily and that you don't need it. You do! Good ones that I've sold/tried: MAC's Oil Control Lotion and Clinique's Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel (neither have SPF, so you'll have to add your own). Now, let me tell you, you may think you have it bad because you're oily, but you have it OH-SO-GOOD. Why? Oily skin wrinkles less easily than dry skin. So you can spend all your money on blotting papers now because you won't be spending it on a face lift later, honey.
3. PRIMER, PRIMER, PRIMER!!!! On. Absolutely. Everything. This is the key once you've gotten your skincare routine down. I am such a huge fan of primers-I use them any time I wear makeup, and any time I apply makeup to a client. And, yes, I have my favorites. First, the eyes (since it's my favorite part of the face, anyways...)-MAC makes paints and paint pots that are truly amazing as primers. Technically, they are cream eye shadows, but I use them to prime my lids before powder shadows and pigments. They come in an array of colors, but I prefer the flesh-toned ones because I can wear them underneath any shadow! For those of you with more pink undertones to your skin, Painterly Paint Pot (abbreviation:PP) is great, yellow undertones (like me)-Soft Ochre PP, For my Women of Color, if you are more light/medium-skinned, Bamboom Paint is terrific, and for my darker skinned ladies Quite Natural PP is stunning. All of these will help your shadow adhere to the lid, it will keep your shadow from creasing, and it will also keep the color of your shadow from fading throughout the day. What's nice about these is that they last FOREVER. I have had one of mine (and I use it everyday) for about a year and it's only about half way used up. Keep in mind, you must make sure to close them tightly so that they don't dry out-really important. They'll run you about $16.50 or so.
You will also need a primer for your face-this is crucial in the Georgia heat and humidity!!! Of course, having worked at MAC, I love theirs (are you seeing a pattern here?) and it's well-priced. It will help with splotchiness, texture, and redness as well as helping your foundation stay on all day.
4. OK, I am about to stress some of y'all out...you probably don't have to wear as much as you're wearing. That even stressed me out a little bit. I'm OK now. Take a really good look at your skin. Do you REALLY need concealer, full-coverage foundation, bronzer and powder? Really? In the hottest of hot months, try using the least amount of products as possible. Chances are you have had a bit of a vacation, so you have some sun, so bronzer-OUT! You've been taking care of your skin as directed in #1, so full coverage foundation-OUT! OK, so let's re-evaluate. Your skin is looking better, so why don't we switch to a lighter foundation that's less likely to melt off? In the summer, it's best to switch to something more lightweight-a powder foundation, a gel foundation, or even a mineral foundation. These offer all different types of coverage from sheer to full (if you still feel like you need full), and they also offer different finishes from natural, satin, matte, and radiant. It all depends on what you want to look like. Basically, what I'm telling you is that you want to stay away from heavy cream and liquid foundations in the summer.
Here's my analogy:
Put a piece of cake with heavy butter cream frosting in the microwave for 30 seconds. What do you have when you get back? A hot mess.
Put a powdered donut in the microwave for 30 seconds. What do you have when you get back? Yummy goodness.
Can I get an amen?!
5. So back to my "slick chicks"...you've done all of this and still find that you tend to get oily. Don't fret! That's what blotting papers are for. Now that you have cleansed, exfoliated, primed, and lessened the load on your face, you won't have to use them as often. You can also use blot powder if you're so inclined, they work well too. Basically they're just a non-pigmented powder designed to absorb oil without adding any makeup to your face-so you won't end up looking cakey at the end of the day. MAC's Blot Powder runs about $21.00...
6. I know, I know, the dreaded, non-intentional smokey eye at the end of the day. Trust me, I've seen it, I've owned it. Listen carefully...
WATERPROOF EYELINER. Now, this is not to be confused with waterproof mascara-I'll get to that in a minute. Choose your medium, but make sure it's waterproof. You can use pencil, creme-gel, liquid, or powder. Personally, I think it's best to forget the lower liner during the day in the summer (gasp!), but if you must, MAC makes great mechanical pencil liners called Technakohls. They come in an array of colors and they are fantastic whether you line under your lashes, on your upper lid, or your water line (which is the inner rim of your eye). They're about $14.00
WATER-RESISTANT MASCARA. I don't recommend waterproof mascara for everyday use unless you are a lifeguard or just in the business of crying (which in that case is really sad, call me). Waterproof mascara is great for special occasions-weddings, the beach, funerals (bless your heart), etc. but if you use it everyday, it can dry out and break your lashes (double-gasp!). So use it sparingly. However, water-resistant mascara is wonderful and some even contain conditioners that will help your lashes. Mascara is like a football team, though, everyone has their favorite and you can't convince people to switch, so you're on your own here.
7. Lastly, there's lips and cheeks. A great way to make your lip color last is to fill in your entire lip with liner and top it off with either lipstick OR gloss. If you do both, it tends to move all over the place, UNLESS you just do a small dot of gloss in the middle of your lower lip (but that takes much restraint...). But please don't line all outside of your lips thinking you're the next Angelina-that just looks like you have two vienna sausages on your face-be happy with what God gave you. Work it, honey! And for your cheeks-again, stick with powder, but make sure your face isn't sweaty (or should I say glistening?) when you apply your blush or else you'll get two lovely stripes and look more feverish than flushed. Once you have finished your beautiful masterpiece, a setting spray is a good way to go-especially in the summer months. MAC's Fix+ is awesome. It will help set your makeup (I use this on models, pageant girls and brides) and it will give you a nice refreshing spritz!
I really hope I answered questions that you may have had, and I know I reference MAC alot! Don't worry, I don't get any kickbacks from them or anything, I just really believe in their products and I am very familiar with them too from having worked there! Please feel free to ask more questions, leave comments, etc.
Again, everything I do is in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ-without Him I am nothing!
1 Peter 3:3-4 "Do not let your adornment be merely outward-arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel-rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God."
Love,
Mel
Mel
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