As a beauty director, it's my job to bring you solutions to some of the biggest gripes about your beauty routine. Living in the UK, it often feels like winter is my busiest time of the working year—everyone wants to know what moisturisers to use and how they can adapt their skincare routine for their dry, winter skin. But, if I am being honest, summer is my real area of expertise.
While everyone I know right now is feeling exhausted, drained and overheated, I'm in my element. In fact, my ability to remain cool, calm and collected during a British heatwave has become a running joke amongst my friends. But I haven't always been this way—far from it. Sure, the boost in vitamin D and longer days helps my mood, but my ability to ensure my beauty routine doesn't just cope in the heat, but thrive, has taken many years of research. I have undertaken heaps of trial and error to find the beauty products that ensure my skin looks its glowiest, my hair its chicest, my makeup its most pulled together and my perfume its most compliment-worthy.
And this year, I'd say my beauty routine has been particularly standout. I'm finding more joy in using new beauty products than ever before, and I truly believe I've been looking my best. So, as a beauty director who really knows her stuff when it comes to the very best summer beauty products, these are the 14 I think everyone deserves to know about.
1. Merit The Uniform Tinted SPF50
I don't wear foundation at the best of times, but the idea of slathering a thick base on in the summer, when makeup slides around my face more so than ever, fills me with total dread. Merit The Uniform Tinted Sunscreen SPF50, however, has quickly become my most-used beauty product of the past month. Let me first say that the tinted nature means this is not an SPF product to pack in your bag for a day of serious sunning at the beach—it simply isn't built for reapplication. Once you understand this, you'll get on with the super unique formula much better.
It is, in my opinion, the perfect daily facial SPF. I have been wearing it into the office every single day, and it has replaced the facial sunscreen I usually use for daily protection. Available in 15 shades, this mineral SPF formula doesn't leave a hint of white cast on my olive skin (I wear shade 20), and leaves my skin looking even, glowing (but not greasy) and still beautifully natural. The coverage is sheer, which, in my opinion, makes it the ultimate natural-looking summer base.
2. Dior Addict Lip Glow Butter
Dior Beauty
Addict Lip Glow Butter
I've always been a balmy-lip kind of girl, but come summer, when lip colour has a tendency to slide around my face, I reach for lip glosses more than anything else. This new Lip Glow Butter from Dior is, without question, the best lip product I have in my collection (and there are a lot). The buttery formula feels nourishing, the finish is glossy without being too much, and a small hit of mint isn't just plumping, but also wonderfully refreshing. It's impossible to dislike this product. Plus, have you seen how cute the tube is?
3. Clarins Sun Care Body Cream SPF50+
Clarins
Sun Care Body Cream SPF 50+
I hardly ever lie in the sun at home, but as soon as I'm on holiday, I'll put my hands up and admit I commit the ultimate beauty-editor sin and sunbathe—it just makes me feel good. That being said, when I do sunbathe, I'm vigilant with sun cream application. This body sunscreen from Clarins is one of my favourite formulas of all time. It provides super high protection, doesn't sweat off as quickly as others I have used, smells great and leaves my skin beautifully hydrated without that horrible SPF greasiness. It's an icon.
4. Beauty Pie Luxe Shine Blush Stick
Beauty Pie
Luxe Shine Blush Stick
Price shown is members' price.
Cream blusher is probably my most leaned-on beauty product, and not a day goes by where I don't have a flush of creamy, glowy colour pressed into the high points of my cheeks. This limited-edition blusher stick from Beauty Pie has become one of my most adored in recent weeks. The illuminating peachy hue injects life into my complexion with unparalleled ease. I'm absolutely head over heels for it.
5. Gem Skin-Loving Deodorant
Gem
Skin-Loving Cool Fresh Antiperspirant Deodorant
I'm the first to admit there's nothing glamorous about this product. It seems as though aluminium-free, natural deodorants are the chic deodorant choice right now. But I'm going to lay it down for you: they just can't compare to a good antiperspirant. And these cans, from Gem, are among the best I've ever used. Not only do they protect me against sweat for the entire day, but they smell good enough to rival some of my most expensive perfumes. This one smells like an Italian lemon grove—I'm in love.
6. Caudalie Vinosun Protect Invisible Stick SPF50
Caudalie
Vinosun Protect Invisible Stick SPF50
Remember how I said the Merit tinted sunscreen isn't the one for a day at the beach, as it's not designed for reapplication? Well, this is the facial sunscreen product I pack in my bag for beach days. Every few hours, I'll reapply a facial SPF cream, but this handy SPF stick can be scribbled onto skin for super-speedy top-ups. And, unlike so many other similar SPF stick designs, I can safely say I've never burned while using this one.
7. Ellis Brooklyn Salt
Space NK
Ellis Brooklyn Salt Eau de Parfum
Finding a summer perfume that doesn't dissipate in a matter of minutes in the heat isn't easy. On top of that, powerful, long-lasting scents don't always translate well in weather that already feels suffocating. For this reason, it's Ellis Brooklyn Salt that has become my go-to summer fragrance. Its lasting power is mighty impressive, and the light-on-the-nose, sweet, salty, beachy scent is a guaranteed compliment magnet. To me, it smells like the feeling of stepping out of the shower after a long day at the beach.
8. Dr Althea 345 Relief Cream
Dr Althea
345 Relief Cream
A recent introduction to my summer skincare routine, but one I know is going to stick around, is Dr Althea 345 Relief Cream. This Korean beauty face cream is one of the most impressive I have used in years. Designed with breakout-prone skin in mind, it is a tonic for my naturally oily, acne-prone skin. It has a lightweight consistency that absorbs quickly, while also delivering a noticeably nourished and moisturised complexion. With niacinamide to soothe breakouts and ceramides to help nourish and protect the skin barrier, my summer skin has never looked clearer and healthier.
9. Victoria Beckham Satin Kajal Liner Terracotta
Victoria Beckham Beauty
Satin Kajal Liner in Terracotta
I'm not one for heavy makeup at any time of year, but come summer, on the rare times I do want to wear eyeshadow, I struggle. You see, my naturally oily skin doesn't pair well with increased heat and perspiration, so I usually find eyeshadows crease on my lids. This year, I've been leaning on this terracotta-coloured Satin Kajal Liner by Victoria Beckham Beauty. The bronze shade delivers the sort of Ibizan goddess vibes I'm after, and the creamy texture allows for optimal blending. They're widely considered to be the best eyeliners out there for a reason.
10. Sol de Janeiro Cheirosa 71 Body Cream
Sol de Janeiro
Limited Edition Cheirosa 71 Body Cream
I am a total body care aficionado. There isn't a body cream out there that I haven't tried. This limited-edition cream from summer body care heroes, Sol de Janeiro, is absolutely glorious. It smells like sun-drenched caramel and vanilla, and the whipped cream swaddles summer-beaten limbs in a blanket of nourishment. Plus, subtle flecks of golden mica deliver a glow that looks impressively convincing.
11. GHD Wave
GHD
Wave Triple Barrel Waver
My beachy, balayaged lengths really come into their own in the summer months. However, my hair is fine, so it doesn't hold a curl particularly well, making summer heat styling a bit of a chore. This year, however, I've been leaning on the GHD Wave to deliver the mermaid waves of my dreams. I've never loved a hair tool more.
12. CeraVe Balancing Air Foam Cleanser
CeraVe
Balancing Air Foam Foaming Facial Cleanser
While I'm a sucker for rich cleansing balms and unctuous creams, my troublesome skin is prone to breaking out even more than usual in the summer, so it's important I'm cleansing in a way that actually benefits my oily skin. As a blanket rule, we all need a hardworking cleanser in the summer months to cut through pore-clogging sweat and SPF, but you also want a formula that isn't going to strip your skin of moisture. This new foam cleanser from CeraVe does just that. It's gentler than a foaming gel, but harder working than a cream.
13. Living Proof PhD Advanced Clean Dry Shampoo
Living Proof Perfect Hair Day (PhD) Advanced Clean Dry Shampoo
If, like me, you are prone to sweating all over as soon as the mercury soars, you'll know the perils of a greasy scalp and subsequently greasy hair all too well. I don't care what anyone else tells you: this is the single best dry shampoo on the market. It absorbs grease at the roots better than any other dry shampoo around, it smells good, and it doesn't make hair look matted. Do not sleep on this product.
14. The Body Shop Tender Tonka Fragrance Mist
The Body Shop
Tender Tonka Fragrance Mist
Bear with me here. The Body Shop's new Tender Tonka Fragrance Mist might not be the most aesthetically pleasing product, and it doesn't align with my usual high-end fragrance tastes, but my goodness, have I been obsessed with it recently. As mentioned earlier, wasting expensive perfume on hot summer days isn't the best financial decision, so I always keep an affordable scent in my bag and on my desk as a daily spritz. I have emptied two bottles of this stuff. It smells like warm, comforting vanilla but doesn't have any of the usual heady, spicy sweetness. It's a clean-smelling blanket of comfort that had every beauty director in the room weak at the knees when the brand introduced us to it for the first time. For £13, I can't sing its praises enough.
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