Depending on where you live, summertime can be hot to downright unbearable. It can also affect your makeup too if you aren’t careful with your application. Makeup likes to move in the heat and sweat, heat, and humidity can all contribute to your make up appearing to look caked on or “heavy”.
Eliminate the “caked”-on appearance, smudged eyeliner, and sticky lipstick by taking up these simple tips and makeup applications when the temperatures and humidity start to rise.
• Moisturizer: An oil-free moisturizer can help keep your skin from drying out and flaking during the hot summer months. It also helps make for an ideal pre-foundation layer in hot months.
• Sunscreen: Wearing sunscreen under your makeup will help protect your skin from the harmful effects of UV rays and should be reapplied every 60-90 minutes (check the back of the sunscreen’s bottle for specific reapplication time). Those with more sensitive or fair skin should reapply sooner regardless of the bottle’s instruction. Also, you can combine this tip with the one above by finding a moisturizer with built-in UV protection.
• Primer: Skipping your primer may be easy to get away with in other months but a primer in summer is essential to keeping your makeup intact. They are a light application designed to keep makeup where it is applied.
• Less is More: Go for tinted moisturizers and concealer (if you really need it) in the summer. Avoid “heavier” concealers and foundations—like cream-based ones that will feel (and look) like they were caked on when the sweat begins to pour.
• Waterproof: Even if you don’t plan to go to the beach or for a dip in the pool, waterproof makeup products are essential in humid and hot temperatures to ward of smudging and smearing caused by sweat.
• Skip Shimmery Tones: You’ll have plenty of a natural glow or dewy look with the heat bearing down on you. No need to intensify the look with cream foundations or “luminous”, shimmery, or glittery makeup products.
• Avoid Rich Tones: Darker eyeshadow and lipstick can create a bold or drastic effect but, in the summertime, these rich tones can make your makeup appear heavily applied. Go for more natural or sheer tones for a lighter makeup look. If you are looking to be bold, go for bright tones rather than dark rich ones.
• Skip the Creams: We’ve mentioned skipping cream foundations, but this also applies to eyeshadow and blush. Cream-based makeup and heat do not mix well.
• Skip the ‘Stick: Lipstick can feel sticky in humid temperature so eliminate this problem by going with a gloss or lip stain.
• Use a Setting Powder: Not a spray. Sprays often give a dewy or shimmery afterglow which can be intensive by the layer of sweat that will pop up the moment you walk out the door. To help keep your makeup from creasing, wearing away, or getting smudged apply a setting powder.
• Invest in Blotting Papers: Use they when you feel the urge to wipe the layer of sweat from your face. They will also help keep your T-zone under control as hot temps can bring out the oils on your face. Don’t have one handy? Lightly dab a tissue or toilet paper—better yet, snag a seat cover from a public restroom. They are made from a similar material as blotting paper and do great in a pinch without smearing your makeup.