Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Favorite Summer Beauty Products

Summer for me is a time to wear minimal makeup and play up color.  Fun nail polishes and cream products are some of my favorite things right now.  I will share the products I've been reaching for lately:

Nail Polishes
Essie's "Too Too Hot": a firey coral shade that is very on trend at the moment

Essie's "Bachelorette Party": a fun fuschia shade. Love this on the toes

Revlon's "Demure": #229; a soft coraly-orange with a hint of shimmer

Revlon's "Temptress": #168; a baby pink shade with  some shimmers. This polish and the one above are both from the "Fire and Ice" collection

Makeup Products
Laura Mercier's Oil-free tinted moisturizer in "Sand": This oil-free moisturizer provides light coverage but covers my less noticeable imperfections and leaves my skin looking brighter and smoother. I have used this product for about 3 years and am not willing to change.  The consistancy is perfect (I mix mine with some of Clinique's mosturizing gel to thin it out on days I want even lighter coverage), the SPF 20 is great, and the oil-free formula is great for my oily/combination skin. 
Stila's Convertible Color in "Petunia": this creamy, gel-like consistancy glides onto cheeks and lips to add a pop of fresh, peachy-pink color.  I like to dip a blush brush into the product and blend it onto the apples of my cheeks
Topshop's Highlighter in "Sunbeam": This powder highlighter adds a dewy quality to my skin when dusted on the tops of my cheek bones.  It adds shimmer without looking oily as an all-over shimmer foundation might.  It is also beautiful when put in the inner corner of my eyes or used as an eyebrow highlight

Revlon's ColorStay Ultimate Liquid Lipstick in "Miracle Mauve": this semi-permanent color is easy and I like it with virtually every makeup look

Other
L'Oreal Sublime Bronze in Medium: This gel-like formula has some gold shimmers and a more bronze than orange color.  I mix some with my lotion and apply after showering.  The color really does build up and tends not to be streaky

Artworks of Late

I am home from college for the summer, and this has left me with a surplus of time.  There is only so much shopping and laying out at the pool I can handle, so I have taken up other time-filling activities.  These include but are not limited to: cooking, cleaning at times, reading, closet organizing, reality TV watching, and painting.  Painting is one of my favorite hobbies, as I discovered it relaxes me and fills time with ease.  Today I will share the works of art I have done since I've been home.  I'm not quite sure what to do with them...but at least putting them on the Internet in the hopes that someone will see them makes me feel like they serve some purpose other than to save me from complete boredom.  They are not the most amazing works of art, and they are all quite different, but I do enjoy incorporating abstract elements and an abundance of color in these acrylic pieces.
A floral design reminicent of a scarf from Anthropologie
This whimsical peacock feather has a bit of sparkle

This very simple painting was inspired by the cover of the June 2011 cover of J.Crew Magazine

This painting, quite different from the rest, is inspired by a scenic marsh