Quick and Easy Summer Makeup Routine ⋆ Amellia Mae

It’s that time of year when the nights are longer, shorts are shorter and your makeup is lighter. The sunshine, when it makes a guest appearance here in the UK, is delicious and is here to be enjoyed.

Soaking up as much vitamin D as possible is a must and so I try to keep my war paint light during the summer months. I do however know that making small children cry is generally, amongst most circles, frowned upon, so “keep it light” rather then non-existent, is my motto. It’s a ‘Bobbi Brown’ approach to makeup – you, but better!

I find this routine is quick and easy. No one wants to be labouring in front of their vanity mirror when they could be outside soaking up the rays. It’s also portable because of it’s simplicity, so easy to take on holidays and impromptu days/nights out.

So here’s what I use to create my easy, light summer make-up look:

Skincare

For my skin I always start with a jolly good cleanse and moisturise. The base is so important, so having clear and hydrated skin is an absolute must. If you’d like a peek at my current skincare routine, take a wander over to my skincare post here

Base

Once the canvas is ready I then follow with an SPF – Vagheggi is a lovely lightweight facial SPF with UVA and UVB protection. It also contains powerful phyto extracts to treat and nourish your skin. It absorbs into the skin quickly without leaving a residue. Makeup applies evenly and smoothly over the top. You can of course apply this over your makeup and throughout the day without smudging. It’s genius!

I use the gorgeous Hourglass veil mineral primer which also has an SPF in it and is packed full of skin saving goodness that helps to even out my complexion.

I seem to suffer with redness and so I apply a little colour correction to my cheeks and any other areas of redness. LA Girl Pro Concealer Corrector in green is perfect for me. Blendable and super smooth to apply your foundation over. It’s also insanely inexpensive which is a definite bonus.

I put foundation on my cheeks too to cover the redness. I don’t tend to wear it all over as I don’t like the feeling of it on my face, particularly in summer. However, that said I do find the NARS Sheer Glow Foundation particularly light and comfortable to wear. I wear the shade Syracuse in the summer

I use the Artis brush Oval 6 to apply most of my makeup as it is so versatile. If you’d like to see a little more of the brush in action, here’s a link to my YouTube video all about how marvellous it is.

Under-Eyes

I absolutely loath my under-eyes! I have seriously dark circles despite drinking copious amounts of water and getting more then my fair share of sleep. Despite this I have more baggage then Heathrow! I am therefore completely enamoured with the Becca under-eye brightening corrector which conceals and brightens extremely well.

I pat a small amount beneath my eyes and then set it with the NYX Radiant Finishing Powder. I find that this powder is light enough to use around the delicate eye area and doesn’t crease. The light reflective qualities of both products work well together to lighten and brighten this stubborn area, even on me.

I also pat a little KIKO eye primer (currently on sale!) onto the lower lid and again set it with the NYX powder.

Eyelids

I sweep on MAC matt eye shadow in soft brown, just to define the crease a little. I always use my trusty 217 blending brush.

Eyebrows

Bluuurgh! I hate my eyebrows,’the slugs’ as I call them. They’re perpetually uneven no matter what I do. But here’s how I tame them into some semblance of order.

I use the NYX Micro eyebrow pencil in Espresso, which is incredibly fine and has a spooley on the end. I love a multi-tasking product. I firstly pencil in the sparse areas and then combes through to shape and thin out any product which may be too heavy. Then I use the SmashBox brow kit (sorry no longer available – but here’s an alternative), just the wax, to fix the brows into place.

I don’t labour on this too much. As you’ll appreciate, it’s pretty much like flogging a dead horse!

The products are great and do manage to bring about some order in a rather unruly area of the visage.

Lashes

Once the brows are tamed I give the eyelashes a quick curl and slick on this Japanese mascara by DJV. It coats the lashes with fibre and helps to seperate and elongate. It gives a wet look to the lashes rather then a feathery full look. T’s not the look for everyone and it took a bit of getting used to, but now I can’t do without it. I’ve had several comments on my lashes since using this including “did you get lash extensions”. That’s a winner I would say.

The creme-de-la-creme is that it is inadvertently waterproof to an extent- It will only remove with warm water so you can splash about in the pool or sea and not worry about (not so) sexy panda eyes. Hurrah!

Contour and Bronzer

For definition I add a little contour below my cheeks along my nose and to my forehead. I use the gorgeous Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze and Glow at the moment, although I do have a few contour choices and I like to mix it up, this is my current summer favourite.

I then sweep over my MAC Mineralise powder in Dark, to bronze my skin. Finally I use just a little MAC blush in Peaches on the apples of my cheeks for colour.

To finish the look I use the MAC Lip pencil in Soar all over my lips. This is a great colour for my lips as they are quite pigmented but this tones them down to a natural pink. I use just a sweep of the gorgeous Kiko Milano lipstick in 02 Mirage. I cannot tell you of my love for this lipstick. It is so creamy and is the perfect shade for me. Finding a nude lipstick for my skin tone and lip colour is quite an endeavour but this is the holy grail of nude lipsticks. Get your hands on one quick as Kiko tend to change their stock frequently! Buy 2 if you can. You won’t regret it.

Here’s a picture of the tools I use. The Artis Brush can be used to do the job of several of these – face creams, primer, foundation, powder, contour and blush, particularly if you’re travelling. But when you’re at home you can indulge yourself a little.