My essential summer beauty products

When summertime hits, it’s time for me to modify my beauty routine. I’m not hiding under tons of clothing anymore, so when the temperature starts to smoulder, I bring out my essentials.



Check out a few products that I can’t go without when the summer heat hits.

Mango bath & shower gel, Body Shop

I completely love this bath and shower gel. The tropical mango scent evokes sunny days, warm summer nights and sexy summer flings. Okay, I’m totally being stupid, but this shower gel is my personal fave!

I love the lusciousness of the scent, and the fact that the fragrance lasts for hours and hours, scores big with me.

This shower gel makes me feel sexy!

Palmers Cocoa Butter
I’m always singing the praises of cocoa butter. Not only does it keep your skin silky smooth and hydrated during extremely scorching weather, it actually fades any blemishes on the skin (mosquito bites, scratches, scars).


I wouldn’t even think of taking away from its chocolaty aroma by applying perfume. I wear this lotion solo. Yes, it is that yummy!

Lady Speed stick 24/7 Satin Pear, deodorant
I never would have thought that I would be writing about my deodorant, but damn it, this deodorant is essential on those hot and hazy summer days. (I wear Dove deodorant for sensitive skin in the cold, winter months).


This deodorant gets my stamp of approval because it keeps me smelling great, even when it’s overbearingly hot (remember last week?).

Schick Intuition, Razor
I haven’t gotten into waxing my legs as of yet (psssst... I only got into getting my eyebrows done a few months ago), so I religiously shave my legs quite frequently during the summer months. Honestly, I hate doing it, but if I plan on donning cute flirty dresses and skirts, I have no choice! LOL!


My razor of choice is Schick Intuition. I love it because it moisturizes your skin while you shave. It already comes with shower gel added, so you don’t need to apply any.


My skin looks and feels sumptuously smooth for days on end. This is def my go-to razor.

Honourable Mention

Glorious Mud, Lush

This product is new to me, but after one use, it looks like I might be a fan.

It’s a cleansing bar that has deep exfoliating properties. You rub it on your body; let it work its magic for a minute, then you rinse it off. It’s like having a mud bath conveniently located in your shower.

Once you rub it on your body, your skin feels fantastically supple. The only drawback when using this mud bar is that the bathtub looks like you’ve been rolling around in mud for about an hour. So after you use this product, expect to scrub the tub.

Those were just a handful of my personal fave products. What do you use in the summer to keep your skin glowing?

Michelle

Beauty 411

Mascara: Which brand works the best?

I’m a little biased when it comes to mascara. There are essentially only 2 brands that I consistently run to when I want my eyes to take center stage (Clinique High Impact Mascara and Lancôme Definicil High Definition Mascara). But I thought that I would fulfill my blogger duties and try a few other brands to see how they fare.

The Body Shop: Super Volume Mascara
My product savvy sis loves mascara and informed me that The Body Shop had a good, affordable product. Since she is “the connoisseur of beauty products”, I trusted her judgment and went out to buy it.

I wore it a few times and I liked the way it looked. My eyes stood out and I didn’t need to put a lot of product on for it to be noticeable. Since I have short, thin lashes, I looove anything to that gives them an extra boost. The Super Volume Mascara definitely delivered on their promise.

Urban Decay: Big Fatty
With a name like Big Fatty, I expect a lot from this mascara. I expect long, flirty, whimsical lashes that will capture any suitor’s eye. Okay, perhaps they can’t do all that, but I do anticipate having super long lashes.

I wore it one day to work and it didn’t really have a dramatic appearance. It looked like I was wearing my everyday mascara, not anything special. I wore it a few more times and applied tons of product to my lil lashes, just to give it one more chance. It still looked just okay.

This mascara is fine, but promising big fat lashes and not delivering—not good!

Yves Saint Laurent: Volume Mascara Effet Faux Cils
Even though this is a luxury brand, I still had no idea how it would look. Sometimes higher priced items are just that…and not necessarily the better product.

However, with just one teeny, tiny stroke, I was able to see that this was a great product. My lashes were elongated and looked hot! I didn’t have to put much on to have beautiful mysterious eyes.

It didn’t get clumpy and it virtually took seconds to apply. This mascara will be added to my “gotta-have” list.

Hope that helps you find a mascara that meets your needs…I know I did!

michelle