Staff Picks: Ali's 5 Favourite Beauty Products for Summer 2011

Posted by Ali | Friday July 22, 2011

I always find it difficult to pin down my 5 most favourite products for any season since I tend to hoard and try everything, but there are certain essentials I can't live without when it's this hot outside:

Clinique Moisture Surge Tinted Moisturizer with SPF 15

I'm going to admit that I'm terrible with applying sunscreen to my face. The reason is that many sunscreens cause me to breakout or get clogged pores. I prefer to use a tinted moisturizer like Clinique Moisture Surge with SPF 15 as the perfect 3 in 1 product! It's a fairly dry formula so you have to spread it quickly, but once applied it looks great and stays put all day long regardless of the temperature.

Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill Mascara

I wear a lot less eye makeup in the summer because I prefer to look more natural and fresh, but I will not go out with bare lashes and this is my current mascara of choice. I've actually had one bottle of this since it launched and am still using it. Let's just say it's well beyond the normal shelf life of a mascara but the formula is still perfect. My lashes have never looked better.

Biotherm Sun After Oligo-Thermal Milk

*Sigh* Every year despite my best efforts I end up with a sunburn. My chest burns quite easily so all it takes is a 10 minute walk to the corner store for milk and I start to look crispy. My husband also burns his bald head every summer so between the two of us, we need an after sun product to deal with the burn. This one smells great, soaks right in and does the job.

Joe Fresh Cream Blush

As I mentioned, I prefer minimal makeup in the summer, but these cream blushes make the cut. They give a natural rosy hue and stay put better than a powder in the heat. My colour of choice is Melon. You can't beat the price either!

Cake Beauty Milk Made Velveteen Hand Creme

This has been my salvation throughout my pregnancy but especially in the last couple of months as my belly has stretched to full-term. The skin gets quite itchy and you have to put a lot of cream on to deal with the discomfort. Because this is such a rich formula, I find I can apply it just in the morning and sometimes a little extra before I got to bed and that is good enough. I love the natural ingredients and the delicious scent too!

I wanted to add my beloved epilator to this list, but Jenni already beat me to it. What do you think of my 5 faves for summer? Are any of these on your list?

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5 Comments

	on July 29, 2011 satojoko 2,556 said: Loose mineral foundation can easily be mixed with your moisturizer and gives great protection against the sun. Facial sun screens and tinted moisturizers always make my skin break out, but when I add my mineral foundation to my regular moisturizer, it always keeps my face from burning or even tanning, and never makes my skin break out. It's amazing how much of the sun it blocks. I sometimes use a little to make more of a tinted type product, or more to make a product which is similar to a cream or liquid foundation. Between last summer and this summer, I have yet to even get a tiny bit of color on my face, all thanks to the many ways mineral foundation can be used. Just be sure to get a good quality foundation and a silicone-free moisturizer to ensure you don't wind up with breakouts. Nothing like Bare Minerals or other such junk, which has bismuth oxychloride in it and causes many women to break out in rashes, itchy patches and acne. It is also far cheaper to do this. The titanium dioxide and zinc oxide which is in mineral foundations has natural sun-blocking properties which never clog pores. The zinc also actually helps heal break outs and is spectacular, even in very hot, blistering weather.
	on July 22, 2011 mamaluv STAFF said: @jskim07 - I wear a cream blush by Mary Kay and get tons of compliments from people who assumed it was my natural flush and were surprised to learn it's a product. Cream blushes are particularly good for normal or dry skin (and on combination skin the cheeks do tend to be drier) because they just kind of melt in and create a from-within glow. I find powder blushes sit on top and look chalky on me.
	on July 22, 2011 jskim07 50 said: ! I had no idea you had cream blush on Ali, I always assumed it was a pregnancy glow. It looks so natural!
	on July 22, 2011 TammyK 1,073 said: Cool I really like Clinique stuff I actually didn't know they have tinted moisturizers!
	on July 22, 2011 mamaluv STAFF said: I would love to try that Clinique tinted moisturizer with SPF! I have problems with facial sunscreens giving me breakouts too (have realized anything higher than SPF30 just ain't happenin'), so I love my current mineral tinted facial cream... though I think that's only SPF10 or so which isn't really high enough.