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July Favorites

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July Favorites

It turns out this summer has not been one of wild makeup experimentation for me. A full face seems a little bit like overkill when I’m wearing a tshirt and shorts every day, plus this is the first summer in a loooong time that my skin looks more like ‘me’ without foundation than with it. So… I’ve been doing an incredibly minimal routine most days, and using the same few products over and over.

The big everyday ‘must’ duo is Armani Master Corrector in pink and Rouge Bunny Rouge Luminous Skin Wand in Orionis for my pesky undereye bags (which are getting a bit better now that I’ve been getting my insomniac ways under control). The corrector cancels out the shadowy areas, and the RBR concealer brightens up the whole area without even a hint of a crease.

Also in the interest of opening my eyes up and making me look awake – Surratt Relevee Mascara. When I tried it at the Barneys in Chicago way back in March the SA described it as a tubing mascara, but it’s most definitely a fiber formula. Whatever. The only thing I really care about is that it makes my lashes look super long, and it doesn’t smudge or flake later in the day. Just, uh, be sure not to get it in your eye – I may or may not have learned that the hard way.

My favorite one-color eyeshadow look for the season is Laura Mercier Caviar Stick in Grey Pearl. It gives my eyes some definition but it’s not dark enough to make them look tiny, and so far it’s the least shimmery caviar stick I’ve tried. The main reason I keep reaching for it though – I don’t care how high the humidity is, if I wear it over primer it doesn’t budge or crease at all.

I love the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette year-round, of course, but especially for summer since Radiant works best on my skin tone as a subtle bronzer. I use Dim all over to even out my skin (which works well even when I’m not wearing foundation), Incandescent as a highlight, and Radiant is great for faking a sunkissed look that doesn’t happen naturally now that I’m finally in the habit of using sunscreen every day.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m incredibly lazy about my hair, and this Color Wow Brass Banned Mousse* is just enabling my lazy ways. My hair isn’t actually color-treated, but I’ve found that color-safe hair products work really well on my curls. So I can’t really speak to whether the teal colored foam counteracts brassiness (basic color theory tells me that it should, though) but I can say it makes my curl pattern nice and defined, and keeps my hair from frizzing up like some furry animal has attached itself to my head. It’s also one of the few mousses I’ve tried that doesn’t make my hair look limp or crunchy.

 

* PR sample

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2 Comments

  1. ChicScience

    August 27, 2014 at 9:38 am

    I definitely need to try Suratt mascara. I need an alternative to my Armani eyes to kill mascara. Are they comparable, what do you think?
    XO :)

    1. Nikki

      August 27, 2014 at 10:09 am

      I definitely love the Surratt one! I’ll be doing a full review of it here pretty soon. I wouldn’t really say it’s comparable to Armani ETK though. For me ETK is more volumizing, and the Surratt mascara is more separating and lengthening – I think the picture in this post is a pretty good example of how it looks on the lashes. ETK makes my lashes look much more dense and fuzzy, if that makes sense.

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