Summer Saviors
Whether it’s a last-minute invite to the beach or an important summer soirée, ensure you look and feel your best with these failsafe products.
There’s an image of summer – all tousled beach-waved hair against glossy, toned and tanned skin – that’s always harder to achieve in the humid, slightly rushed version of reality.
The good news? Year-upon-year beauty companies are coming up with products that will up your summer beauty ante. So even if you haven’t been able to tan or grab that much-needed haircut, this arsenal of products will mean that you’ll feel like the best possible version of you – and we all know what that results in – carefree summer fun.
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For Face
At Home: Vita Liberata Self Tanning Night Moisture Mask
Streamline your night-time routine with this intensely hydrating self-tan mask, which doubles as skincare and a self-tan thanks to its mix of vitamin-rich botanicals, anti-oxidants and fake tan. Packed with hydrating sunflower seed extract, skin-smoothing lactic acid and their infamous odorless tanning technology, it gradually builds a holiday glow, so is suitable for daily use. Our tip? Use it on plane journeys to give skin a big moisturising hit and ensure you arrive with buttery soft, bronzed skin.
In Your (Beach) Bag: Charlotte Tilbury Instant Look in a Palette
It may have only just launched but already this palette has cemented its place in a plethora of A-List make-up bags. To make it, Tilbury has combined some of her most beloved products (it contains a mini version of her famed bronze and glow powders) and designed a foolproof 7-step-guide for application, alongside personal tips on how to enhance your features. The shades are all suitable for the day but also buildable for quick and easy summer evening glamour.
The Magic Fix: Dermablend Quick Fix Concealer
Nothing shows up imperfections more than sunlight, so for those with any sun damage, scarring or last-minute breakouts to conceal, make-up artist’s favourite Dermablend Quick Fix Concealer, is a saviour. Famed for being able to conceal everything from birthmarks to tattoos (while not leaving any tell-tale cakey finish signs that you’d usually associate with a heavy duty concealer) it can be applied straight from the stick or dabbed onto a finger or brush for buildable color. It also works well on the delicate under eye area to conceal dark circles, so will take you from a bit drab to fab in under two minutes.
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For Body
At Home: Legology Killer Legs Kit
Buffed, satiny smooth legs require some upkeep. Whip legs into shape with Legology’s Killer Legs Kit, which contains their famed exfoliating brush, salt-based scrub and their Air-Lite Daily Lift for Legs cream. Founder Kate Shapland’s best advice? “You get the best results when you exfoliate dry skin: step into the shower and start massaging the Exfo-Lite all over your legs and feet, working in small circular movements up your legs from feet to knees and knees to hips. Once you’ve applied it to dry skin, switch on the shower and continue to massage the salts into your legs, rinsing as you go. Then take the hand shower and spritz your legs with intermittent blasts of warm and cool water. Legs will be pumping with energy, toned, soft and smooth. Now go and show them off!”
In Your (Beach) Bag: Vichy Ideal Soleil Anti-sand SPF 30 / 50
A beach day game-changer – Vichy have finally developed an SPF with a non-sticky formula to repel sand. Available in SPF 30 or 50, it combines broad spectrum UVA and UVB filters with Vichy’s famed Mineralising Water (which means it hydrates skin and shields it from free radical damage). The cream itself is easily absorbed and dries to a smooth velvety, water-resistant finish.
The Magic Fix: James Read Coconut Melting Tanning Balm
Oil has long been the enemy of fake tan – with it’s skin softening abilities, experts have even used it as a gentle method for removing streaky tan. Ever the tanning innovator, Read’s newest launch flies in the face of all of this with its coconut oil based formula. The impact is a big one: all of the thirst quenching, healing hydration of your beloved coconut oil, with all of the golden tan goodness of a regular fake tan. Hydrated skin also means that the tan has lasting power – it took five days to start going patchy when we tested it.
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For Hair
At Home: Christophe Robin Regenerating Mask
This deeply nourishing mask helps to repair and protect hair. Christophe Robin’s regenerating line is based on Prickly Pear Seed Oil, one of richest sources of Vitamin E around. Use weekly (or every other wash during a summer holiday) for soft hair that retains its shine (and vibrancy, for those with color treated hair), regardless of how much sun and sea exposure you’re putting it through.
In Your (Beach) Bag: Philip Kingsley Instant Beach
The definition of a multi-tasker – a texturizing spray that helps to create soft, tousled beach waves, a leave in conditioner (it contains Elastin and Meadowfoam Oil, to help replenish dry hair) and a UV and chlorine shield. No hair-type or style should be without it this summer.
The Magic Fix: Beachwaver Pro 1.25
The Victoria Secret catwalk show has owned the perfect beachy-wave hairstyles for the last decade. For the most recent one, stylists were fawning over the Beachwaver Pro, a wide barrel tong that rotates both ways to give the aforementioned soft, beach-worthy waves in minutes. Lightly brush finished curls and spritz with a UV containing hairspray (we love Unite’s GO365) to set.
A native Londoner, Amy discovered her love for health & beauty while working at Harper’s Bazaar in New York before returning home to work for Conde Nast, Shortlist Media and Net-a-Porter. Eight years later, the mission remains the same: to discover the products and treatments that really work.
