Beauty Barrage: Summer Beauty - Products for the Hot Hot Heat

A lot of the world is just getting their first taste of spring, but here in the tropics where there are only two seasons, we're smack dab in the middle of an insanely hot summer. When the heat started coming in, I knew some of my makeup and beauty products wouldn't cut it anymore. I always have to change up what I'm using when the seasons change. Just as I have my cold weather friends, I have my summer stash with products that I can rely on to keep up with the scorching temperatures. Most of these are travel-sized because I like the convenience of getting to throw them into a purse, a beach bag or a travel bag whenever a summer event comes up. I got it all down in one post, but brace yourself! It's a long list.

Neutrogena Deep Clean Hydrating Bamboo Gel Cleanser

I am always looking for a good drugstore cleanser, and when I saw this, the cool bamboo just called to me. My skin takes to gel cleansers better than cream ones, and I liked that it's hydrating. Plus, Neutrogena is pretty mild and I always come back to it whenever I experience cleanser fail and I have to repair my skin. So far, so good. It has a cooling effect when I wash my face with it, and my skin actually likes it a lot. 

Nivea Moisturizing Immediate Protection Lotion with SPF 50

This is my go-to sunblock because it has a high SPF and it absorbs quickly. It doesn't feel sticky and doesn't have a strong sunscreen scent. 

Soap & Glory Clean, Girls Creamy Body Wash

I have been wanting to try Soap & Glory for ages! Luckily my former housemate Sheva found a Boots store during a stopover in Bangkok, so she got me a bottle. (Thank you!) This shower gel has a really strong scent, like a vanilla cream perfume of sorts, and I like that because it stays on my skin a lot longer. When it's hot and I'm always sweaty, I need fragrances that last. It rinses off easily too and feels really moisturizing.

Bath & Body Works Sea Island Cotton Fine Fragrance Mist

This cologne is one of my all-time favorite scents. It smells like clean linen with a faint hint of a sea breeze, and the fragrance just seems so fresh! It also has aloe in it, so it helps bring some moisture to my skin, which means it's great for summer.

Essence Mattifying Compact Powder

This is the first product I bought from the UK beauty brand. I needed a mattifying powder because the humidity makes my face so shiny these days, so I picked this up. I use it to set my makeup and help keep everything from melting off my face. I got the shade Perfect Beige, but it's pretty much colorless anyway. It does the job, but other than that, I don't really have much to say about it. 

NARS Opaque Nail Polish in Wind Dancer

I got this at the NARS Workshop with Janice Daoud. It's a limited edition lacquer from the Spring 2014 collection, and I chose it because it's a sunny pastel kind of orange. I have yet to do a Manicure Monday with it, but I will soon.

Chanel Rouge Allure Lipstick in Excentrique

Summer is all about fun colors, and I've been pretty much wearing orange on my lips all summer. My lipstick of choice this season is Chanel Excentrique. It is longwearing and offers full coverage so it doesn't melt off, but it also has a sheer, light finish that gives my lips room to breathe. 

L'Oreal True Match BB Cream

When summer started I tried using my usual makeup bases -- MAC Studio Fix Powder Foundation and Revlon ColorStay Liquid Foundation -- but I just couldn't. They felt too heavy on my face. I knew I needed a BB cream for light coverage, but I haven't met one that didn't make my forehead break out in tiny dots. I saw this L'Oreal version at Watson's though and grabbed it when I saw SPF 35 on the label. My moisturizer already has SPF, but hello, it's summer -- the more SPF the better. I've been using it for about a month now, and so far it's the first ever BB cream that my skin actually likes. It's really moisturizing though, which has a tendency to make my face a little shiny, so I use mattifying powder on top of it just to keep it in check.

Elf Total Face Brush

I've been slowly building up my Elf collection of practice brushes and the latest one I got was this brush. I needed it to apply mattifying powder, and it spreads powder really well because it's enormous! It could be a little softer, but it's great.

NYX Cream Blush in Hibiscus

I've gone back to using my NYX Cream Blushes this season because they give great color with just one swipe. They apply sheer and feel a lot lighter on my skin than powder blush. I mainly use Hibiscus at the moment because though the website says it's a deep beige pink, it comes off as kind of bronze orange shade on me. Yep, I'm an orange girl through and through, and even more so in the summertime.   

Maybelline Color Tattoo in Bad to the Bronze

This is an oldie but goodie! Color Tattoos don't melt off my eyelids, period. They stay on all day no matter how intense the heat is, and Bad to the Bronze is just so summery. 

Smith's Rose & Mandarin Lip Balm

This was a cold weather friend, but it's also works for my summer makeup stash. I know I should be using a lip balm with SPF, but I'm not over this lip balm just yet, and I like its moisturizing and multitasking benefits. It keeps my lips hydrated, and I use it on my cuticles too. 

L'Oreal Smooth Intense Shampoo

The hot summer sun turns my hair into an absolute frizz case so it needs all the help it can get this season. This anti-frizz shampoo (which I reviewed before) helps a lot in keeping my hair from puffing up. I was really happy to find the new travel size at the grocery! Finally I can take it on trips now. 

Vaseline Total Moisture Aloe Fresh Lotion

Did you notice that I like cooling things like bamboo and aloe in the summer? I normally use Cocoa Glow, but I got this one to try because it seemed really fresh. Moisturizing and cooling always gets me this season, and this lotion has both of those attributes.

Aveeno Smart Essentials Daily Moisturizer

This is why I love this moisturizer. It works in both cold and hot weather! It packs my skin with lots of moisture and it also has SPF 30, shielding my face from the sun's harsh rays. I can go on and on about how great it is, but I talked about it at length already on this blog.

Whew, that was quite a list! What products are you using this summer?