The fun time of the year is upon us! And that means lots of end of year parties, casual catch ups and summer soirées. I’ve put together my top tips for looking your absolute best this party season with minimal effort
Heatless Summer Waves
If you have medium to long hair this is a great one to try. Before Bed spritz your hair with sea-salt spray and then split the hair in two at the back of the head and braid each section in a loose three strand braid. Tie off each braid and then go to sleep. When you take out the braid the next morning, shake the hair to loosen the waves and spritz a bit more sea-salt spray to freshen it up. For a more polished look, finish off by curling a few random sections each side with a large curling iron, and blending them through the rest of the hair with your fingers. This gives effortless looking summer beachy waves.
Quick Fix
If you don’t have time for a full face of makeup then here’s what to do: conceal, define and refine. Apply concealer under the eyes and anywhere else that needs a spot of cover, fill in your eyebrows to give your face definition and structure, and finish off with a coat of mascara on the top and bottom lashes to make your eyes sparkle. If you have a few more seconds, then treat your lips to a tinted balm or gloss for a fresh finish that doesn’t require rigorous touch ups.
Picture Perfect
If it’s perfectly smooth healthy skin you want, then this is the one for you. The Photo Finish facial is a treatment which combines hyaluronic acid, a natural moisturiser, with botulinum to minimise pores and fine lines and give your skin a soft smooth all over glow. It revives tired dull looking skin, plumps up fine lines and stimulates collagen to firm and rejuvenate your skin. This is amazing for the face, neck, chest and hands. You’ll be a little red after the treatment so you may want to take the afternoon off but the following day you should be totally fine and should start to see results in about a week. When I had this done I followed up with an LED light facial immediately after and it took away literally all the initial redness completely and made my skin look like it wad literally glowing.
For more tips on how to get your skin ready this party season, check out my other post
Big Blow Out
If you’re able to invest in regular blow waves then more power to you! Otherwise Kérastase L’Incroyable Blowdry literally works wonders to long wear hold and shape control to your heat styling at home for days. It also offers heat protection of up to 230 degrees which is so important if you want your locks to stay shiny and healthy looking. But the absolute best thing about it hands down? It controls frizz for up to 4 days in 80% humidity, which (let’s be honest) comes hand-in-hand with an Auckland summer.
Lip lock
Want to wear a bold lip but need it to stay? You can’t go past a matte liquid lipstick for longwear with no transfer or smudging. But if you’re using an existing lipstick then first apply a thin amount of the Smashbox 24 Hour Eye Primer (designed for prolonging the wear of eyeshadow) but is also amazing for getting lipstick to stay without feathering.
Get the glow
Want that dewy skin look but don’t want to look like a disco ball? Glow is great in certain areas but it works best when used in contrast to matte texture. Keep areas through the centre of the forehead and either side of the node matte (as these tend to read of oily if you add glow here) and then add your glow to high points of the face like tops of the cheek bones, cupids bow of the lip, and under the brow. Don’t forget about the body too, after moisturising add glow to your collar bones, shoulders and legs if they’re on show too.
before/after using the new Bondi Sands Ultra Dark self tanning foam
Fake it
Fake tan is far superior to a real tan. Although we love the summer sun and personally I think a small amount is good (obviously I’m not a medical professional), it is undeniably damaging and dangerous in large amounts. However, nothing looks better than a night golden tan and that where the fake tans come into their own. They’ve come a long way in the last few years and it’s almost impossible to go orange. I opt for Bondi Sands every time as I always find the colour is perfect. They recently released their new Ultra Dark mousse which I love (although tanning newbies should probably opt for light/medium initially).