How To Keep Your Makeup Looking & Feeling Fresh This Summer

The heat is back again for another year and with it comes the difficulty of keeping your makeup looking as perfect as when you first put it on this morning. Melting makeup, smeared eyeliner and sticky lipstick is never a good time so here are some tips to keeping your makeup looking fresh throughout summer. 

Invest In A Primer

Primers are a makeup essential during summer. This step takes only a few seconds to apply and does wonders for you all day long. Primers keep your makeup in place and there are so many on the market to choose from. Some can even double as a moisturiser so you have less layers to put on in the morning. 

Keep Things Light

Less is definitely more in so try to keep the layers as thin and as minimal as you can. Instead of using your normal full coverage foundation, opt for a CC or BB cream. These babies still offer great, buildable coverage but will feel much lighter on your face. Like primers, there are so many on the market now to suit every skin type and coverage need. Some even have sunscreen already added to them which is perfect for protecting your skin during the summer months. 

Have the Essentials On Hand

Carrying a little purse in your bag with a couple of touch up weapons can definitely help keep your makeup looking fresh. A few of our essentials are below. 

Oil Blotting Papers

Nothing is worse than having sweat and excess oil build up and settle into your skin for the rest of the day. These papers instantly remove any excess so you aren’t just applying more makeup over the top of dirty makeup. 

Powder

Once you have used some blotting paper to remove any excess oil, putting a bit of extra powder on can really help re-set your makeup back in place. We recommend using a matte powder that matches your skin tone. To keep the layer light, use a brush slightly smaller than your normal powder brush to target those problem areas. This will prevent your makeup from looking cakey. 

Cotton Buds

Cotton buds are perfect to remove any small imperfections. Use them to wipe off any smudged mascara or mistake you may have made whilst touching up. Never underestimate their power to fix a situation. 

Your Cruelty Free Beauty Crash Course

So you have probably heard a lot about cruelty free beauty lately. You might have seen it online or have a friend that shops cruelty free. But what does that really mean? Not only is it important because we love animals but also so you can make informed decisions as a consumer when shopping for your beauty products. 

What you need to know first. Animal testing has been done for generations as a way to determine if products were safe for public use. Not only are final products tested but individual ingredients. Long story short testing of ingredients in no longer required for many reasons and here is why:

• There are thousands of ingredients available to cosmetic companies that have already been proven safe they can use to formulate their products. 
• With the continued development of new technologies there are alternative methods available that makes animal testing uanessacry. These include in-vitro testing and the ability to replicate human organs that can best used for testing. 
• There is a genetic differences between animals and humans meaning that although something could be determined safe for animals it doesn’t make it safe for humans. 
• many countries around the would have realised the many reasons animal testing is uanessacry and have taken action to ban animal testing on cosmetics. These include the European Union, India, Norway and more. Australia can soon add its name to this list after annoying in June that they are banning cosmetic testing on animals. You can read more about how awesome we are becoming here. 

The term Cruelty Free refers to testing on animals and the term vegan refers to products without animals by-products. In cosmetics these can be bees wax, Carmine, Lanolin and many more. 

The easiest way to think about it is their are many different things that can make your beauty products are home cruelty free or not. 

Do they consider themselves cruelty free? 

Whats important to know here is the term “Cruelty Free” is not regulated so it can be used by companies, when in fact they could be testing on animals. Where it can get a little confusing is that the final product (e.g. your cleanser) may not have been tested on animals so companies will state it is cruelty free however the ingredients inside your cleanser may have been tested. Just to add another factor into the mix, much of the time the products will be tested by a third party which is where we talk about selling in China. 

Do they sell in China?

When beauty brands enter the Chinese market and are selling their products in China they agree that their products can undergo animal testing before they can be sold. This is a requirement by the Chinese government. 

Note: Companies can manufacture products in China and still be considered cruelty free as it is only if they are selling in China they are required by law to test. 

Only tests on animals when required by law.

This section is important because it is a statement you will see on a lot of cosmetics websites. Many companies are cruelty free and do not test their products or ingredients on animals. However many of these same company sell in china making them not necessarily cruelty free. 

Are they owned by a parent company that tests on animals?

Some brands are owned by bigger cosmetics companies and many of these companies do test on animals. Because of this many people believe that companies that are owned by larger parent companies that do test are not consider cruelty free because the profits for the products go to the parent company. This is an issue that is not black and white and looked at differently by many people. 

So what now?

There is a lot of information out there on the topic. Its important for each individual to decide whats important to them and the educate themselves. Lucky for us their are many great beauty bloggers that have done all the hard work on this issue. Blogs such as Cruelty Free Kitty and Logical Harmony provide a wealth of knowledge and have developed their on “Cruelty free list” you can use as a reference. 

You also have many organisation that are dedicated to ending animal testing and have approved lists of companies that don’t test on animals. Your top three you can refer to are

Choose Cruelty Free // Leaping bunny // Peta

Have a look at the massive list of cruelty free beauty brands you can buy from. Cruelty Free Kitty is a good go to list.

x

Bella Hadid: Style File

Her signature bad-girl minimalism has taken the platforms on social media by storm. Her dreamy and strikingly beautiful looks are undoubtedly mesmerizing and it’s no wonder Dior Beauty wanted her as the face of their brand.

The 19-year-old sister of supermodel Gigi Hadid has become a modelling force in her own right, with high profile runway appearances in New York and Paris, as well as on the Grammys Red Carpet with boyfriend The Weekend. You can’t help but admire this gorgeous genetically blessed beauty and we are just loving her timeless style!

Monday Muse – Phoebe Tonkin

If you’ve ever watched television, you’ve probably come across homegrown beauty and boho babe, Phoebe Tonkin.

The 26-year-old first captured our hearts on H20: Just Add Water, and Vampire Diaries, but her popularity doesn’t end with sci-fi obsessed teens. Working alongside brands such as Chanel and Free People, Phoebe has become the ultimate clotheshorse, amassing a fan base of well-respected designers and publications. She has since graced the covers of fashion magazines such as Elle, Vogue, Girlfriend, and Dolly.

With her dreamy girl-next-door look she has become an emblem of carefree beauty, reminding us of dreamier days all whilst giving us serious style envy. Copy her style below: