Summer Proof your Make-up

Summer is here and with it comes soaring temperatures, sky-high humidity and lots and lots of sweat. All of which makes keeping your makeup from sliding off your face an almost impossible feat.

"Heat and humidity break down the makeup formulas, causing everything from mascara to lipgloos to separate and smear," says Chase Aston, The Body Shop's international makeup artist, whose clients include Cameron Diaz and Elle McPherson. Read on to find out how to keep your makeup in place when things start heating up.

- Start with a clean, primed palette. Excess oil on the skin can cause slippage faster than you can say "oil slick." Prep your skin by cleansing and toning, then moisturize with a mattifying lotion. Aston recommends applying an oil-free face primer to give your makeup extra staying power.

- Choose oil-free, water-resistant products. "Most makeup formulations contain natural oils that, once they warm up, will tend to slip and slide all over the face," says Aston. Extend your makeup's life cycle by switching up your usual products for those that don't contain oils. Instead of a cream foundation, choose a lightweight mineral powder foundation. Create a smudgeproof eye by using powder shadows and a waterproof liner and mascara. For lips and cheeks, ditch the heavy lipstick and melt-prone cream blushes in favor of sweat-resistant lip and cheek stains. He suggests: The Body Shop Hot Brights Lip Shine and Cheek Stain. Find out some of our favorite waterproof picks too!

-Stop a meltdown in its tracks. If your makeup starts to slide around midday, use a large white tissue to gently blot down your hairline, eyes, corners of the nose, lips, chin and jawline to suck up oil and smudges. If your eye shadow has creased, close your eyelid and press your finger against it to smooth the remaining shadow and wipe away liner and mascara. Wipe your lips clean and add a wash of balm or gloss to freshen up.

How To Do At-Home Highlights

Want to give your hair color a few sun-kissed streaks, but don't want to spend a lot of time and money in the salon? Today's at-home highlights are pretty easy to use, especially if you listen to Marcy Cona, Clairol's Creative Director for Color & Style. Here, she shares some key tricks that you won't find on the back of the box. (Of course, you must follow those how-to's too!)

1. Style your hair first. "Always apply highlights on dry hair and make sure your hair is styled the way you typically wear it." says Cona. This way, you'll know exactly where to place your highlights so that they'll be visible and complement your hairstyle.

2. Color outside the lines. "Highlights don't have to go down the entire strand of hair," she says. To mimic the way the sun would naturally bleach your hair, you should be consistently inconsistent. Paint different widths of highlights (from about ¼ inch to ½ inch) and make some more prominent on the roots and others on the ends.

3. Practice with hair conditioner. Before you reach for the bleach, put some conditioner on the applicator and paint a few fake highlights. Work on areas where you don't plan to place real highlights. Once you feel comfortable wielding the color wand, then you're ready to use the real thing.

How to minimize your pores

While it's impossible to shrink the actual size of your pores, there are ways to minimize their appearance. Start by reducing the amount of oil on your skin, which can clog up your pores and make them look bigger. Wash your face twice a day with an exfoliating cleanser that contains ingredients like salicylic acid to slough away the gunk in your pores. Follow that up with an oil-free, noncomedogenic moisturizer (use one with at least an SPF 15 during the day since sun damage can stretch out your pores). Once a week, use an at-home microdermabrasion or chemical peel kit to remove dead skin cells so your skin looks smoother and your pores are less noticeable. 

Guide to Self-Tanning

Stained palms, scary streaks and an orange afterglow—all three are the telltale signs of the botched self-tan. Consider those faux-glow faux-pas' a thing of the past thanks to these pro tips from St. Tropez Celebrity Tanner and Body Finish Expert Fiona Locke. "An at-home self-tan allows you to look golden without the harmful effects of the sun," says Locke. Here's how to make sure your self-tan looks naturally gorgeous, instead of painfully fake.

1) Do the prep work. According to Locke, the biggest mistake most women make when self-tanning is not properly preparing their skin for self-tanner. Thoroughly exfoliating your skin will get rid of dry patches, which absorb too much self-tanner and cause blotching. Self-tanner will also go on more smoothly if your skin is silky smooth. Locke also suggests applying a light moisturizer to extra dry areas (knees, elbows, cuticles) to prevent them from absorbing too much self-tanner.

2) Start from the bottom up. Apply a generous amount of self-tanner from your toes to your knees in a long, sweeping motion. This will ensure the tanner goes on evenly and streak-free. Then work from your knees to your hips and up the rest of your body. We like St. Tropez Self Tan Bronzing Mousse because it contains Aromaguard technology to eliminate that sickly self-tanner smell. "Wait at least six to eight hours before you take a shower, swim or perspire excessively," says Locke. To avoid staining your clothes or smudging your bronze, wear loose, dark clothing. Wash your hands immediately after you are finished applying.

3) If you make a mistake, don't panic. "If you catch the problem within four hours, use a self-tanning remover to correct the problem" says Locke. If you don’t notice the mistake until later, soak your skin in a warm bath with several drops of baby oil to soften the skin, then exfoliate the area with a body scrub or exfoliator.

Make your lipgloss last longer

Lipgloss has a tendency to pull a disappearing act before you've finished your first cocktail. The trick to making your gloss stick around a lot longer is to layer up your lips.

1). Start by filling in your entire mouth with a lip liner that matches the natural shade of your lips. This creates a base for your lipcolor to grab onto.

2). Next, apply a creamy neutral lipstick in a similar shade to the liner. Blot away the excess to tone down the color intensity, then brush on a healthy dose of your gloss.

In general, thick, shimmer-flecked formulas tend to last longer than sheer ones. And if you have a habit of licking your lips when you're wearing gloss, opt for an unscented, unflavored lipgloss to help nix the temptation of eating away at the goods.

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