4 Summer Essentials: Avoid Looking Like A Hot Mess When It’s Hot as Balls Outside

I can only stand being outdoors for about half the year. Spring and Fall are my jam; Winter and Summer can go shit in their respective hats.

What’s not to love about Spring and Fall? The weather is perfect.  You can get away with going out in a cardigan or denim jacket, throw on a cute scarf and sunglasses and you’re good to go. Oh, and let’s not forget about ALL THE BOOTS!

Winter and Summer? I’m either getting all the moisture sucked out of me and constantly clutching my Carmex or on the complete opposite spectrum, I get to be constantly damp and feel like I’m living in Satan’s anus.

The latter is where I’m sitting today, but fret not, I’m going to share with you a few things that have helped me feel a little less like a puddle.

Avène Thermal Spring Water

Yeah yeah, I know. It’s fancy water in an aerosol can but I’ll be damned if I don’t love spraying my face with it all day. First of all, to anyone wondering, that’s no longer sweat that’s all over my face but ThErMaL SpRiNg WaTeR. Secondly and seriously though, I do find it to be quite hydrating and it is pretty refreshing to use throughout the day. I also like to use it before applying any serums or moisturizers to help them sink into my skin.

Revlon Kiss Balm

I love these! I have the Strawberry and Cherry ones and not only are they actually moisturizing, they’re not sticky, they leave a really nice and noticeable tint behind AND they’re SPF 20. Honestly, I can’t deal with lipstick in the summertime because I’m trying to use as few products as possible, it’s too damn hot to be fussing around with products! Don’t get me started on lip gloss in the summer, which practically slides off my mouth before I even leave the house. These lip balms are a perfect and they smell nice too.

Garnier Moisture Rescue Refreshing Gel-Cream 

This is what I use as a day time moisturizer and I especially love using it when I get out of my (ice cold) shower. It absorbs pretty quickly, it smells nice, and the texture is super light. Its name says “Gel-Cream” but it’s definitely all gel. The product description says it has grape water, apple water (is that even a thing?) and Vitamin E, but I swear it also has some kind of cooling properties because my face feels cold for a while after I use it and that’s all I’m looking for during a never-ending heat wave.  

The Body Shop – Body Sorbet in Satsuma

We all know that Satsuma is an addictive, heavenly citrus smell from the Body Shop, so let’s get that out of the way. This is a great body lotion and my go-to in the summer. The texture is so weird to me, but I love it. The texture feels somewhat matte, it’s hard to explain but trust me on this, and it absorbs almost instantaneously.

Can we sense a theme here? I don’t want anything sticky on my body when it’s 40 degrees and my body is sticky enough! ANYWAYS, I also love the fact that it comes in a tube and you don’t have to screw around with a slippery lid, sticking your hand in a bunch of lotion and getting it under your nails.

So, that’s it. Apart from my constant bitching about how hot it is outside and how I feel like I’m on fire, these are some of the things that have been making my life a little bit easier. If I had to recommend only one of these products to you, it would be the Revlon Kiss Balm because even when I’m sitting in front of my fan looking like a hot mess, I look like a GLAMOUROUS hot mess. Happy sweating!

Project Pan - Slowly but Surely

For probably the last year I've been getting into the habit of switching out my make-up on a weekly basis. Typically every Sunday night I sit on my bed and spread out all of my make-up to decide what I'm going to wear that week. It's actually become something I look forward to doing as a way to cap off the weekend, get ready for the new week and occasionally finally make up my mind on a product and actually throw it away!

Usually there are 2 or 3 things that make it in the rotation every week, such as whatever mascara I'm using, my eyebrow pencil and a certain eye shadow primer which I'll get to in a minute...but for the most part it's all different. That's sort of my rule when doing this every week; each week every product (except for the above 3) has to be different from the previous week. The goal for doing this every week was to get through what I already own and as a side benefit it's been saving me a little money in the process because I'm constantly having to stretch my will power against buying new things until I finish something else.

I can't say it's fool-proof (my will power isn't THAT strong) but so far it's been going well. So I thought it might be fun to show 10 things that I'm working on this week - I can't guarantee that by the end of this week any of them will look any more used but it makes me feel productive, OK?!

Nars bronzer in 'Laguna'

By now everyone is familiar with this cult-favourite I'm sure, this bronzer is probably now associated with the word "Laguna" more often than the actual beach. This was actually my first Nars purchase because like a lemming I perked up when this promised a certain beachy-bronze glow. Unfortunately for me this is more of an Oompa-Loompa at the beach glow - NOT THE SAME. I can't wear this as a bronzer or a contour, it's too intense - but my plan is to use this up as an eye shadow crease colour instead. I find it's much more useful this way even though it will take me a dog's age to get through.

Laura Mercier oil-free foundation primer

I received a deluxe sample of this primer in it's original form (The one with oil? That sounds gross...) and it worked like a dream! So when I decided to buy the full-size I opted instead for the oil-free version because that's always better, right? WRONG. For an oil-free product this stuff is SLICK on me. It's shine-city in a matter of hours. There's not much to say really other than I don't like this formulation. Perhaps in the future I'll pick up the original primer but once I'm finished with this I think I'll move on to Rimmel's new primer.

Maybelline Baby Lips Dr. Rescue in 'Coral Crave'

I really liked the original Baby Lips in the blue packaging so last Winter I thought what could be better, right? Baby Lips with a stronger formula for the colder months! I've been painfully working my way through this ever since. I don't find that it's any better than the original, it feels like water on the lips. The staying power is weak and the "menthol" smell really gets to me. The colour is nice but it's not enough for me to buy it again.

MAC Prep + Prime eye shadow primer in 'Light'

I've been working on finishing this for what feels like forever. If you like this product then it's certainly worth the cost since it'll last you a long ass time. For me this primer is just OK, which pains me to say since I include it in my weekly rotation every week just to use it up. I would say that my eye shadow does last longer when I use it but not by much. The texture of this is weird, I prefer sticky eye shadow primers (such as Urban Decay's Primer Potion) and this one feels strange, like a matte mousse, if that makes sense.

MAC eyeshadows in 'Bisque' and 'Patina'

I like these two eye shadows. 'Bisque' was actually my first MAC eye shadow I ever bought so it's bitter-sweet to have gone through so much of it in a way. On the other hand, I bought 'Bisque' 3-4 years ago and I still haven't finished it so I don't know what that says. It's a beige-y cream matte colour that works with lots of looks. 'Patina' is also really pretty, it says its a frost but to me it's more of a satin finish (Why does MAC always do that?). Anyway, it's a nice crease colour but I don't find it packs much of a punch. If you're looking for a subtle crease colour this is a good option.

Covergirl Clean Pressed Powder in 'Ivory'

You can tell this is old just by the packaging. This powder is OK, it's not particularly long-lasting or mattifying. My problem is the colour, I chose 'Ivory' when I really should have gone a shade darker. I'm planning on finishing this up by using it as an under-eye setting powder.

Revlon Lip Butters in 'Pink Lemonade', 'Sugar Frosting' and 'Creamsicle'

Remember when these were EVERYWHERE? I happily jumped on this bandwagon, I even stalked multiple drug stores to find the elusive 'Peach Parfait' shade - which turned out to be the worst one of all with massive glitter chunks! Anyway, these 3 colours aren't bad, out of the 3 'Sugar Frosting' is my least favourite with 'Pink Lemonade' being the least offensive. It's the formula that gets me. Are they a tinted lip balm? They aren't that moisturising. Are they a sheer lipstick? Definitely not. They're sticky as hell and don't get me started if you have any dryness to your lips because they cling like a mother. You almost have to use a lip balm before you use these which sort of defeats the purpose, right? Either way, I can't wait to finish these!

So those we're my 10 products that I need to be out of my collection ASAP. My fiancé also took photos of them which is something that I've never tried on this blog before so we'll see how they work out!

Revlon Colorburst Laquer Balms | Review

Can we talk about the huge trend that we've all been seeing over the last year or two? Giant lip crayons! At first when all the drugstore brands came out with them one after the other I was pretty sure they were all going to be crappy knock-offs for the Clinique Chubby Sticks. But every new expansion in the budget friendly lip crayon realm keeps impressing me.

I swear my bathroom looks like I'm hoarding bunches of Crayola jumbo markers, but I'm addicted to these things!

The newest addition to my crayon pack is Revlon's most recent offering aptly titled "Laquer Balms". At the same time of their release, Revlon also gave us the "Matte Balms" and I have one of those, too. Although while I find the Matte Balms to be quite drying on their own, under a good lip balm they work nicely and have some powerful colour payoff. But it's the Laquer Balms that really have me jazzed, which is a nice surprise since I'm usually drawn to anything matte.

While the Laquer Balms come in a wide range of shades from light pinks to plums and firey reds, the one that drew me in was the shade 'Demure'. For starters, it's a little glittery. Nothing too intense, while you can't feel the "grit" of the glitter like with a lot of lip products, the glitter is certainly noticeable. Secondly, the colour - Demure is a light peachy pink (this is a running theme with me, I know) but it's so flattering! Probably my favorite thing about it is its ease, because the Laquer Balms are sort of glossy (and also moisturizing)  you don't need a mirror to apply these for them to look amazing and can feel confident that the product isn't smeared all over your face.

One thing to note is like the original Revlon lip crayons (which I also have in like, every colour) there is that lingering minty/menthol feeling. It doesn't really stick around, so it's not a big deal for me. Lastly, these also twist up to dispense more product which is awesome. I've been wanting to pick up the Nars Velvet Matte lip pencils because they have about 50 amazing different red shades, but the fact that you need go sharpen them yourself really gets to me. I don't know what it is...something about paying close to $40 for something that makes ME work for THEM and not to mention sharpening the product wastes about half of it! Urgh, Nars, why do you do this to me?

Anyway, I would rate Revlon's Laquer Balms a solid 9/10.

Have any of you jumped on the massive lip crayon band wagon?