Beauty | Products for glowing skin

With intense summer heat rearing it's ugly head here in Vegas, I've been really determined to come up with a makeup routine that's minimal, glowing, and (relatively) sweatproof. Here are the products in this step by step routine.




1. Moisturize and/or apply sunscreen
Ok, this step is huge for me. I normally have very dry skin so the first thing I HAVE to do after a shower is moisturize the heck out of my body. In the summer time, I can go a little easy on my facial moisturizing routine when my skin type becomes more dry/combinatioin. I start off with the Josie Maran Argan Oil and let that sink in before I apply my Josie Maran Argan Daily Moisturizer SPF 47 on top. This will be a little heavy for you oily/combo skin people out there, so I would suggest just skipping straight to a sunscreen. They also have powder sunscreens now, but I'll get to that later on.

sunscreen is super important yo

2. Primer
Alriiiight ok so I admit, sometimes I skip this step. I think due to my skin type, makeup doesn't really melt off my face as quickly as it would on someone with oily skin. BUT when I do remember to apply a primer, my makeup lasts waaay longer and doesn't rub off when I sweat. I use the Hourglass Mineral Veil Primer for a practically swim proof base. I have the little sample size since I don't use primer every day. For drugstore primers, I find the Maybelline Face Studio Master Prime primers to work just as efficiently.

3. Glowy base time!
So this step is the reason why I usually forget to put on primer. I just get so excited to use this product omg. The BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfectors are the first step to this whole glowy look. I really love how the shade Opal looks on my pushing-NC37-skin. I would say the key to glowy skin is not only in the products you use, but where you apply them. I apply the shimmering skin perfector in very strategic spots. I squeeze a dollop onto my ring finger and massage it onto my cheeks, nose bridge, cupid's bow, and chin. I know some who people apply it all over and mattify it with a powder afterwards, and I know a few who just apply it to the tops of their cheekbones. It's totally up to you. I personally feel that massaging the product into my cheeks gives me a naturally lit look.

This is what the travel size looks like. I think the full size is in a pump bottle? Anyway yeah I have the travel sized version of Opal and it is life changinggggg

4. Cream highlight
Okie dokie, so once I have the BECCA stuff on I usually go on to apply the rest of my makeup. For a minimal look, I stick to well defined eyebrows, some winged liner, mascara (still searching for the best waterproof kind :c ), cream blush, and some kind of lip stain/gloss. I use a cream highlight like Benefit's Watt's Up! highlighter on the tops of my cheekbones, nose bridge, cupid's bow, and center of the chin. Using a cream product is super important because it looks more natural and blends into the skin enough to give off that naturally luminous glow from within.

I have the mini size and it's perfect for direct application. For this full size version here, I would suggest getting some on your ring finger first.

5. Luminous powder
My FAVORITE powder for that overall glowy look is the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Diffused Light. The slight yellow tint to the powder brightens up the areas you place it on. Not gonna lie, I go crazy with this powder. I put it all over my cheeks, under the eyes, over my nose, top of the lip, and center of the chin. This powder gives that luminous glow BUT it also subdues the previous cream highlighter for a more natural and (like the name suggests) diffused look. This product is NOT good for keeping your oil in check though. I bring oil blotters with me whenever I'm rocking this look. One thing I tried that I think I liked was using a loose setting powder to put over my T-zone, then spraying Mac Fix+ on top to get rid of any cakeyness. Most days though I forgo the loose setting powder and stick to oil blotting.

As I mentioned earlier, there are powder sunscreens available that go on transparent. The Mineral Fusion mineral SPF 30 Brush-On Sun Defense powder comes to mind. Be warned though, there are some health hazards to inhaling zinc oxide.


And umm that's it! Here's how it looks on me. Left side is room lighting, right side is natural daylight (indoors lol).

Soooo, on an unrelated note, do you have any waterproof mascara recommendations? I'm dying over here...