Achieving Perfect, Natural Looking Summer Skin in Less Than Five Minutes!

In the hot and humid NE summer weather, the last thing I want to do is wear a mask of foundation. Makeup and sweat running down your face isn't exactly the nicest feeling. However, my skin is also recovering from a recent outbreak of cystic acne, so I have red spots and dry patches up the wazoo. This means I need a pretty decent amount of coverage. 

So I compromise. I switch out the foundation for tinted moisturizer (thereby solving the dry skin problem and eradicating the dreaded foundation mask sensation), and I make damn good use of the concealer and pressed powder.

This is what I start with in the morning (apologies for the unkempt hair; face before curls, you know ;) ):

My acne is almost always around my chin and nose, areas that can be tricky to cover without looking too cakey or scaley (ick!). I apply a lightweight tinted moisturizer and allow it set for several minutes before moving on.

I used Physician's Formula Talc-Free Mineral Wear Tinted Moisturizer in Light to Natural. Be warned: this product line is exceptionally dark. I can only use this shade in the summer, when my skin is much darker. It also smells like cheap Indian food; it's not the most pleasantly scented item.

This allows my skin to absorb some moisture and helps to soothe some of the rougher patches around my chin.

Next, I dab concealer where necessary, which seems like everywhere today! You can either use a warm fingertip to pat the concealer into the skin (rub your ring finger and thumb together to promote blood flow; warm fingertips heat the product up and help to spread it more easily), or if you want greater coverage you can use a small concealer brush to apply the concealer directly over the spot.

Once that's done, I use the same concealer brush to lightly pat a pressed powder over the moisturizer and concealer to set the makeup. I used Wet N' Wild Natural Blend Pressed Powder because it is all natural, it's light and creamy, and it sets beautifully and wears well in all kinds of weather.

After I've gone through these steps, my skin looks much more natural, and utterly unmade up. 

The next step would be to apply bronzer and blush if you wanted a more defined face. Lately I've been reaching for my bare Minerals All Over Face Color in Warmth, a brownish-hued bronzer that brightens up a face beautifully. Applied with the bare Minerals Flawless Face brush, you follow the bone structure of your face in order to give the most natural look. Follow the boundary lines where the sun would actually hit your face; OR mimic the shape of a 3 as you apply the product, as this will hit all the major zones of a sun-kissed face.

Obviously it isn't my intention to use a lot of bronzer, because I'm already fairly tanned. I'm not going for a Snookie look here! Keeping a light hand is super important here.

Finally, sweep a natural colored blush across the cheeks if you want to keep the look pretty natural. I used Mary Kay Mineral Blush in Sparkling Cider (the cinnamon shade to the right in the palette below).

And voila, you're done! It does seem a complicated process with lots of products and steps, but it's actually quite easy to do and doesn't really take a lot of time. I finished this look in less than five minutes. It's a quick way to get a finished look out of the way in the morning.

Does the hot weather influence the products you use on your face? Are you a full coverage lover or is "simple and natural" your makeup mantra?