Degree-defying makeup

No matter what season, you want to look your best. This becomes challenging as temperatures rise and humidity closes in. Don’t sweat it, though, because I’ve got some degree-defying makeup tips to keep you looking cool no matter how heated the situation becomes.

Coverage that protects

Let’s start with skin. When the weather gets warm, we spend a lot more time outdoors and putting sunscreen on exposed areas, especially the face. This is a MUST. But, let’s say your skin is not as perfect as you’d like or you have a daytime outdoor special event. There’s no need to buy a special foundation with high SPF. Simply mix a few drops of your favorite liquid foundation into a facial-quality sunscreen. You’ll have UVA/UVB protection and enough coverage to make people think your “real” skin is amazing!

My picks for perfect facial suncare to mix with your foundation are:

• Supergoop City Sunscreen Serum, $42
• Dermalogica Solar Defense Booster, $48
• Kate Somerville Serum Sunscreen, $45

Add some color

Next, we add a flush of color, but let’s make sure it stays. When color has to stand up to a steamy climate, I immediately reach for lip/cheek stains. They’re easy to apply, add a very natural looking flush to the skin and are heat and moisture-proof. I like to apply stain to the apple of the cheeks and blend back towards the ears. I rub some of the same stain into moisturized lips at this time. The best part of stains is their ability to be layered to either intensify or customize colors.

Some of the best budge-proof lip/cheek stains are:

• Benefit – Benetint, Posie Tint and ChaCha Tint, $29 each
• Becca – Beach Tints, $25 each
• Vincent Longo – Lip & Cheek Stain, $23

Highlight your features

Now we’re going to sculpt your face with highlighter/illuminator. I love highlighting because it takes the guesswork out of contouring your face. This is also a very important technique for HD Video production because dark contouring looks very un-natural to the Hi-Def camera. If you accentuate the high points of your face by highlighting, the rest will fall into natural contours.

For warm weather, I prefer to use an illuminator to a highlighter. They add a subtle sheen or glow — not sparkle. I apply the illuminator to the top of the cheekbones, down the center of the nose, at the cleft of the chin and in the center of the forehead.

Perfect illuminators for warm weather are:

• Nars – Illuminator Liquid, $30
• Smashbox – Artificial Light Luminizing Lotion, $26
• Illamasqua – Illuminator, $20

Never forget the bronzer

Next, we grab the bronzer to bring this all together. The foolproof way to achieve perfect bronzer placement is to stand directly in front of your mirror. Tilt your face up slightly. Now imagine the sun is in front of you at noon. The sun would be concentrated at the highest points on your face – the tops of your cheeks, the bridge of your nose, your chin and along your hairline. That’s where you apply either a powder or cream bronzer and make sure to blend in well.

Perfect bronzers for warm weather are:

• Too Faced – Aqua Bunny Waterproof Cream to Powder Bronzer, $29
• Tarte – Amazonian Clay Waterproof Mineral Powder Bronzer, $29

Finish with gloss

Lips are already stained so all that’s left is a dab of juicy-looking gloss to complete this glowing summer goddess.

I prefer to keep it simple and use clear gloss with a golden or a silver shimmer.

My favorite shimmering summer sheer glosses are:

• Armour Beauty – In Marilyn or Stardust, $21 each
• FACEatelier – Ice or Arctic Gold, $24 each
• NYX – Mega Shine Gloss in Crystal or Sunshine, $6

More summer makeup

Sizzling makeup for summer nights
Sweatproof summer makeup
Summer makeup guide