Sitting here on a Wednesday evening with a pot of Fruitalicious tea, in my new glass tea pot (which I am loving by the way!) I purchased it at the T2 shop in Bluewater with a box of Fruitalicious tea and a box of Milky Oolong tea!! PERFECTO! Anyway whilst sitting here drinking my tea, I thought it was about time I dedicated a blog post to summer essentials!
With summer Almost here (very nearly) I thought I’d write a little blog post about my summer essential beauty products! I recently got asked what make-up brands I am currently using to give my skin a healthy natural glow! So I thought why not share it with you guys!
This year I’m trying so very hard to stay away from sun beds! I know the risks and how they can age your skin, not mention a possibility of skin cancer, so for those reasons I have decided that for the first time in a good few years I am going sun bed free!!! With that in mind I was of course eager to find a self tanner to help me along with that natural summer glow. Over the years I have had many fake tan disasters from the tangerine tinge to the Umpa Lumpa not looking so good! So trying to find a natural looking streak free tan was a mission!!! But here is the product I have settled on for my 2017 essential! Palmer’s natural bronze gradual tanning body lotion! It’s smells delicious and so far no streaks!! Plus it’s not tested on animals!! WINNER!! I use this every other day as my skin tone is more of an olive complexion but it’s entirely up to you how often you use it.
Can we just take time out to admire my beautiful nails, which I had done at Shine Hair and Nails on Saturday! I went for a fun fresh baby pink with a sparkle on the ring finger, I am absolutely loving them, and have already had a lot of compliments! I also have to thank the lovely Emma (one of my best friends) for giving my roots a well needed touch up!! Beautiful hair and nails thanks to the girls at Shine hair and nails! Check out there website here.
I have recently done a mini body shop haul and purchased some summer essential products which I am loving right now!! I have always loved The body shop products, since my high school days when it was fashionable to have a collection of flavoured lip balms in pots, and wear white musk body sprays! Nowadays I love the body shop for the wide collection of makeup and beauty products and because they are absolutely against animal testing, this is a very important factor for me. Going completely cruelty free is difficult because some of my most favourite brands still test on animals, but I am doing the best I can to minimize what I use from companies that do test on animals, and hopefully soon there won’t be any in my collection!
So here are my summer essential must have items so far (I’m sure that there will be more added along the way.
Vitamin C skin reviver – This item is an absolute god send, it turns grumpy tired looking skin into healthy and glowing beautiful skin! when I’m on holiday I wear this on it’s own, but for now I use it as a base underneath my make up.
All in-one BB cream – What is life without a BB cream I ask you!! With 24hr hydration I find that it blends into my complexion and matches my skin tone perfectly.
Honey Bronze face gel – I NEEDED this product!! I’m not sure how I survived so many summers without it! This gives me a natural looking glow and feels incredibly lightweight! I love wearing it when I really don’t want to put a lot of bronzer on but still want the glow!
Honey Bronze highlighting dome in 01 Highlight – Love this little highlighter, that gives me that subtle pretty shimmer on my check bones.
Honey Bronze bronzing powder – A make up bag is never complete without a bronzing powder! And I have found my perfect one! It’s shimmer free with a perfect matte finish. And it lasts all day! This is my all year round product.
Shimmering dry oil Honey in 01 Honey Kiss – Firstly this smells amazing! Secondly this looks amazing! It’s non-greasy and gives the most beautiful shimmer! This is a holiday MUST HAVE!!
Fresh Nude Foundation in 040 Santorini sunset – We all need a little foundation in our life sometimes! And this fresh nude foundation works amazingly with my skin. And it doesn’t start to go patchy half way through the day either! Another all year round product!!
Instaglow CC cream SPF 20 in peachy glow – This is a little multi tasking gem! It not only illuminates, but also minimises the appearance of pores and reduces shine! It’s a great pre-foundation primer! But at the weekend I decided to wear it on its own, with a hint of bronzer over the top! #healthylookingglow
Pink sparkler- A lovely Christmas present from the lovely Charlotte! I will most definitely be adding a touch of pink sparkler to my summer evening outfit! It smells amazing! And the bottle sits on my dressing table looking so vintage and chic. My god-daughter Evie who is 5 especially loves this product and can’t resist spraying it on everyone including herself.
Fijian water Lotus fragrance mist – This is like a holiday in a bottle! It smells gorgeous! I picked this up at the weekend from The body shop in Bluewater. It’s a lovely fresh daytime sent, perfect to keep in your handbag for a quick spray every now and then! 
With over 40 perfumes in my collection (well you can never have enough) My favourite summer perfume right now is Daisy Dream by Marc Jacobs. It’s a light pretty floral scent, and is great for both day and night. I love perfumes, from my expensive brands to the celebrity perfumes which are great for day time use. Another firm contender for this year is English by The Body Shop! 
I am also NEVER without my hand cleansing gel! And at the moment I LOVE Hand Maid Antibacterial gel by soap and glory, with its fruity summer grapefruit scent! It’s always either in my handbag or sitting on my desk! I’m never without it!
This summer is also about heading out and about with my baby blue mini instax polaroid camera bought for me for Christmas by my lovely boyfriend Luke! I am into scrap booking all of our adventures and vacations and love the mini Polaroid pictures as instant memories. This camera is also on my summer essentials list! I just LOVE IT! It pretty much goes everywhere with me and I am always camera ready!! I recently purchased some really cute little accessories for it from Amazon at a cost of £13.99. Cannot wait to try these out!!!
I can’t wait for those long hot summer nights, drinking jugs of ice tea and Pimms, having BBQ’s and running from wasps (you just know it’s inevitable). I will also be doing some holiday shopping for my fast approaching Florida vacation! And of course I’m going to need some more beauty products right!!
Thank you for reading.
If you have any make up essential’s that you would like to share with me please leave your comments, all comments are very welcome and appreciated. I am particularly interested in animal cruelty free products, so please message me with your likes or dislikes!!
Lisa xxx