August. Summer is nearly over (or not, depending where you are), it’s my birthday month (and oh how many birthdays I’ve spent with miserable weather as a child), and these are all reasons only to surround myself with things that make me happy. The scent of oranges is one of those things, incidentally, and what colour could be more fitting for summer favourites than happy, bright orange?!
Dorit’s August beauty favourites
Clinique pep-start eye cream
I finished my Pai eye cream a few weeks ago and out came the Clinique pep-start. Clinique gives you all the spiel about ‘brightened, refreshed and wide awake look’ (cue eyeroll), but never mind. This is a good eye cream with a gel-like texture for everybody who hasn’t very dry or very oily skin. It has some good hydrating ingredients and anti-aging properties (Squalane, peptides). What I like especially is that it plays nicely with all kind of concealers I used over it, and also has some shimmer in it (mica) that makes your undereye area look smoother instantly after applying. The only thing that I don’t like is the ball applicator – it’s a bit messy and wasteful (out squirts a bit of cream everytime when you close it), and quite useless for applying right out of the tube. It’s 26,50$/ 25€.
Rituals Happy Buddha foaming shower gel
Since I got this (an embarrassingly long time ago – beauty products hoarder here!) Rituals changed the Happy Buddha line a bit, and while my foaming shower gel has a ‘mandarin & yuzu’ scent, the new ones have orange & cedar. Both are totally great, I just like the old one a tiny bit better. I love the shower ‘experience’ you get with the foaming gels – squirt a bit in your hand, and like a shaving gel it develops from a gel into a mountain of great-scenting mousse you then wash yourself with. The scent doesn’t linger that long on my skin, but that’s totally fine with me – I don’t like my shower products to mess with the fragrance I’m wearing for the day. Rituals’ foaming shower gels come on two sizes – 50ml (7,50$/ 4,50€) and 200ml (15$/ 8,50€)
Marc Jacobs Highliner Gel Crayon in Orange Crush!
I love this pencil for neutral, matte eye looks – I use it on the lower lashline to brighten them up. The shimmery coral orange makes those look much more lively and summery, and is great for my eye colour (hazel) and skintone (NC15). It would pop a lot more on Astrid, but I’m quite happy with it. It’s incredibly long-wearing and breaks down only when it comes into contact with oil. Also a plus: the tiny glitter particles don’t irritate my eyes. A word of caution, though – Marc Jacobs Highliners are notorious for drying out quickly, so make sure the cap is on tightly. (You can see that a bit in my swatch – it isn’t as smooth as it was one year ago.) For the price point (25$), you don’t want to throw it away after wearing it one season.
Astrid’s favourites
Goodbye August and hello September! Berlin weather was a mix of cold and hot days, and I found Charlotte Tilbury lipstick in Miranda May a perfect blend of coral for my tanned skin. For the eyes I go simple most days, just a swipe of Giorgio Armani Eye Tint in 23 Caramel with a black eyeliner. My life savior (kinda) is this body mist from & other stories in Morrocan Mint. It smells so fresh and not too flowery!
Charlotte Tilbury Hot Lips in Miranda May
I was hesitating at first to get this, because I had to order online and corals are somehow tricky on me. It’s a very nice fresh summer pinky coral, great for my summer tan (NC44). Luckily the Charlotte Tilbury online shop has swatches on different skintones, modelling the colors (here). The whole Hot Lips line-up features 12 shades. Each shade has a celebrity namesake, and £1 goes to the charity Women for Women International (could be a bit more, couldn’t it? Especially when the price for a single lipstick is about £23/30€.) Anyways, this matte is a nice one, not the best matte (stay tuned for the upcoming post about the best matte lipsticks!), but it’s not drying, stays on my lips for quite a long time and it’s a very pretty color to boot!
Giorgio Armani Eye Tint in 23 Caramel
I think everybody knows right now how much we love the Armani Eye Tints, so naturally when they came up with the mattes, I had to check them out! This color makes the perfect base for my eyelids, yet still providing that ‘my lids but better look’ when worn on it’s own. I’d then add a winged liner on most days. Performance and longevity are on par with the non-matte ones from earlier releases, and I can only recommend the matte ones. They make great bases, but are also great for that natural no-makeup look that gives you a bit of oomph but doesn’t scream makeup. Caramal nearly matches my skintone. If you can find your own skintone in the line-up of six shades from porcelain to ebony, great, but even if you don’t, they make for an easy wash of colour in earthy tones.
& Other Stories Body Mist in Morrocan Tea
Hands down my favorite body spray. It doesn’t smell as great as the perfume, but as body spray, it’s excellent! It’s kind of subtle and very refreshing, especially on the days when I sweat so much from the sun or exercise. It feels cooling as well (I guess it’s the mint) and not too flowery (I don’t like flowery perfumes). If you like minty scents, this one is for you. It’s also not that expensive that you would’ve hesitate to douse yourself with it (£12/ 15€). Win!
