Summer Inspiration

*Mandy's Note: I have been trying to get this post up for no joke, a month now. That's why the post says it's being posted in July, even though I didn't actually get it finished until August. Just a warning, there are going to be a few posts dated for July even though they were posted in August; I'm trying to get these late ones up. So I's sorry.*

As I mentioned in my previous post, some of my absolute favorite things in life come during the summer. It inspires me, drives me, motivates me to get out and do more. I'm not feeling terribly motivated at the moment; the weather has been completely unbearable for me and taking a toll on my health, but the summer itself is usually very inspiring for me. I've never done a seasonal themed essentials post before, so I was pretty excited to see if I could come up with some things. I started with my color inspiration for the season and just went from there. So without further ado, here is my list of summer inspiration and essentials!

I'm a big one for themes and color palettes for some reason. Different seasons have different scent profiles, color palettes or makeup looks, and I'll use that as a foundation for other things for that time period. I didn't initially intend to have so many colors, but when I look at all of them individually, I think of summer but when I was trying to develop a color profile for myself, I wanted something that touched on most of the major colors. That culminated in this list here.

Colors: Wet 'n Wild Wildshine in Be More Pacific, Sinful Colors in Boogie Nights, Wet 'n Wild Wildshine in Who is Ultra Violet?, Sinful Colors in Firefly, Sinful Colors in Sky Tree, Wet 'n Wild Wildshine in Lavender Creme, Sinful Colors in Curry Up, Sinful Colors in Why Not, Wet 'n Wild Wildshine in Nuclear War, Butter London in Champers

When I thought of summer, I thought of a bag of Tropical Skittles. Does that sound weird? lol When I think of summer, I think of loud, bright colors. They give me a fun, playful vibe that I always associate with the season. I sound like such a dweeb, huh? Well anyway, these are the colors that came to the brain when I first started trying to find inspiration for summer. I'll find a color palette or some other kind of inspiration base and go from there. This year it was in polishes, because that was the easiest (and cheapest) way to get as close to the inspo colors as I could. All of these were super affordable; I got all of the Wet 'n Wild polishes for 99 cents and even though Sinful usually retails for $1.99 (which is still an awesome price), they had a couple of half-off sales while I was building this post that allowed me to scoop the rest up for 99 cents. The Butter polish was part of my Allure Beauty Society box that I got last August.








If I'm being honest, the header photo is what I would prefer my essentials to consist of. lol I don't wear makeup on a daily basis, so for my face my only mandatory essential is a good chapstick. I'm usually barefoot, so the closer I can be to that while in public, the better. I also tend to sweat--a lot--because of both anxiety and the heat, so a good deodorant goes a long way. And finally, sunglasses because duh. I'm not one for really large routines and a long list of products (which gives this entire post a bit of irony lol) so I'm pretty late to the game with developing skincare/body routines for myself, but I've finally come around. Here's what's been working for my bod so far:

Products: Australian Gold Broad Spectrum Sunscreen with SPF30, Hawaiian Tropic Aftersun Lotion, Avon Footworks Cooling Lotion & Exfoliating Scrub in Papaya Sorbet, Equate Blemish Control Exfoliating Face Scrub

I got both the sunscreen and aftersun lotion from a couple of Influenster boxes, the sunscreen from this year’s Blossom VoxBox and the aftersun lotion from last summer’s Surf’s Up VoxBox. I’d never dealt with aftersun lotion until I received this one, but it really does do wonders for my skin. Even though my skin’s surface veers towards oily during the summer, underneath is still very dry, so if I’m not using a lotion that’s good on my skin, going out in the sun usually gives the exposed parts, my shoulders and joints in particular, a leathery texture and appearance. Both the sunscreen and aftersun lotion do a lot to keep my skin feeling smooth and moisturized, before, during and after any sun exposure. 

The Footworks line from Avon isn’t anything groundbreaking, but it’s excellent for light day-to-day maintenance. I use the scrub in the shower to smooth out the texture of my feet, and the cooling lotion after I get out to lock in the moisture. They both keep my feet looking and feeling soft on a daily basis, which is a must for someone constantly in sandals or barefoot. 

Finally, since my face gets the oiliest by far during the summer, I usually use a cleanser or scrub with salicylic acid to balance it out. I use one once a week anyway, but I up it to about twice a week during the summer to ensure that my pores aren’t getting clogged with excess oils. This removes any dead skin on my face, evens out the oil content, and gets rid of any lingering blackheads. I’ll be talking more about this product in an upcoming skincare routine review.






I really wanted a simple makeup routine this summer, and I wanted products that weren't going to break me out and were going to be easy to remove. I like some of these products more than the others, but so far these have been my favorite makeup items to use. 

Products: CoverGirl Queen Pressed Powder in Golden, Elf Sunkissed Glow Bronzer in Warm Tan, CG Smoothers BB Cream in Medium to Dark, CG Intensify Me! Eyeliner in Intense Black, LA Colors Chunky Lip Pencil in Wine, CG Super Sizer Mascara in Very Black, NYC 24-hr Eyeshadow in Brooklyn Mocha, Sally Girl Shimmer Stripes Palette

I think the summer is the time of year when my makeup routine is the simplest. I don't like bothering with 10,000 products and 2 hours of application, especially when I'm going to be out in the heat feeling like my skin is melting off anyway. The products I use should be simple to apply, stay put after application, and not smudge within minutes of being outside. One of my personal favorites in this particular bunch is the NYC shadow. If I feel like keeping it light, I can wear this shadow and nothing else because it blends out well, but if I want a more intense eye I can add one onto this one and it will still look good. It's very versatile but still summery. The Intensify Me! liner has since dried out on me so I don't use it too often anymore, but if it had continued to work properly, it would have been the only eyeliner I would have needed most days. I love bright lips for summer but for some reason I'm really starting to wonder how they'll look with darker colors once they return in fall. This wine color reminds me of berries and I've had a small obsession with berry-colored lips this summer. 

As for my everyday body products, I keep it short and sweet year-round. During the winter I might add body washes or lotions with different properties because my skin changes during that time, but during the summer the only thing I usually ask for is a good scent and moisturizing properties to keep my skin from drying out too much. 

Products: St. Ives 24-hr Deep Restoring Lotion with Almond Oil, Dial Pura Fruta Shower Gel in Guava and Watermelon, Intimate Tropical Body Spray in Coconut Hibiscus

I said earlier that I'm not usually one for long, drawn-out beauty or skin routines, and I am never more willing to take shortcuts on the routines I do have than during the summer. I'm trying to get out of the shower and back in front of my fan as soon as possible. I recently found this lotion, and even though it doesn't work for the 24 hours it's advertised for, it does work very well. I love anything with almonds in it anyway, so bonus points for that. This is also very compatible with my sunscreen, so during the summer I'll just mix the two so I can apply them at once. I read somewhere that mixing sunscreen with lotion can dilute the effectiveness of the sunscreen, anyone know if there's any truth to that? I'd hope not, because I see no fun in having to rub lotion everywhere just to go back and do it all over again with sunscreen. So I'm Team Lazy. Sue me. 

I'm usually drawn to fruity scents during the summer anyway, but this summer I really wanted something that was light, had a fruity base, and keeps my skin soft. This Pura Fruta body wash has been doing pretty good this season. Nothing particularly notable about it, I just like it. 

Finally, the same scent profile follows me over to the body wash, which I picked up from the dollar store. lol Usually when I smell body sprays from the dollar store, they have a heavy alcohol scent to them, so I don't really bother with them. This one had an awesome smell though. The coconut smell mixes really well with the hibiscus, but it's not heavy at all. It's very summery to me. 

So that's what's been in my head this year when I think of summer. If I had to sum it up in a sentence, I'd say bright, vivid colors, light, shimmery makeup, and fruity scents. Even though I spend all of the cold months waiting for summer, once summer gets here I always wish it gone again because the heat is unbearable. I think it's the feel, the idea of summer, that grabs at me all year, because it damn sure ain't the temperature. I hope you enjoyed this post; now that it's finally out of my hair I can start focusing on fall. LOL See you soon!