Cool and electric blues are in this summer for the eyes. Bold, blue lids and turquoise liner.
How to Wear Blues for the Day
Bright lids are often too, well, bright for the daytime. This is a way to wear the trend for the office or at school.
- Dust a neutral beige shade onto the lid (like bareMinerals eyeshadow in Vanilla Sugar), or dab on some beige cream shadow with a little bit of glimmer (like Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadow/Liner in R.S.V.P.). Make sure to follow the steps to keep eyelid oil from creasing your shadow.
- Starting from the outer corners of the eye, draw on a line of blue or turquoise eyeliner on the top eyelid. Try the Sephora Nano Liner in Azur Blue or Lagoon. If your eyes water or you have oily/combination skin, use a waterproof liner. Draw a little further than the outer corner of your eye for a modern take on the cat-eye, or smudge the line for an in-style smokey eye.
- Optional: For a little more drama, take an eyeliner in a slightly darker color (like Buxom Insider Eyeliner in Sapphire) and smudge into the outer half of the bottom lash line.
- Add a little bit of mascara, just enough to lengthen the top lashes without looking overdone.
How to Wear Blues for the Night
At night, anything goes, including bold lids.
- Prep your eyelid for eyeshadow to control creasing and smudging.
- Line top and bottom lash lines with a dark eyeliner pencil (like Buxom Insider Eyeliner in Sapphire).
- Layer on a bright, electric blue eyeshadow with a little bit of shimmer (like bareMinerals Glimmer in Ell-If-I-Know, Azure or Exotic Tara). Most bright shades are buildable, so layer until you get the right brightness. For a more sophisticated look, try a darker, deeper shade of blue eyeshadow (like Make Up For Ever Diamond Shadow in Diamond Night Blue 308).
- Optional: For more drama, line the bottom lash line rim with black (or white) eyeliner.
- Add mascara to lengthen and thicken lashes.
For added variety: Purple is also in this summer, so play around with looks that mix and match blues and purples for a look that's all your own.
Perfect Pouts
Summer means effortless beauty, looking like you didn't even try. This summer, it's all about the lip stains. Lip stains come in all kinds, but the best and most natural-looking one is Benetint by Benefit Cosmetics. It's marketed primarily as a cheek tint (liquid blush) but it works well for the lips on all skin tones.
- Prep your lips by using a lip mask, or by exfoliating the lips with a toothbrush to get dead skin cells off.
- Dab your lips dry with a towel.
- Brush on a coat of lip stain. Keep the lips closed and make sure to stain all parts of the lips that are visible when closed. Wait to dry. This usually takes a few minutes.
- For the day: Dab on some clear lip balm or chapstick. For the night, use a clear gloss (like Smashbox Reflection High Shine Lip Gloss) or a gloss with a slight tint (like NARS Lip Gloss in Orgasm).
Tousled Hair
Hair trends for the summer are leaning toward that natural, wind-blown wavy look.
- After washing and conditioning hair, towel dry until just damp.
- Turn head upside down so hair hangs. Use a curling product (like Bed Head Foxy Curls Contour Cream) and work through hair from root to tips. For people with wavy to curly hair, this should separate and define each curl. For people with straight hair, some hair spray may be required.
- Scrunch hair up with hands and hold for a few seconds each. Twirl strands of hair around fingers and hold for a few seconds.
- Allow to air dry.
Adrian Sindu - Name: Adrian Sindu Education: B.A. English
