summer lovin'

i love summer! i love the sunshine, the heat, the fashion, the longer days . . . i could go on and on! i hate wasting any part of my day during the summertime. i feel that it's just too short to waste a single second.

summer means heat, which usually means sweat. i really cannot complain too much; i don't live in a particularly humid climate and it cools down in the evenings. but i come from the midwest where it's not unusual for the humidity to skyrocket to 100% during the summer months, so i totally get it. no one wants to spend a ton of time on makeup that is just going to end up melting away, so i would like to share some time-saving tips and products to get you out the door while still looking fresh and (mostly) guarded against "makeup meltdown."

sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen. did i mention sunscreen? this is not the blog for me to repeat what you should already know, so i will keep it simple: please wear sunscreen. i love lancome's uv expert 20 with mexoryl. also great is clarins sun care cream high protection 30, neutrogena's ultra-sheer with helioplex and chanel's uv essential, which is really expensive, but awesome. there are some debates over the effectiveness of mexoryl vs. helioplex technology which contains avobenzone and oxybenzone. both boast a better uva/uvb protection, but conclusive evidence remains to be seen. it should also be noted that there have been rumors of incompatibility with avobenzone and mineral makeup. just remember to reapply often if you are indeed out in the direct sunlight – and a big, fashionable hat and sunglasses certainly can't hurt either!

i've mentioned in my bronzer blog that i love to mix a little bronzer with my moisturizer/foundation/sunscreen. this is a great alternative to foundation in the hot summer months. a little light, oil-free moisturizer, topped off with sunscreen mixed with bronzer and you'll look like you walked straight off the beach!

now, i am aware of special needs from time to time, and i realize that even i cannot leave the house without concealer on most days. this proves rather tricky in standing up to the heat. i normally am not a huge fan of mineral makeup, but in some cases, it can help. (barring any issues with sunscreen containing avobenzone as mentioned above.) bare minerals bisque can moderately hide dark spots and age spots, but a more yellow-based powder (like light or fairly light) should be used to conceal red areas or pimples. a little visine applied to an irritated zit can help quell redness as well. stick foundations also hold up pretty well for spot concealing, but i'll have to be honest in telling you that no concealer is sweat-proof. you could break out the old dermablend, but summer makeup shouldn't look like makeup at all.

skip shadow and liner – it won't last anyway – and brush on a couple coats of your favorite waterproof mascara. and then add the coup de grâce; smashbox o glow and o gloss!!! i love this stuff! i immediately wrote smashbox a letter of gratitude for these products! fabulous! the o glow blush is a silicone-based gel that looks clear but changes to a flattering pink on the skin. it stays put and gives you just the right amount of color. likewise o gloss looks clear but works with your own skin tone to lend just a hint of color that is best for you.

you'll look like the carefree picture of health while enjoying the long, hot summer days – without having to worry about your makeup sliding down your face.

is it just me, or is anyone else thinking about dietrich's face melt from raiders of the lost ark right now?

find the cost of free(dom)

the free gift. oh the madness that statement elicits in makeup mavens. excitement in consumers, terror in makeup artists.

who started this? in my two minutes of research i attempted, i could not come up with a definitive answer, so i'm going to blame estee lauder. and yes, i just said "blame."

in the old days, there was typically a spring "gift," and a fall "gift." gift with purchase, that is. "are you in gift?" "when is your next free gift?" "is there a surprise with my purchase today?" "are you gifting right now?" "what do i get free today?"

how about . . . your products that you paid for? novel idea. no one has ever said to me, "you have spent x-dollars on shoes today – here is your free pair!" (in my dreams!) in our current economic state, i feel like i must address this issue for a number of reasons. it may seem as if i am angry about this and i am simply ranting . . . and i am. but i feel i must share with readers so they may understand what their retailers are going through the next time they stop in for a "freebie." if i had shared this at counter with women in line for their free gift, i may have been burned at the stake.

a lot of makeup artists will agree that the free gift with purchase has ruined the makeup industry. it was a fine idea, in theory, but it's as if they gave an inch and we took a mile. the free gift is an incentive for women to purchase the product they currently use, or seize the opportunity to try something new from the line and receive trial-sized versions of products to take home and hopefully fall in love with. if successful, women were to return to the counter once their tiny sample was exhausted and have to have more! another goal was for women who may be new to the line to be enticed into trying the products since they were receiving products for free. as i mentioned above, there used to be 2 free gifts per year for certain makeup lines. namely, your estee lauder and clinique, elizabeth arden and lancome. there were others along the way, but these were (are) the heavy-hitters. now it seems that some lines are hosting gift time every other month. women now expect something every time they purchase. why would women want to buy when they know if they just wait a month, or go to another line or a different store, they will get something free? so much for brand loyalty; women will always gravitate towards whoever is peddling the free gift.

well, not totally free. because what's free anymore? sorry, but you do have to buy something to get something. isn't that always the way? and you are correct in assuming that the price to qualify goes up every time. sure it does. why? because the cost of the products go up. you are also correct in guessing that they "make it so you have to buy more than one thing." of course they do! it's called marketing. they take the average cost of the most popular items and adjust the qualifying cost to be about 20% above that price.

one of the many reasons artists loathe the free gift time is due to the overwhelming response by seemingly normal women who suddenly become greedy, blood-thirsty animals. my tips for this blog will include a list of do's and don'ts for gift customers. please feel free to print them out and take them with you.

• do expect to have to wait in line. it's a free gift . . . did you think you were the only one who knew? many companies don't have the budget to hire extra people to help them out just for gift. trust me, they are working their butts off. the gift isn't going to go anywhere, and i've only seen a store actually run out of gifts one time. and they sent more – no one went without.
• don't pick fights with other customers or the artists trying to help because you think you were there first, or because the artist didn't want to help you for whatever reason. remember, always be a lady. it just makes everyone uncomfortable and the only one who will look bad is you. i know it sounds far-fetched, but i saw it at least once a day, every day during free gift time. i never understood why getting a gift always made women so irritable?
• don't bitch about what you are getting in the free gift. it's a free gift!!!!!! it is like finding a $10 bill on the street and then complaining that it wasn't a twenty. some common issues i hear about are: "the colors never work for me," or "i can't ever use the skin care." they choose the products in the gift based on popularity and/or to introduce a new product into the line. and if you can't ever use the products, why are you buying them in the first place?
• do pre-sell if offered. i think most all stores participate in this now, and it does help in the long run. there is a surge of buying during gift and naturally they will run out of your product! if you are given the opportunity to "reserve" your purchase beforehand, take it. it will save everyone a lot of heartache when you come back asking for something that they have run out of. just thinking of the all the "fits" i have seen thrown over being out of stock on something during a free gift sends shivers down my spine.
• don't ask for more than one gift. the rule is always "one per customer." trust me, they know women come back and make several purchases, and they are ok with that. but just blatantly coming out and demanding more because you spent more just makes you look cheap and greedy. most stores will split up your purchases so that you may do this.
• do know what you want. don't bogart your artist for an hour while waffling over what to buy or ask for a makeover while there are several other women waiting to pick up their free gifts. there will be a better time when gift is over for you to come back and get special treatment. but don't make everyone else suffer while you are trying to make up your mind. have a game plan and stick to it.
• finally, don't come back after gift and return the product you bought but keep the gift. really? some stores won't allow this any longer and i cannot begin to tell you how cheap it looks. i always had a lot of women tell me they stock up just to use the free gifts to give as gifts to other people. wow. (psssst – everyone knows you got it for free.)

enjoy getting the gift, i mean, they can be kind of fun. but just don't end up getting bent out of shape about it. if you just can't keep it together for some reason, order online. chances are they will have what you need in stock and you won't have to deal with the hoards of crazed women waiting for an excuse to unleash the fury over a bag of free samples.