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Bronze glow: Summertime makeup essentials

During the summer months, we all need a look that's guaranteed to last; one that reflects summer's vibrance while also protecting our skin from harmful UV rays. During hot summer days, it is essential to get a makeup look that can withstand hours of humidity, sleeplessness and long conversations with family and friends. Since it is summer, your makeup should be a combination of warm, glowing and bronze tones – the perfect trio for long summer nights.

In the summer, there is one thing that you must use no matter what – sunscreen. Since our skin is constantly pelted by the sun, it is very important to protect it from short- and long-term damage that results from unprotected exposure to UV rays. However, since this look is meant to last from day to night, sun protection is essential.

Our skin is the most important part of our look since it reflects our inner light. Thus, the first step of our makeup look is the 'glow', which leads us to an illuminating primer that will give our skin a luminous, fresh-off-the-beach shimmer. The next step is foundation. For this, your skin type makes a big difference. Ideally, a sheer, luminous foundation would be best for summer since it is light weight, breathable and fresh. However, if you have oily skin that you need to keep under the control, luminous foundation is not for you.

In this case, since you have already applied an illuminating primer, a matte foundation would be the best choice for the longevity of your makeup. Similarly, when it comes to powder, using it is a must if you have oily skin, even in the summer. However, for normal to dry skin, it would be wiser to skip the powder all together since it might reduce the glow. Another crucial step is bronzer – your best friend for summer. It reshapes your face, emphasizes your features, creates the impression that you just came back from a vacation – though you have probably spent the weekend at home – and most importantly, it brings life back to your skin. Thus, do not hesitate to go heavy on bronzer; in fact, take a bronzer bath. When applying, use a cream-contour bronzer first and go over it again with powder to make it last longer.

Then, there is highlighter – the one thing we never knew we needed, but now just cannot seem to live without. A few years ago, few even knew what highlighter was; but today everyone who wears makeup now sports that pretty shimmer no matter what look they choose for the day. For summer evenings, that is the perfection we are looking for. Thus, highlight your cheeks, brow bones, the tip of your nose, your cupids bow and chin fearlessly with a golden highlighter to compliment your bronze skin.

Although face makeup is our focus, for fancier summer nights, the eyes should not be forgotten either. Stick to bronzy, natural tones for the main colors for your eye makeup to balance out the look. However, if you have pale skin with pink undertones, replace the bronze tones with more cool, natural colors and lots of browns. To contribute to the integrity of your look, you could use bronzer in your eye makeup as a crease color to tie everything together. For lips, natural tones are still the main vibe, and nudes are the way to go. However, when it comes to nude lips, a liner is a must to maintain their outline since nude colors tend to fade away. You can even overdraw your lips a bit to spice up your look even more.

Last but not least, use a setting spray. Don't forget, we need this makeup to last the whole night. Therefore, a setting spray is a must; especially since we skipped applying powder to maintain a lovely glow.