Foolproof Makeup That’ll Get You Summer Ready in 1 Minute Flat

Bold, easy looks to make you the envy of every pool party.

Kristin Limoges

Published Sep 28, 2018 4:57 PM

Foolproof Makeup That’ll Get You Summer Ready in 1 Minute Flat

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It’s summer! We did it, we survived the bitter winter, and now Mother Nature is soaking us in warm sunshine as an apology gift. You’ve got places to be and things to do and foods and drinks to be consumed. You do not have time to sit inside around fuss over your makeup. (That pool float needs you more! That BBQ isn’t going to eat it’s own food!)

So, in honor of you getting out and celebrating the season, we put together a handy guide to make you look pulled together in minutes. Consider this a companion to our guide to summer hair—everything is super quick and couldn’t be easier for a DIY. Each of these looks focuses on one simple, but bold idea that, I promise, will take about one minute to execute and can be done at home, on the beach, post-pool in the car—just about anywhere.

Orange Shadow (With A Twist)

We all know how important sunscreen is, especially for your face. But what if I was to tell you this fun, orange eyeshadow on Lahaina, our digital photo editor, is actually sunscreen? It is and I’m kind of freaking out about it.

Bare Republic Neon Sunscreen Sticks ($18.99 for 3) are a zinc oxide blend (chem-free!) with bold colors—think cerulean, pale yellow, fuschia, violet, etc. One swipe and I couldn’t help but think they were ideal for a day at the beach—as your eyeshadow.

Pick the shade that you love most, or create a fun rainbow effect. I stuck with orange for Lahaina; it popped with her gorgeous olive skin tone, and was perfectly in sync with her look.

Simply grab the color of your choice, warm it up directly in the stick with your finger, and start applying. You can gradually build up boldness with each pass of color. I applied about four layers on Lahaina (taking about two minutes) and set it with makeup setting spray. Go grab a coordinating colored cocktail to celebrate.

The zinc is surprisingly gentle, too. Lahaina has reactionary skin, and had zero irritation on her skin and eyelids. But, with anything you’re trying out near your eyes, test it on a patch of skin elsewhere on your body first, allowing eight hours to see if any irritation pops up.

Bold Lip

A bold lip, often associated with a tricky and precise lipstick application, is ripe for the beach. The trick is switching out your lipstick for a long-lasting lip stain. They are foolproof, long-lasting, eat- and drink-proof. Aka made for summer fun (and, really, all year long).

To complete this look on yours truly, I grabbed Clarins new Water Lip Stain ($28), which packs an incredibly powerful punch of color. There are four different shades available, and it is customizable according to how deep of a color you’d like (just apply more layers for more boldness). It’s one of my favorite launches in the last year. The colors are impactful, don’t feel like anything, and won’t move for hours.

I layered two shades on top of each other, Rose Water and Red Water, applying about four layers in total for this deep, pink pop. The stain applies matte, which is a fun twist for summer, but I applied a glossy lip balm on top for a wet look—Kopari Coconut Lip Glossy, it gives a lip gloss look but is a hydrating lip balm.

Pro tip: The stain dries really quickly, but I smear each layer with my finger when applying, and then apply the excess on my fingers to the apples of my cheeks for quick flush of blush.

Eye Jewelry

This makeup look takes literally 30 seconds, and is one of those touches that is so interesting and unique that you’ll get compliments all day (and night) long. It’s an eyeliner trick called eye jewelry, and that name is spot on. It’s a little pop of interest that you wouldn’t notice until you’re right in front of someone.

For Alyssa, our social media editor, we found the perfect blue eyeliner from one of our favorite brands, Make. The Gel Eyeliner Pencil in Cool Aqua ($23) is completely and utterly ideal, as it glides on with ease, sets within 30 seconds, and won’t budge until you wash it off (unheard of before now with traditional gel pencils). It’s the perfect pencil for this look.

Take the pencil, and line the inner corners of your eyes. You’re ideally wanting to stop where your top and bottom eyelashes start. You’ll do a little ‘v’ on the inner lids with the eyeliner, for just a little pop of color.

Are you going to try out some (or all!) of these looks? Tag us in the photo so we can see how it goes!