It’s pretty shocking that we’re more than halfway through the year and the 4th of July holiday weekend is already here. Regardless of how you feel about the holiday, let’s be real: Having a 3-day weekend is awesome. More time to drink sangria by the pool, more time to eat hot dogs, and more, more time to roll around in the sand like the opening of Grease. You don’t need to spend the weekend worrying about making your makeup perfect or sweatproof. Y’all, we’re in the middle of a heatwave — Embrace your inner greasiness, really lean into being a shiny person for a tiny bit of time.
As someone who proudly comes from a “sweaty family” (that phrase comes courtesy of my oldest brother, thanks for the complex), I have spent a lot of time figuring out how to keep my makeup looking fantastique over a holiday weekend while also knowing that I will likely sweat it off. So I typically use products that emphasize the glow and the shine, really leaning into my issue, instead of trying to pack on powders and other gunk that will just run down my face and break down even with reapplication. So if you’re looking to live your shiniest, most glowing holiday weekend either — whether you’re inside in the AC or outside on the beach, drinking a mai tai like the fanciest of people.
A Killer Multi-Use Product
No one has time to be carrying around an entire makeup bag right now. Long holiday weekends usually come with bags full of stuff being lugged from place to place, so one of the easiest places to simplify is in makeup products. Grab a multiuse product, a palette that covers all the grounds you might need to cover — I love Undone Beauty’s Lip-to-Cheek 3-In-1 Cream Palette ($14) as well as their 3-In-1 Cream Eye palette for this exact purpose. They allow you to paint your entire face with two palettes and you don’t *need* to use brushes with them if you don’t want to. Oh, and Alleyoop’s Stack The Odds ($38) is a blush, contour/bronzer, highlight and a mini mirror, all in an easy, stackable form — meaning you can really build out an entire face from the front seat of your car if you’re in a rush like I am, constantly.
Sunscreen, duh.
Oh, come on, you totally knew I was gonna say you need to wear sunscreen, but… you need to wear sunscreen. If you won’t do it for yourself, do it for future you. Even the president loves sunscreen, okay? Whether it’s a physical sunscreen such as Unseen Sunscreen’s EVERYDAY Mineral Tinted Face Sunscreen or Volition Beauty’s Mineral Prismatic Luminizing Shield SPF 35 ($35) or a chemical sunscreen such as Supergoop!’s Glowscreen SPF 40 ($36) or La Roche-Posay’s Anthelios 60 Melt-In Sunscreen Milk SPF 60 ($36), all I ask is that you… wear it. Please?
Brow Gel + U = BFF
If you don’t have time to do an entire face with a cut crease and foundation, you certainly don’t need to spend a ton of time setting your brows in place. Luckily, easy and cool fluffy brows are in mega-style right now, so all you need is one really good brow gel to set them and let them just live their best lives this summer. A product like Kosas’ Air Brow ($22) is a mousse and a gel all in one, but the bonus is it also happens to be full of ingredients to nourish and condition the brows, too
Waterproof Mascara
There are a lot of things you can work with when it comes to controlling shine or even embracing it. However, as much of a genius as I like to think of myself, I cannot keep mascara from smudging. Hell, I can’t even keep my mascara from dotting on my eyelid after I’ve finished doing my makeup. It’s an eternal battle, and the only way to fight it is to use waterproof mascara. Personally, I love an extra-black mascara like Shiseido’s Imperial Lash Lengthening Mascara Ink ($25), but tubing mascaras, such as Kevyn Aucoin The Volume Mascara ($28), will keep your mascara where it needs to be: Right on your lashes, not on your face.
A Lip Oil
Glaze Lip Oil
Is there anything as wonderful as a juicy, plump, glossy lip in the summertime? When I was fifteen, my best friend convinced me that the stained lips you get from eating a Firecracker popsicle is the most beautiful shade of red on every single person, and that summer I walked around with stained red lips covered in Vaseline, as that was the closest I was coming to a gloss at the time. Lip oils are essentially the new glosses, and I love to have them in my life. If you’re still recovering from getting hair and various other debris stuck to your lips from sticky, thick glosses, check out a lip oil like iNNBEAUTY PROJECT Glaze Lip Oil ($16) or Dior Lip Glow Oil ($35), which don’t feel quite so “glossy”, but still give you shine. No worries about reapplication or smudging, meaning you can absolutely win a hot dog contest while wearing these, if that’s your thing.
