Korean Summer Survival Makeup Favorites

Summer in Korea. 

I wake up in the morning to 30°C in my bedroom-office aka coolest part of the house. It will only get worse. Air-conditioning sucks our wallets dry. 

We persevere. My makeup mostly doesn't.  ( ╯°□°)╯ ┻━━┻

After some trial and error over the last few years, I think I've got my makeup routine for 95% humidity levels down.

Most of the days, it begins and ends with sunscreen, lip tint and eyebrows.

Edit 2017.02.09 : This post contains affiliate links (additionally marked with an * asterisk in the blog post), meaning I will make a small commission from anything you buy. View my 'About' page for the full disclaimer and my review policy! All products are purchased by me.

I've got two sunscreens on rotation, one being the the Nature Republic California Aloe Sun Block in SPF50 PA+++. It's one with a glowy finish but slight white cast. I like to use it on its own, since it has any base makeup layered on top melt right off again. The glowy finish does look a bit oily after a while, but for the first two to three hours, my skin looks radiant and evened-out. Perfect for stints in the garden or quick trips outside. Careful though - this sunscreen has a habit of making my eyes tear up if I get too close to that area.

The second one is the Innisfree Eco Safety Perfect Sunblock in SPF50 PA+++. This one is the opposite of the Nature Republic one above, with a matte, slightly drying finish that absorbs into my skin really well. It works well on its own, but also works really well as a makeup base. While it's too drying for me normally, it's perfect for the months of July and August.  It helps keeping moisturizing or glowy foundation formulations in place.

On days when I'm moving about a lot, I powder my eyelids/eyebrow area, my nose and forehead with the Innisfree No-Sebum Mineral Powder (the loose version). This works like a charm for everything, even as a quick-fix dry shampoo and improvised eye shadow base. You probably already heard of this powder from just about every beauty blogger, ever...? It's that good and cheap!

Innisfree No-Sebum Mineral Powder (*) -
 the loose version makes for an even more invisible finish than the pact version! 

For additional staying power (especially if I'll be applying some sort of foundation/cushion) I prime with the Innisfree No-Sebum Mineral Primer. Some previous pore-hiding primers that I've tried were a bit of an over-kill, drying out my skin to a point where the foundation on top looked flakey and overly dry. This one strikes a nice balance of evening out skin texture, keeping oil under control but not making a desert out of everything.

If I don't finish with a cushion (normal days), but want something that looks good all day long without touching up, I reach for this wonderful thing:

The Espoir Nude Fit Liquid Foundation. This one is magical for summers. It doesn't dry out (stay away from the 'Powder' version of this product if you tend to have dry skin, though: That one's way more heavy-duty), has better coverage than cushions but looks really natural all the same, with a satiny finish. It's the perfect foundation for long days outdoors, in the city, hopping from overly air-conditioned places to the humid air outside and back. It stays put. No budging. Hair doesn't stick to it.

I've had this for a year, and I'd use this every day if it weren't a bit too expensive.

Espoir in general has great foundations with a lot more shades available than other Korean brands. This particular one comes in five shades, but their Pro Tailor Foundation, for example, comes in eleven shades total.

I use 'Porcelain', which is lighter than even the #13 option by Innisfree, but with yellow undertones.

For color, I've got two recent favorites I reach for all the time for daily makeup.

The first is my trusted Vivid Rouge Tint by Innisfree (favorite for years and years), in a new 2016 shade #11 called 'Sun-dried Peach'. It's a slightly muted, 'dried out' pink-coral that looks good with just about anything. In summer, when I go away from my usually gray-black-white wardrobe, matching lipstick colors to shirt colors becomes an actual thing, and this one is a safe bet. It brightens up my complexion, looks cute while still being work-appropriate.

My other daily choice is a shade from the Innisfree autumn release of 2015, the Real Fit Lipsticks. I went to swatch their five new shades released for the Spring/Summer season, but fell in love with #6 Latte Cup Coral instead. Similar to my #8 Rosy Latte, this one is a muted version of a coral shade, walking the line between a beige and orange for the perfect hint of color that doesn't overwhelm. It's perfect for a put-together work look, combined with beige or yellow clothing, and for sleek looks that focus on just eyeliner (I've been doing these a lot lately when I'm trying to actually look my age...).

The last new addition to my summer makeup favorites is an eyebrow product by Mamonde. They released a combination of a eyebrow tint and eyebrow mascara on a single wand - using the doe-foot like tip to fill in the brows and then the mascara brush attached below to keep everything in place. I was afraid it would be a hassle to use, but it's a quick, fuss-free if not very precise way of getting my brows done. Looks really natural and is waterproof.

That's it for my summer survival makeup favorites. I'll probably be making a review complete with swatches for the Real Fit Lipstick since the shade is just that gorgeous, but do tell me if you'd like to see some other product in more detail! Thanks for reading!

If all else fails, at least there's ice cream!


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