Melt-proof beauty

Aside from a melted ice cream cone on a blazing July afternoon, there’s nothing more sad about summertime than melted makeup.  You know, when droplets of sweat are tinged with the bronzer you oh-so-carefully applied only two minutes earlier, and the odds of mascara staying put are about as likely as Paris Hilton not flashing the paparazzi her underthings.

Luckily, makeup companies have paid attention and have taken heed to our call for products that perform under the pressure of forced air conditioning, inescapable city humidity and overzealous pores.  Always eager to make a splash, I tested a few worth sharing with The Vogue City readers during a particularly warm May day, and am pleased to report as follows.

First up:  Laura Geller’s Barely There tinted moisturizer ($30 at Sephora).  I’m not really big into liquid foundations – the horror of an orange outline around my jaw when I first experimented with my mother’s makeup in middle school still haunts me to this day – but liked the light, even coverage this moisturizer had to offer.  Plus, it has SPF 20, meaning that those who run fashionably late – ahem, me – can apply quickly and skip out the door without worrying about nasty UV damage.

Next, I tested It Cosmetics’ Get Wet waterproof highlighter and bronzer ($32 at beauty.com).  “Waterproof powder bronzer?” you might ask, puzzled.  Waterproof, indeed.  I wore it out one night while dancing a storm with my equally sweat stopping-obsessed best friend, and came home looking as South Beach friendly as I had when I left six hours earlier, even if slightly hungover.  The product claims it’s also swimming friendly.  I guess they haven’t seen my backstroke.

Since eye makeup has a way of removing itself when one’s head is burrowed into the neck of a stranger while singing ‘Sweet Caroline’ at the top of one’s lungs at a piano bar, I was intrigued by Too Faced’s Lock Down in Dramarama ($18.50 at Sephora).  Even though it’s touted as a shadow, I used a brush to apply it as a liner and was mildly to moderately shocked when I had trouble removing it after a hard day of shopping.  While it’s not goof-proof, girls who are sick of having their liquid liner slide off like slime will appreciate this alternative.

Sure, these products are a bit pricier than their drugstore prototypes.  But when you factor in the cost of reapplying – and thus going through a tube of concealer faster than you can say ‘Tasty D-Lite’ – it’s worth the splurge.  Or, in this case, worth the plunge into the pool at the Soho House.

-Karyn Polewaczyk

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Posted by karynpol at 12:00 AM
bargain news , BEAUTY |