4 Tips to Keep Your Lewk Fresh When You’re Going to Be Outdoors All Day

You aren’t living your best life in summer if you aren’t spending a lot of time outdoors. But how do you keep your lewk fresh when the temps are soaring? Here, 4 outdoor beauty tips so you can keep your cool and stay cute.

Summertime is near, and you know what that means?

Music festivals. Beach days. Canoe trips. Hiking. Wine and grilled cheese festivals (thank god I live in Atlanta, wee!). Pool parties. The Fourth of July. Barbecues. You get the point, right?

Summer brings all of the outdoor fun. But with all the outdoor fun comes an important conundrum: How do we survive an all-day outing without sacrificing our skin or our lewksssss? Considering I once lived in a country (and now live in a state) where I did lots of fun things outside in blistering, humid heat, I may have some outdoor beauty tips that would be useful for you.

1. Prep your skin

Prepping your skin for all of your outdoor fun is super important. When you know you’re going to be outside all day, the most important part of your skincare routine is focusing on hydration. If you have dry skin, you don’t want to feel uncomfortable and flaky by the end of the day, and if you have oily skin, you don’t want to look like a glazed ham. So how do we combat this? Hydrating like our lives depend on it.

My favorite method for an extra hydration boost is using the 7-skin method, followed by a sheet mask. So apply anywhere between four to seven layers of your favorite hydrating toner, then seal it all in with your favorite sheet mask. An extra 10 minutes is all you need to make sure your skin looks and feels amazing.

2. Glowy makeup

If you plan on wearing makeup, you want to make sure it looks just as good in the evening as when you applied it in the morning. How can you achieve this? By going for a natural, skin-like finish.

The super matte trend? We’re leaving that in 2018, ladies. This year, we’re all about a healthy, balanced glow. In my opinion, makeup should look a bit lived in, especially when we’re going to be outdoors all day. To achieve this look, you need three tools in particular:

1. A lightweight, serum-ish foundation

2. A beauty blender

3. A highlight (preferably a liquid one)

My go-to outdoors-all-day foundation is M.A.C Face and Body. It has a very thin, watery consistency that can be built up to a medium coverage. The best thing about it is that it literally melts into your skin. It doesn’t even look like you’re wearing foundation! I apply mine using my fingers, then gently tap it in with a damp beauty blender.

I then take a liquid highlighter (the Tony Moly Luminous Goddess Aura Crystal Light is a good choice), dot it along my cheekbones, and blend it with another beauty blender. Apply some mascara to your lashes, run a little brow-cara through your eyebrows, throw on a lip gloss, and BOOM. You’re ready to have fun in the sun.

3. Sunscreeeeen (and most importantly, reapplication)!

At this point, my feelings about sunscreen are well-documented. If you plan on being outdoors, sunscreen is a non-negotiable skincare step. But what happens when you’re outside ALL day long? Or you’re at the beach or pool and you’ve gotten wet? How do you reapply without having to completely wash your face and start over?

Well, there are two ways to go about this, starting with asking an important question: Are you wearing makeup? If you’re not wearing makeup, your sunscreen reapplication is simple. Invest in a few sunscreen sticks, the latest in sunscreen technology. Instead of a lotion-like cream that might feel too heavy to reapply every few hours, these sticks, like the Labiotte Blue Safety Sun Stick, the Banila Co Hello Sunny Fresh Stick, and the Laneige Air Light Sun Stick, glide across the skin, without that sickly white cast. They apply the thinnest layer of sunscreen, and thanks to their convenient packaging, you don’t have to worry about it spilling in your festival bag.

Now if you ARE wearing makeup, things might be a tad more complicated. How do you reapply sunscreen if you don’t want to mess up your makeup? This is where a cushion sunscreen or a sunscreen spray come in handy. A cushion sunscreen is just like a cushion compact, but instead of a foundation, it’s sunscreen. This makes it super easy to reapply on top of makeup, as you can just gently tap it on and you don’t have to rub it into your skin. What a concept!

Unfortunately, as amazing as sunscreen cushions are, they tend to be tinted, so they aren’t suitable for all skin tones. Sunscreen sprays are the next best option. I swear by the Supergoop Refresh Setting Mist with SPF 50. It’s specifically designed to be layered on top of makeup. Hooray for skincare technology!

4. Become one with mists and blotting papers

I am a huge proponent of using mists and blotting papers throughout the day to keep your look like you woke up like this. Mists will keep your skin and makeup looking fresh and feeling cool. I am that extra ass person at the pool who keeps my mist in the cooler with the drinks so I can refresh whenever I want. I love the SanDaWha Camellia Hydrating Mist, or when I’m feeling bougie, the Su:m37 Secret Essence Mist.

Blotting papers will help get rid of excess oil. Inevitably, even when you’ve prepped your skin to high heavens, you’re going to have some sweat and oil breakthrough — that’s just the nature of summer! I go through packs upon packs of blotting papers during the hot weather months and always make sure I have a pack in my bag wherever I go. I’m a big fan of the sheets from Tatcha because they are huge and one sheet can cover your whole face. But sadly, they ARE expensive, so I typically stick with the plain old school ones from Neutrogena.

What are your outdoor beauty tips for maintaining your lewk all day long? Let me know in the comments!