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Some grande dame recently informed me that she never ‘hides behind make-up’ when the temperature soars.
I even require cosmetics on the beach; believe me, summer and slap is not a contradiction.
I say ‘require’ not because I’m hiding, but for joy. Why deprive myself of a brilliant mouth, tropical cheek, or vivid eyelid, especially on hols when a little cosmetic dalliance is a vital part of my fun?
The key is not to reproduce one’s everyday face, but to ditch certain elements and go wild with others.
Maintain a two-out-of-three principle. So you might do a bold mouth, florid cheeks and a naked-ish eye (just brows, say). Or you could rock a brightly coloured eyelid, rouge and balmy lip.
It’s all about what you adorn and what you leave beautifully bare.
Take your pick and follow my midlife make-up rules for late summer sultriness.
Follow beauty expert Hannah Betts’ midlife make-up rules for late summer sultriness
1. GLEAMING GLOW
Opt for a slightly tinted SPF such as Heliocare’s outstanding 360° A-R Emulsion SPF50+ (now £21.99, boots.com). For extra coverage, smoosh in the smallest amount of your usual base.
Then, lightly powder your T-zone (nose, forehead and chin) with the blurring By Terry Hyaluronic Pressed Powder (from £20, cultbeauty.com), allowing shine to come through as the day wears on because real skin has it.
Should you prefer to go bare-skinned, a friend has been testing Mecca Cosmetica’s gold-toned In A Good Light Illuminating Drops SPF30 (£34, meccacosmetica.com), and their complexion looks stupendously radiant.
2. BRIGHT EYES
Many midlifers consider mascara the one product that every woman ‘needs’. Not so! Trend-setters have been dropping it for a fresh, bare-lash look.
The trick is to work it with an otherwise glam face. Try it. It’s rather beautiful, even on my miniscule eyes.
Another guise I love for August is a bold eyelid. Deploy Nars Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base (£24, boots.com) as your primer, let dry, then let rip.
As you’ll see from my Instagram feed (@hannahjbetts), I’ve been loving the super-cool, French-girl favourite Violette Yeux Paint (£33, violettefr.com).
A powerfully-pigmented liquid shadow in a lightweight, buildable formula, it comes in punchy shades such as Dieu Blue (a stunning matte Klein blue), Violette Sauvage (a twinkling fuchsia-cum-purple), and Scarabée d’Or (glittering gold).
Head to Superdrug and seek out rainbow palettes by NYX and Revolution London.
The Profusion Cosmetics Spectrum Eyeshadow Palette (£5.99, superdrug.com) is an excellent place to start: ten tropical tones to conjure with.
Equip yourself with lots of E.L.F. Precise Blending Brushes (£4, boots.com) and experiment. Once you’ve decided on your favourite hues, you can head to Kiko, MAC or NARS to invest in more durable versions.
3. LUSCIOUS LIPS
If your focus is lips, then go for the most intensely saturated take you can concoct.
This can be as much a case of how one applies one’s lipstick as to which.
I take my everyday shade – Charlotte Tilbury Festival Matte Revolution Lipstick in the berry Festival Magic (£29, spacenk.com) – which I usually daub on, and really drag it onto the mouth so it becomes intoxicatingly potent.
Or, should you prefer more of a diffused look, take your chosen Glossier Generation G (now £16, glossier.com), a sheer matte, and again, really pack it onto the lips.
If you’re doing a low-key pout, Chanel’s Rouge Coco Balme – Shine (£37, chanel.com) is a gorgeously lustrous tint. Or opt for a budget gloss in the form of W7 Gloss Away Lip Balm (£3.75, superdrug.com).
4. BLUSH IT UP
Blush is never more beautiful than in high summer, ramped up to hothouse-bloom mode. Dior Backstage Rosy Glow (£35, dior.com) is seriously lovely: pearly powder in seven shades that adapt to the skin’s pH for ‘custom’ colour.
I love to add a pop of Merit Flush Balm (£26, meritbeauty.com) at the high point of the cheek for even more emphasis.
Highlight with Rare Beauty Positive Light Silky Touch Highlighter (£24, sephora.co.uk) and your summer will very much be on.
5. STAY COOL
My final tip for late summer slap – invest in a fan. last month, when I was heading abroad to 40 degrees, I acquired not one, but two of Amazon’s Tunise Handheld Fans (now £11.99, amazon.co.uk): one for my dressing table, one for my bag.
Consider them a midlife make-up must – no hot flush can defy them.
Serum Spritzes
Race You To It
Living Proof Leave-In Hair Conditioner (from £15, livingproof.co.uk)
Hair looking straw-like? Living Proof Leave-In Hair Conditioner (from £15, livingproof.co.uk) is the latest creation from the much-loved hair healers.
A post-wash, peptide and antioxidant spritz, it promises easier detangling, heat, sun and chlorine defence. The claim: just one bottle saves thousands of hair fibres from breaking.
Cosmetic Craving
First Aid Beauty KP Bump Eraser Body Scrub (from £11, boots.com)
Some products don’t need to be fancy – merely to bring (literal) grit.
First Aid Beauty KP Bump Eraser Body Scrub (£11, boots.com) is the US’s best-selling premium body scrub; a tube selling every two seconds.
It combines a physical scrub (eco pumice beads) with a chemical one (a 10% alpha-hydroxy acid combo of lactic and glycolic acid) for a serious sanding down: be gone dead skin cells, dirt, oil and keratin build up.
Apply regularly and Keratosis Pilaris – those rough bumps at the tops of arms – will vanish.
Excellent on knees, feet, ingrown hairs, and fake-tan overload. I even rather like the mess of grit and grime left in one’s shower after use. Foul, yes, but it shows the might.
Icon of the week: Billie Piper
Now going boho in the Netflix series Wednesday, the actress turns 43 in September. She uses Dr Barbara Sturm Glow Drops (£125, lookfantastic.com), plus Aveeno Body Wash (£9.99, boots.com) in the shower.
She is a lip-liner obsessive: ‘Milk Makeup’s Infinity Longer Liner in Limitless (£20) is a beautiful brown for eyes, but I use it to line my lips too.’
