Festival season is approaching fast as we go into the summer months. Festivals are held all round the world, some of the most well-known ones are Coachella and Glastonbury. Here I will give you tips and tricks to be on trend and fully prepared for the festival madness.

If you have been to any festivals before big or small, you will know that anything goes, weather that may be subtitle or completely outrageous.

Makeup

If you are a makeup lover like me, then this is the time where you can show off your creativeness and go completely wild with glitter.

Base

Strobing is a huge trend of 2017, it is a form or highlighting and is perfect for festivals. Applying strobe cream to the high points of your face before applying a foundation or BB cream will give your face an instant glow. This can also be applied on top of your makeup and act like a highlighter.

Even though it isn’t always sunny in the UK, there is no doubt that you will get super-hot dancing in the crowd. I would highly recommend wearing a light foundation or BB cream, which isn’t going to be too heavy on your skin. A light breathable base will be just the thing you need after a full day of dancing and few hours of sleep. Plus, you don’t need a brush to apply it with, meaning less to pack and you can apply it on the go.

Stick with the cream theme, use cream products for the base of your makeup, they won’t go cakey and they give a more natural look. Blush sticks are great they are easy to apply and they are compact. Just apply a stripe of the blush to your cheek and blend out with your fingers.

Highlighter is defiantly my favourite part of any makeup look, especially at a festival. The more glow the better, is time to bring out that rainbow highlighter that you have been dying to wear. Personally, I prefer to wear warm natural tones or icy highlighters with blue undertones, but this is what suits me so don’t be afraid to try something completely out of your comfort zone. I prefer to wear a cream based highlighter and then go back in with glitter and maybe even more highlighter at the end.

Eyes

There are typically two options with eyes, you can either go more natural with minimal makeup and focus more on face paints and glitter, or create over the top eyes and have minimal to no face paint and glitter.

Trends consist of anything from brightly coloured eyeliner, full lid of glitter and the cut crease look.

A popular trend now is to put a small dot of eyeliner or a rhinestone bellow the centre of your lash line. This was inspired by Perrie Edwards from Little Mix, in one of their music videos.

Extras

The extras for any festival can either make or break any look. There are endless different festival looks, I find if you are stuck for inspiration go to pintrest.com. This website is great for its endless pages how to tutorial on how to create the perfect festival look.

Firstly, let’s start with glitter. Glitter can be put anywhere on the face, body or hair.

Usually it is applied in a half moon shape on the temples, starting on the check and finishing above the eyebrow. Both fine and chunky glitter can be used, of even combined. 2017 tends seems to consist of the chunky, holographic glitter. Glitter roots is also a huge trend right now, this is when you cover your hair in glitter, but only the roots of your hair. This look has been worn by celebrities such as Miley Cyrus.

Paint can be added to turn any look from causal to festival. From intricate henna like designs to a few simple dots. Be creative and have fun with it, after all it isn’t permanent, so if you don’t like it you can just start again. 

Trends come and go yearly, some not as great as others, but I guess that’s when they come and go. Some trends tend to last longer than others, so it is essential to keep up to date with them.

I always find that summer rolls around a lot faster than I realise. Before I know I am stuck on what to wear, constantly looking in magazines and websites for inspiration.

Off the shoulder dresses and tops came in style in 2016, carrying over into 2017. The correct term for this trend is called Bardot, named after Brigitte Bardot.

 I can hands down say that I love this trend and own a fair share of tops and dresses.

This easy to wear trend suits a wide variety of body types, flattering and showing off shoulders and collarbones while covering your upper arms covered.

Dresses

These dresses are super easy to dress up to wear to something like a party, yet they can be dressed down enough to wear casually in the day.

Bodycon Bardot dresses with a large frill around the neckline is perfect for people that have a triangular body shape, meaning you have wider hips and narrow shoulders. The frill will give the illusion of a more hour glass body shape. This style is also a good choice if you have a smaller bust. If the dress didn’t have frills the straight cut neck line would flatten your chest even more. However, due to the frill it gives the look of a slightly bustier figure.

This dress is a loose fitting, long sleeved dress, from TKMAXX and is sold at $14.99. This one is slightly different than the last one, it is more of a summer, beachy dress. I would wear this in the summer paired with some simple flip flops or sandals.

This dress unlike the last one does not have the frill however it does have the sleeves. The knots placed at the end of each sleeve acts as the main focal point of the dress. Distracting it from the straight neckline, making it flatter for both small and larger busted people.

Top

Stripes are coming back into trend this summer, so don’t be shy to try something new. This is a simple off the shoulder Bardot top, which is very slightly cropped. This is a flattering shape with the flared sleeves. This is a trend that is also very in now, flares. That is both flared tops and trousers.

I'm sure that anyone that wears makeup will agree when I wearing makeup in the summer can be such a hassle. It is constantly coming off, smudging, too heavy on the skin and overall a pain to deal with. Well not to worry I have a few products and tips to share with you to create the perfect light weight and sweat-proof makeup look. I will list some products that I use, however, remember all of the products can be purchased in different colours so no look will be the same.

Base:

Firstly, starting with the base. The base of the look is also the most important, a good base will keep the rest of your makeup looking intact for the rest of the day.

I like to start by applying Mac Fix Plus, It hydrates your skin, acts as a primer and will prolong the wear of the makeup you will be applying after.

Then apply Maybelline’s Dream Pure BB Cream. This BB cream is oil free and has an SPF of 15. Which is a must in summer makeup, sun damage is one of the main courses of complexation ageing.

Prevention is better to start before you start to see signs of again, rather that when it's too late and harder to reverse the process. Oil free products is also a must in summer. Oils can clog up your pores and cause irritation, leading to blemishes and breakouts.

Highlighting, my favourite part of any makeup look, even more so in summer. Who says you can’t be a glowing goddess? In the hotter months, I tend to gravitate towards cream highlighters, just as they tend to look more natural and are lighter on the skin. Applying powdered highlighters on top of foundations can sometimes come across as looking cakey. Everyone has their own taste in makeup looks but in the summer months, I prefer a slightly dewier completion. Definitely try out Sleeks highlighting pallets, personally, my favourite is Precious Metals. The pallet includes four different shades, three of them being cream highlighters and one powdered. However, if you are as obsessed with highlighter as I am, you can apply this as a blush/bronzer.

If you aren’t as keen on illuminating makeup, but still want something light and easy to wear, Benefit’s Benetint and Rosytint are perfect for you. They are cheek stains that are easy to apply and last for hours. Cheek stains tend to last a long time, however slowly fade, rather than wipe off. This makes them ideal for summer and beach days.

Eyes:

Wearing eye makeup, in my opinion, is defiantly one of the most frustrating things in the hotter months. Anyone that wears makeup will no doubtingly have experienced the dreaded pander eyes. So, here’s a few products that will stay in place all day.

Cream shadows tend to last longer and be more water resistant, my personal favourites are the Maybelline Colour Tattoo Creams. They have a large range of shades, they are very pigmented and super easy to apply. The creams can be applied on their own or set with pigments or pressed powdered eyeshadow.

Personally, I don’t tend to wear eyeliner when I know I’m going to be in the water however, I have found an eyeliner that is perfect and will stay on even after being in the water. It is the Tattoo Me Eyeliner by Rimmel. This eyeliner will not budge one bit.

In the past I have worn this eyeliner to a waterpark, I completely forgot I had it on. I was getting splashed and going under the water. At the end of the day, I was pleasantly surprised when I looked in the mirror and saw that my winged eyeliner was still intact! I would defiantly recommend this product for those who love wearing eyeliner.

Lips:

Nobody wants to be wearing heavy lipstick that will no doubt dry your lips out. Lip balm is you’re your best friend when it comes to the summer dry heat. Benefit release Benebalm, which is a lip balm stain, giving your lips a lasting colour and hydrating them. What more could you ask for?

Setting:

Setting your makeup can be as important as the base. My favourite is Mac Fix +. Once you have finished your makeup, spray this over your face, this will lock your makeup in all day and stop your makeup from looking cakey. This can be reapplied throughout the day if you feel your makeup becoming dry. I wouldn’t recommend this product if you like having matte makeup. The spray makes your makeup look more radiant and fresh.  

-Imogen x