Summer's here! And here are my top picks for the season

Summers here! Unfortunately.

It is again that time of the year again, when the sun beats down your furrow and you leave a trail of sweat in your wake. Not sexy at all. But summer isn't all hell on earth. It is also the time for colorful, bright summery shades that are very feminine and flattering.

Here are some products that can help you ease through summer:

1. Body Spray: Summers means that one doesn't always feel or smell as fresh. Buy a small bottle, that can sit snug in your bag for spraying on throughout the day. Those of you who work in offices, can keep it in your desk drawer. I keep Boots Natural Collection Vanilla Body Spray with me, for when I reach office as well as when I'm leaving.

2. Sunscreen: While you should be wearing this all throughout the year, summers means longer days = more sunlight exposure, plus the sunrays are stronger. Wear a sunscreen everyday. Find one that you like. Most girls known that they have to wear a sunscreen, yet don't because they don't like the sticky texture or the fact that it sits on the skin. Not all sunscreens are like that. Find one that suits you. And this is more important than finding a foundation in your color. If you have to budget, spend on buying small trial packs till you get a sunscreen you can wear everyday. If you don't like it, use it up on your arms & feet. They get tanned and damaged too.

3. Nail paints: nail polishes, once applied, don't smudge or melt or run in the heat.  There are a lot of corals & pinks in the market right now. If you are clutz like me, you might like Lakme's 40 second nail paint. It applies well, and more importantly, dries quickly before I can mess it up.

MAC Ath Elite Look

4. Dewy Foundation aka MAC's Ath-Elite Look: You know what happens right, it is summer, Mumbai is humid, like really. Humid. You break out your powder compacts to fight it. But the humidity blotches it up and your foundation looks uber patchy half way through the day. Instead of fighting it, use it to your advantage. The big tread right now on all fashion weeks is fresh, hydrated, plump dewy skin as per the MAC SS Trend Report. Like you just went to gym or sauna.  And while we see our humid weather as a pain, the natural flush we get actually brings us one step closer to achieving this look. Use a light lotion in the morning, prior to using your liquid foundation. If you are oily, opt for oil free formulations. But not for products that give a matt look. 

MAC Ore Look

5. Bronzer aka MAC's Ore Look: No brainer right! so what's new about summer & bronzer?  It's no longer the simple matt brown, it has gone metallic. Hues of rust, copper, terracotta, peach, sand, and gold make up the primary palette of this look that can be applied to any part of the face - eyes & cheekbones. Time to dig out that Maybelline Gold eyeshadow palette. Team this up with lightly tinted lips & you are ready for the party! 

MAC Neo N Look

6. Bright lipsticks aka MAC Neo-N Lips Trend: Easy to touch up on the go. Moisturizing, won't goop and melt like lip gloss. Won't make you feel hot. Might makes others feel hot in your presence though. If it looks like you’ve simply swiped on a strong lip on your way back from the gym, you’ve pretty much nailed it. 

MAC Nouveau

7. Skip the Mascara aka MAC  Nouveau: The soft side of the season is all about tinting the skin with washes of colour.  Think of Nargis Fakhri in Rockstar. MAC says "While lips and cheeks get a look-in with stains of fondant-y peach, apricot and strawberry tones, it’s a trend that’s essentially eye driven: lids and lower lashlines enlivened with diffuse, single-toned watercolour washes of pastels and flesh tones through to mink and rubs of charcoal. 

You’ll likely want to forgo mascara, too — there’s still an enduring appeal to a mascara-less lash this season, now a mainstay in the beauty lexicon of modernizing a look". 

I kinda have to agree with MAC here. I have been skipping macara for the last six months for office and I have noticed that it seems to make the makeup look younger. Somehow I look older with mascara. Have any of you had this issue?)

So what’s your favourite trend this summer – I’m liking the Atl-Elite skin look paired with the Ore Lips (soft tints) and Mascara-less look from MAC Nouveau. 

PS: All MAC SS '12 Trend information were sent by the Company / PR as press release. But I have given it my own interpretation.