Guest Post: "My Natural Beauty Essential For Summer" - by Storybook Apothecary

I am so very excited to share my first guest post by one of my favorite beauty bloggers - the lovely Tianna from Storybook Apothecary! Her amazing blog encompasses all things health and beauty, with an emphasis on natural and organic cosmetics, plus DIY tips and tricks, fashion, health, fitness, and much more. I hope you enjoy her post and I encourage you to visit her blog!

Peace and Love,
~Sabrina

Guest Post: 

My Natural Beauty Essentials for Summer!

First off, thanks so much to Sabrina for letting me guest spot on her lovely blog! I feel really honored whenever someone asks me to write a guest post on their blog because I know how much my own blog means to me and how picky I am about who guest posts! So thank you Sabrina ♥

Summer can be seriously hot where I live {Southern California} and when the heat wave, inevitably, hits, there are certain beauty essentials I keep in my arsenal so that my skin and makeup are still looking their best, despite the sweltering heat and humidity.

1. RMS Beauty Un-Cover Up (Shade 11) –  This is my favorite light foundation + concealer duo for super hot days where I don’t necessarily want to go makeup-free, but I also don’t feel like wearing powder. This is very much like a creamy foundation, but without all the worries of nasty ingredients or skin irritants that cause breakouts. This is made with organic ingredients and is, essentially, organic coconut oil with pigment so there are no added fillers or anything. The finish is great, it has a bit more coverage than a tinted moisturizer (and it’s buildable!), and the coconut oil keeps your skin feeling balance (not too dry or too oily). You can use this with an oil based serum or face oil underneath if you want that satin natural glow finish, otherwise, this will set to pretty much a matte without looking dry or cakey. Check out my review on this here.

2. Alima Pure Satin Matte Foundation (Neutral 2) – This is a fantastic powder foundation! The powder doesn’t ever get cakey, it has comparable coverage to MAC’s Studio Fix Powder (without the clogged pores), and the ingredients are all minerals with no talc or other unwanted ingredients. If you apply it lightly, it can also double as a setting powder for full coverage makeup days. Check out my review on this here.

3. May Lindstrom The Problem Solver Face Mask – This is my holy grail of face masks! I absolutely love this because it has an incredible list of all natural ingredients such as raw cacao, activated charcoal, various clays, red sea salt, cinnamon, and various other spices and herbs which help calm, heal and detox skin. What I love most about this face mask is that you can definitely see an immediate and noticeable difference. The true test was asking my very skeptical boyfriend if he saw a difference (to remain unbias!) and he actually said, and I quote “Wow, I actually do.” Check out my review on this here.

4. Vive Sana Sunscreen -  This is, hands down, the best natural sunscreen I’ve tried. I really love the consistency, though yes, it is very thick. The ingredients are fantastic and there’s loads of natural oils included in the formula so you get the right amount of sunscreen protection, plus you also get anti-aging ingredients that won’t make you sun sensitive with the natural plant oils. Since it is pretty thick, one tip I use to thin the formula is I add a few drops of any natural plant oil I have on hand (usually grapeseed or coconut oil) which I mix with about 1.5 times the amount of recommended sunscreen so that way it still protects my skin, but the formula is easier to apply and blend out. This is my sure-fire way of avoiding white cast with any natural zinc oxide sunscreen. Check out my review on this here.

5. Antonia Burrell Natural Glow Cleansing Oil – I know it might sound really counterintuitive to use a cleansing oil during the summer, but hear me out. I used this all last summer with a light moisturizer day and night and I had the best skin I’ve ever had. Ever. Antonia Burrell products are amazing. They cleanse your pores without dryness, irritation or abrasiveness and they use all natural ingredients to do it. They even get rid of blackheads when literally nothing else will! I swear by this product and their Cream Supreme for breakouts and imbalances in my skin! Check out my review on this here.

So those are all of my natural beauty essentials for summer – thanks again to Sabrina for allowing me to guest post on her lovely blog – and please visit me on mine, if you have a free moment at http://storybookapothecary.com ♥