クリーミーな香り、ヘアプディング、ドーパミンメイク：日本の夏の美容ガイド

Dopamine beauty

Use beauty to spark a renewed sense of joie de vivre. This month, after a sell-out success across the pond, Marc Jacobs Beauty launched in Selfridges. A succinct collection of multipurpose, mistake-proof formulas for eyes, face and lips, is housed in bright-coloured bottles and compacts that crinkle at the edges like bouncy balloons. Each object is so satisfyingly fat and chunky, it could squeak – like a helium number at a kids’ party. The pigments are soft and creamy – the eyeliner is a particular high point here, swiping onto eyes with little resistance – and eyeshadows come in myriad metallic, two-tone shades and nudes. The mascara is ultra volumising and buildable (but not clumpy), lipsticks feel juicy and the bronzers melt into skin like butter. Extra points go to the highlighter, which has an air of the Never Been Kissed about it, with unashamed chunks of iridescent glitter in an icy lilac hue. Stipple onto skin for a mermaid effect.

The fun continues with Victoria Beckham Beauty’s latest arrival: the Blush Stylus, which is quite literally a crayon for your face. She likes to scribble hearts on her cheeks before blending them out. While the Marc Jacobs Beauty collection is all sparkles and bright colours, these are more muted and buildable, sparking joy even in those who prefer a subtle look. Anyone with sensitive skin can rest assured that these vitamin E and lanolin-enriched styluses won’t wreak havoc.

The golden age

Rhode’s bestselling Glazing Milk has been remastered for summer with a new Highlighter Milk. The silky ceramide and glycerin-fuelled liquor now brings a decidedly not-glittery shimmer to the first leg of any make-up routine. Choose from two sheer shades or the deeper pigmented pair for more warmth. The new Pocket Bronze also brings a convincing touch of tan in the brand’s pleasingly poppy packaging in a perfect chocolate brown. Eight shades span bronzes with golden, rosy, neutral or red undertones, bringing added realism along with long-lasting pigment.

While we’ve seen bronzing drops before, this year’s newcomers are a cut above the rest. Jones Road’s Bright Skin Illuminating Drops come in six shades (unheard of, usually, for this kind of product), and are enriched with aloe, glycerin and vitamin C to keep skin hydrated and bright. They’re basically skincare, so they don’t give coverage – just glow. Though, they’re wonderfully versatile; use neat for a gorgeous gleam that doesn’t look metallic, or mix with your usual base for extra dewiness. For a bit more coverage, Dr Barbara Sturm’s Everything Bronzing Drops are a tad more pigmented, offering a glow that looks more like a tan than a healthy sheen of sweat. This formula is packed with hydrating and blurring ingredients, and it’s non-comedogenic, too – so blemish-prone types can wear it to the beach without worrying about their pores.

High protection

There is nothing more annoying than applying SPF when all you want to do is jump into the sea. Luckily, the new Nuxe Sun Mist Fresh SPF30 makes things about as easy as they can be, with a clever nozzle that works even when upside-down. The ultra-fine mist formula is made for top-to-toe usage (even on the scalp), and it smells like the brand’s ubiquitous Prodigieux scent – blending warm, summery notes of orange blossom, magnolia and vanilla. 

If you prefer more of a creamy texture, opt for the Augustinus Bader Solar Shield, which cocoons limbs in a whole host of soothing and strengthening ingredients while protecting with broad-spectrum SPF 50. The formula is hydrating but not thick or sticky – ideal for using around sand.

Smells like summer

If you like the smell of a traditional suncream, you’ll like the smell of Miu Miu’s newest scent, Fleur De Lait. Inspired by the Mango Pomelo Sago dessert, it smells like milky piña coladas and osmanthus. There’s also something quite pleasantly plasticky about it, like sunbeds that have been sitting in the sun.

Less sweet is Maison Crivelli’s summer candidate: Musc Nurasana. Here, musks mingle with bergamot and rose in a juice that smells soft and familiar – a little bit like your grandma’s vanity but with a sharp, salty edge that livens it up and smells almost like the sea.

Let down your hair

Summer calls for letting your natural hair texture shine, mainly because nobody’s bothering with a hairdryer during a heatwave. Begin with the newly reformulated Davines Momo Shampoo and Conditioner to inject crispy, sea-soaked strands with moisture. Both formulas (which are more than 90 percent naturally derived) smell like juicy melons, and the scent lingers for days. 

If your hair has a tendency to look puffy after washing, look no further than Mai Nami’s Hair Pudding. Described as a “ritual cream”, you can use it as a mask or a styling cream to nourish, define waves and protect against humidity. Packaged in a pleasingly plump blue pot, the gooey formula feels like something you would have played with in the playground at school – it’s surprisingly fun to apply. 

When the weather is frankly unbearable and you need everything off your neck, slick an up-do with the Oribe Supershine Smoothing Wax Stick, which is a bit like a Pritt Stick but for your hair. Swipe it onto flyaways and it’ll keep your hair in place all day.

Keep calm and cool down

Wash off the day with the Alpha-H Clear Skin Face and Body Wash, which is a two-in-one body wash that you’ll look forward to using. Packed with all the things you’d expect in a cleanser that promises to “clear” skin (namely salicylic acid and niacinamide) it decongests both the face and body, but it’s the tea tree that really stands out. The gel smells like an old, refreshing, medicinal tea tree tincture, leaving skin feeling squeaky clean and tingly.

Finish with a sparkly body oil, which are happily back in fashion via much more advanced formulas than their noughties predecessors. The Saltair Salt Water Vanilla Shimmering Body Oil blends squalane with nourishing moringa oil, soothing plumeria flower extract and golden pearls to guild skin and lock in moisture. Notes of vanilla, sandalwood and sea salt combine for a slightly masculine, ice-creamy scent. 

On particularly warm days when you feel heavy and sluggish, the Eyeam De-Bloat Lymphatic Body Glaze helps. While it’s said to support lymphatic drainage when paired with massage techniques, its real selling point is how cooling and hydrating it feels on skin. The lightweight fluid isn’t a cream or a gel but somewhere in-between, smells like Fanta, and is made with more natural oils than the average body cream, so your skin feels hydrated for longer. 

Equally as cooling are the Cosmetic Consult Miracle Cryo Eye Masks, which should be popped into the fridge before application. Each mask is hilariously oversized, but you’ll come to wish all eye masks were this size – there’s less slippage and more de-puffing.

Dopamine beauty

Use beauty to spark a renewed sense of joie de vivre. This month, after a sell-out success across the pond, Marc Jacobs Beauty launched in Selfridges. A succinct collection of multipurpose, mistake-proof formulas for eyes, face and lips, is housed in bright-coloured bottles and compacts that crinkle at the edges like bouncy balloons. Each object is so satisfyingly fat and chunky, it could squeak – like a helium number at a kids’ party. The pigments are soft and creamy – the eyeliner is a particular high point here, swiping onto eyes with little resistance – and eyeshadows come in myriad metallic, two-tone shades and nudes. The mascara is ultra volumising and buildable (but not clumpy), lipsticks feel juicy and the bronzers melt into skin like butter. Extra points go to the highlighter, which has an air of the Never Been Kissed about it, with unashamed chunks of iridescent glitter in an icy lilac hue. Stipple onto skin for a mermaid effect.

The fun continues with Victoria Beckham Beauty’s latest arrival: the Blush Stylus, which is quite literally a crayon for your face. She likes to scribble hearts on her cheeks before blending them out. While the Marc Jacobs Beauty collection is all sparkles and bright colours, these are more muted and buildable, sparking joy even in those who prefer a subtle look. Anyone with sensitive skin can rest assured that these vitamin E and lanolin-enriched styluses won’t wreak havoc.

The golden age

Rhode’s bestselling Glazing Milk has been remastered for summer with a new Highlighter Milk. The silky ceramide and glycerin-fuelled liquor now brings a decidedly not-glittery shimmer to the first leg of any make-up routine. Choose from two sheer shades or the deeper pigmented pair for more warmth. The new Pocket Bronze also brings a convincing touch of tan in the brand’s pleasingly poppy packaging in a perfect chocolate brown. Eight shades span bronzes with golden, rosy, neutral or red undertones, bringing added realism along with long-lasting pigment.

While we’ve seen bronzing drops before, this year’s newcomers are a cut above the rest. Jones Road’s Bright Skin Illuminating Drops come in six shades (unheard of, usually, for this kind of product), and are enriched with aloe, glycerin and vitamin C to keep skin hydrated and bright. They’re basically skincare, so they don’t give coverage – just glow. Though, they’re wonderfully versatile; use neat for a gorgeous gleam that doesn’t look metallic, or mix with your usual base for extra dewiness. For a bit more coverage, Dr Barbara Sturm’s Everything Bronzing Drops are a tad more pigmented, offering a glow that looks more like a tan than a healthy sheen of sweat. This formula is packed with hydrating and blurring ingredients, and it’s non-comedogenic, too – so blemish-prone types can wear it to the beach without worrying about their pores.

High protection

There is nothing more annoying than applying SPF when all you want to do is jump into the sea. Luckily, the new Nuxe Sun Mist Fresh SPF30 makes things about as easy as they can be, with a clever nozzle that works even when upside-down. The ultra-fine mist formula is made for top-to-toe usage (even on the scalp), and it smells like the brand’s ubiquitous Prodigieux scent – blending warm, summery notes of orange blossom, magnolia and vanilla. 

If you prefer more of a creamy texture, opt for the Augustinus Bader Solar Shield, which cocoons limbs in a whole host of soothing and strengthening ingredients while protecting with broad-spectrum SPF 50. The formula is hydrating but not thick or sticky – ideal for using around sand.

Smells like summer

If you like the smell of a traditional suncream, you’ll like the smell of Miu Miu’s newest scent, Fleur De Lait. Inspired by the Mango Pomelo Sago dessert, it smells like milky piña coladas and osmanthus. There’s also something quite pleasantly plasticky about it, like sunbeds that have been sitting in the sun.

Less sweet is Maison Crivelli’s summer candidate: Musc Nurasana. Here, musks mingle with bergamot and rose in a juice that smells soft and familiar – a little bit like your grandma’s vanity but with a sharp, salty edge that livens it up and smells almost like the sea.

Let down your hair

Summer calls for letting your natural hair texture shine, mainly because nobody’s bothering with a hairdryer during a heatwave. Begin with the newly reformulated Davines Momo Shampoo and Conditioner to inject crispy, sea-soaked strands with moisture. Both formulas (which are more than 90 percent naturally derived) smell like juicy melons, and the scent lingers for days. 

If your hair has a tendency to look puffy after washing, look no further than Mai Nami’s Hair Pudding. Described as a “ritual cream”, you can use it as a mask or a styling cream to nourish, define waves and protect against humidity. Packaged in a pleasingly plump blue pot, the gooey formula feels like something you would have played with in the playground at school – it’s surprisingly fun to apply. 

When the weather is frankly unbearable and you need everything off your neck, slick an up-do with the Oribe Supershine Smoothing Wax Stick, which is a bit like a Pritt Stick but for your hair. Swipe it onto flyaways and it’ll keep your hair in place all day.

Keep calm and cool down

Wash off the day with the Alpha-H Clear Skin Face and Body Wash, which is a two-in-one body wash that you’ll look forward to using. Packed with all the things you’d expect in a cleanser that promises to “clear” skin (namely salicylic acid and niacinamide) it decongests both the face and body, but it’s the tea tree that really stands out. The gel smells like an old, refreshing, medicinal tea tree tincture, leaving skin feeling squeaky clean and tingly.

Finish with a sparkly body oil, which are happily back in fashion via much more advanced formulas than their noughties predecessors. The Saltair Salt Water Vanilla Shimmering Body Oil blends squalane with nourishing moringa oil, soothing plumeria flower extract and golden pearls to guild skin and lock in moisture. Notes of vanilla, sandalwood and sea salt combine for a slightly masculine, ice-creamy scent. 

On particularly warm days when you feel heavy and sluggish, the Eyeam De-Bloat Lymphatic Body Glaze helps. While it’s said to support lymphatic drainage when paired with massage techniques, its real selling point is how cooling and hydrating it feels on skin. The lightweight fluid isn’t a cream or a gel but somewhere in-between, smells like Fanta, and is made with more natural oils than the average body cream, so your skin feels hydrated for longer. 

Equally as cooling are the Cosmetic Consult Miracle Cryo Eye Masks, which should be popped into the fridge before application. Each mask is hilariously oversized, but you’ll come to wish all eye masks were this size – there’s less slippage and more de-puffing.