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Polly’s Picks: Summer Skin Saviors Polly Blitzer
Beauty and the beach have a notorious love-hate relationship. Sunkissed skin and sea-salt waves duke it out with sunburns and acne. With years of practices and top experts in my back pocket, I found the best products to stave off summer beauty fails.
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Sunburn Polly Blitzer
Even the most diligent SPF users suffer from burns (raises hand). My skin succumbed to the sun this weekend while splashing in the pool with Sammy and Miles. I rely on a combo of products and plants to soothe my skin.1. Skinfix Daily Lotion uses natural emollient oils like jojoba, sunflower and grape seed to replenish skin’s natural skin barrier. It's intensely moisturizing but not greasy. It also contains aloe, rice bran extract and chamomile to soothe skin. Pick one up at Target.com for under $20.2. Solarcaine Cool Aloe feels like air conditioning on your skin when it has that hot post-sun feeling. The combination of aloe and numbing lidocaine feel refreshing after a cool shower and before bedtime.3. Aloe vera plants are the original sunburn soother. Luckily, we just bought several aloe and succulent plants as a summer centerpiece, so I cut off a leaf and rubbed it all over my shoulders during a Bravo TV marathon last night. -
Streaky Self-Tanner Polly Blitzer
Botched self-tanner is a beauty rite of passage. You miss a spot and wind up zebra-print legs. And unblended areas turn into dark brown splotches. I’ve tested hundreds of self-tanners in my beauty editor career, and I've finally found a klutz-proof application method.1. St. Tropez Self-Tanning Bronzing Mousse is a brown-tinted foam that develops gradually. One coat gives skin a believable sepia tint, which I love in the cooler months when deep tan looks artificial. A second or third coat produces the ultimate caramel-to-cognac hue.2. St. Tropez Application Mitt is my tool of choice. It protects your palms from the dreaded orange palms. And it guards cuticles from dirty-looking stains. I insert my hand in the mitt, apply a gold-ball size ball of foam on beige side of the mitt and smooth over my skin in circular motions, one limb at a time. I leave out the easy-to-goof areas, like wrists, hands, ankles, feet, face and neck. For those, I use a BeautyBlender sponge to carefully sweep on formula and blend into the rest of my body.3. Q-tips Precision Tips are my secret MVP. Self-tanner has a tendency to sink into wrinkles and fine lines, which exaggerates things you want to hide. When I finish applying, I gently sweep the tip of a Precision Q-tip along my laugh lines and chin dent, then clean up the cuticles around my fingernails and toenails. -
Stubble Trouble Polly Blitzer
Sandpaper legs? No thanks, summer. Most razors get my legs smooth, but stubble sprouts a day or two later. Five o' clock shadow works for guys, but it's not a good look on the ladies.
1. Schick Intuition razors have a solid chunk of moisturizing cream that melts into skin when it gets wet in the shower. It preps skin for a close-gliding shave with a thin layer of gel. It's really cool. I'm loyal to it years after the original one launched when I was an editor at InStyle.
2. To give my skin a smooth look and feel, I don't leave home without a few spritzes of Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse. The scent brings me back to the beaches in St. Barths and summers in Montauk. It's a natural dry oil that sinks right into skin but leaves a subtle glow of a sheen.
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Break Outs Polly Blitzer
Red alert! No blemishes are going to crash this girl's summer party.
1. I recently started seeing a new dermatologist, and I'm ready to go steady. Dr. Neal Schultz knows his way around an epidermis. He's focused, friendly and frank about everything from aging to mole checks to skin texture. His line of skincare does not disappoint. My finicky skin can prove it. After a week of using his BeautyRx Progressive Peel, my skin looked smooth and glowy, and the rough texture went vamoose! I haven't seen one emerging pimple, even after a weekend in the sweaty summer heat.
2. When Mark and I get blemishes, we dab a bit of Ahava Purifying Mud Mask on the area with a Q-tip. It dries the area without creating irritation and peeling. There's something magical about the Dead Sea Minerals in Ahava products. My mom used to have her Israeli friend Helen bring mud on the plane to New York, before it was distributed in the United States.
3. When all else fails, a little dot of Urban Decay Naked Skin Weightless Complete Coverage Concealer will do the job. Living up to its name, it covers blemishes and spots like "naked skin." You can't see it. And there's no trace of the underlying spot, either.
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Clumpy Lashes Polly Blitzer
I know, I know. Clumped lashes are a thing, said the runway. But some trends are meant to be left on the catwalk. In real life, I take my lashes long, loud and fluttery. Mine happen to be short, stumpy and prone to wilting after a long day.
1. Longwear mascara is a non-negotiable in the summertime. There's too much moisture in the air and far too many water activities to risk drippy raccoon eyes. My pick: L'Oreal Voluminous Miss Manga mascara. It divides and conquers each lashes, while laying on a coat of fierce pigmented lash lacquer.
2. If I forget to swipe excess off the wand and get a clump, I separate lashes with the corner of a credit card. I just wiggle the card slightly under the clump and it breaks apart without removing any formula.
3. File under: "Where Have You Been My Whole Life?" Wende Zomnir of Urban Decay Cosmetics dreams up innovative beauty products each season. This one in particular already has a cult following. Urban Decay Mascara Resurrection mascara revives weary lashes midday so you can go from desk to date without having to wipe off all your eye makeup and start all over.
