Summer-ize Your Beauty Routine with These Top Tips and Flaunt Sexy Summer-ready Skin All Season Long

The long, lazy dog days of summer are in full swing and your skincare routine and needs to stack up. Between rising hemlines and scorching temps, so should your skin game.

The sun, sand, salt, and surf and wreak havoc on your skin. So, let’s get started with these top tips and tricks to keep you glowing well into PSL and sweater season. Plus, we’re spotlighting the most effective skincare ingredients under the sun clinically proven to correct and protect, while keeping your skin effortlessly bright and beautiful. (Spoiler alert: they’re all lurking in your MD Glam skincare essentials!)

Practice Safe Sun and Go Undercover

Your jar of MD Glam Sunshout Sunscreen SPF 50 is your summer skin’s BFF. While you should slather your SPF all year round and religiously re-apply every two hours, the scorching summer sun poses an even greater risk to sunburn, premature aging, and skin cancer. And, don’t forget the most commonly overlooked body parts, such as hair part and tops of ears, hands, and feet. Get super shady by donning wide-brimmed hats, visors, sunglasses, and other protective clothing. Don’t let a day an otherwise fun day at the beach turn into a total bummer.

Go Easy on the War Paint

The summer’s high heat and humidity calls for a lighter layer of makeup. Allow skin to breathe and let your beachy beauty shine through by opting for a hydrating tinted moisturizer or BB/CC cream instead of your go-to full-coverage foundation.

Make a Clean Break

Don’t skip the sink! Step up your cleansing game by washing away daily sunscreen, sand, salt, dirt, debris, grease, and grime with a just a dollop of your MD Glam Deep Pore Foaming Cleanser. Indulge your skin with a little TLC a few times weekly with your pineapple stem powder-imbued MD Glam Exfoliating Enzyme Scrub that also doubles as a clarifying mask when left on skin for 10-20 minutes.

Cool It with the Hot Tools

Turn down the dial on your hair dryer, flat iron, or curling wand. Not only will you save your summer strands from split ends, frizz, and dehydration, you’ll stay cool in the summer heat. Try sporting summery, sexy styles, like braids, ponytails, and top knots. For tousled tresses and bouncy, beach-beautiful waves, loosely braid just-washed hair and let locks loose when dried. No heat required.

Burn Notice

Sometimes with the greatest of intentions, the merciless, summer sun can still get the best of us – even to the most devout skincare savants. If you find yourself on the wrong side of the sun and soothing a scorching burn as a result, grab a tube of pure aloe vera gel and gently apply to affected skin to prevent subsequent peeling and flaking. Be sure to keep your burn covered with clothing – or with a hat if on the face – until completely healed. To alleviate discomfort, soak in a cool bath and wear light, non-abrasive clothing that won’t rub or irritate the skin.

Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate

Keep your body and complexion well-hydrated from within by gulping 8-10 or more glasses of healthy H2O per day. We naturally sweat more during the warmer months, so we need to replenish those essential electrolytes to keep vital organs, cells, and skin moist, supple, and functioning optimally.

Make Moisturizer a MUST

A big misconception of summertime skincare is that you can skip the slathering. But, don’t let the heat and humid sway you from regularly moisturizing your skin both day and night. Your skin still thirsts for much-needed hydration even in the summer - maybe not as much as during the cooler months – but, still so. If you find your complexion feels uncomfortable with too much moisture, your very versatile MD Glam Sunshout Sunscreen SPF 50 doubles as a fully functioning moisturizer, so you can skip your MD Glam Antioxidant Day Moisturizer until that first sip of your first PSL in the fall.

When Things Heat Up, Keep Your Cool

It may be tempting to still step under a hot spray first thing in the morning, but too-hot showers can dry out skin STAT. Instead, keep the water temperature cool and the sudsing sesh short.

Don’t Overlook Your Eyes

Partaking in plentiful summer activities, staying up later, and vacationing/road tripping can leave you looking more tired than usual. Keep your peepers pretty and perky by applying your retinol and vitamin C -packed MD Glam Retinol-C Intense Eye Serum day and night. Send overzealous bags packing and/or soothe allergies by placing two thin slices of cucumber over sore, puffy eyes for 10 minutes.

Step into Summer

Put your best foot forward with proper footcare. Start with pumicing soles and heels and follow-up with a rich, minty foot balm for an instant, cooling effect. Finish with a DIY or pro pedi and flaunt toes perfectly painted with a summery pop of pink or peach polish.

Don’t Flake on De-flaking

When things heat up, skin can get clogged from sweat, salt, grease, and grime. De-gunk the junk and zap away zits with a twice-weekly sloughing session using your glycolic acid-infused MD Glam Exfoliating Enzyme Scrub.

Follow Your Dreams

…literally! Because the days are longer in the summer, we naturally remain active for longer periods of time. (Hello nightly beach strolls!) Stay vigilant about clocking 7-9 hours of restorative, rejuvenating snooze time each night to keep skin always looking refreshed and renewed.

Eat Your Antioxidants

Feast on foods rich in vitamins, minerals, and anti-aging antioxidants by piling your plate with fresh, luscious fruit, colorful veggies, and fatty fish. Snack on antioxidant-dense nuts for filling fiber and a protein powered pick-me-up.

Fake it to Make It

Flaunt a faux glow with a self-tanner, spray tan, or bronzing body oil/lotion for a believable, beach-ready bronze sans the sun. Today’s innovative formulas leave any skin tone tanned without the harmful effects of the sun. Just be sure to apply the product with a tanning mitt to avoid telltale, copper-colored palms and other self-tanner slip-ups. Don’t forget to apply SPF as most self-tanners and bronzers don’t contain sunscreen.

Spotlight on “It” Ingredients

For any skincare product to be effective – both immediately and cumulatively – it needs to be chockfull of consummate, clinically-proven ingredients, like a bevy of beautifying botanicals, super antioxidants to defend against sun, pollution, and aging, skin-saving vitamins and minerals, and rich, succulent moisturizers to protect the lipid layer from moisture loss. Lucky for you, MD GLAM skincare essentials boast the best skincare ingredients in the biz.

Retinol

A derivative of vitamin A, retinol is a powerful, highly sought-after, anti-aging ingredient that has been clinically shown to: visibly reduce wrinkle depth, promote collagen production for firmer skin, diminish hyperpigmentation, even-out skin tone, and smooth roughened texture. This multitasking, hardworking ingredient truly does it all, that’s why you’ll find it in the MD Glam Retinol-C Intense Eye Serum and MD Glam Sunshout Sunscreen 50 SPF. WARNING: Be sure to protect skin with your MD Glam Sunshout Sunscreen 50 SPF during the day when using your MD Glam Retinol-C Intense Eye Serum. A highly-active skin ingredient, medical-grade retinol has been shown to make skin highly sun-sensitive.

Vitamin C

Like its skincare BFF retinol, the virtuous vitamin C is a one-stop-shop skincare ingredient. And, when used in conjunction with retinol, there is nothing this dynamic duo can’t do! Vitamin C is a potent, supercharged antioxidant that lightens, brightens, tones, and tightens the complexion, plus it imparts an unmistakable instant glow upon application. With consistent usage, vitamin C boosts collagen production on the molecular level, leaving skin firm and looking fabulous. Get your daily dose of this skin saver in ALL the bestselling MD Glam fam of products, including: MD Glam Retinol-C Intense Eye Serum, MD Glam Hyaluronic Acid Night C-Complex, MD Glam DMAE Antioxidant Day Moisturizer, MD Glam Exfoliating Enzyme Scrub, MD Glam Deep Pore Foaming Cleanser, and the MD Glam Sunshout Sunscreen 50 SPF.

Hyaluronic Acid

A superstar ingredient that began making headlines in the beauty biz a few years ago, hyaluronic acid is definitely not seeing a slowdown anytime soon. Naturally found in human skin, eyes, and joints, this coveted complexion-perfecting ingredient is responsible for the bouncy, plump skin so redolent of youth. With an impressive capability of attracting and retaining up to 1000 times its own weight, hyaluronic acid delivers plump, moist, supple skin on contact and provides endless moisture. Get instant “plumpification” and long-lasting hydration throughout the reparative night shift when you slather MD Glam’s Hyaluronic Acid Night C-Complex before bed.

Glycolic Acid/AHA’s

Derived from pure sugarcane, glycolic acid is a highly-potent, water-soluble alpha hydroxy acid (AHA) responsible for increasing skin’s luminosity and smoothness. The gold standard of chemical exfoliation, glycolic acid works to “unglue” the superficial cells of the outermost layer of the skin (Stratum Corneum), leaving the complexion bright, even, and radiant. Glycolic acid dramatically reduces hyperpigmentation/sunspots, acne scarring, and rough texture. Anyone who has skin can benefit from the glow-getting effects of glycolic acid. Rub your skin the “bright” way with the glycolic acid-enriched MD Glam Exfoliating Enzyme Scrub a few times a week for a more renewed, refined, and rejuvenated complexion. But, like retinol, glycolic acid leaves skin susceptible to sunburn, so be sure to go undercover with your MD Glam Sunshout Sunscreen 50 SPF every day.

Sunscreen

Octinoxate is a chemical-based sunscreen that is penetrated by the skin to block harmful UVA/UVB rays and prevent photoaging of the skin. Zinc oxide, on the other hand, is a mineral-based sunscreen that provides physical sun protection, meaning the minerals sit on top of the skin acting as a physical barrier against the sun. Whether you decide to opt for chemical or physical sunscreen is entirely a personal preference. Most sunscreens offer a formulation that provides a unique hybrid of both physical and chemical sun protection, like the MD Glam Sunshout Sunscreen 50 SPF. Overexposure to the sun is one of the biggest contributors to premature aging, so daily sunscreen wear is a non-negotiable. Plus, it’s fuss-free and effortless when you slather the MD Glam Sunshout Sunscreen 50 SPF because this proprietary-blended formula leaves no unsightly white cast or greasy residue. And, because Dr. Cat’s formula is loaded with botanical-based hydrators, you can skip your MD Glam DMAE Antioxidant Day Moisturizer on days your skin is feeling a bit oilier than usual, especially in the summer.

Antioxidants

Just like the name suggests, antioxidants fight against oxidative stress or oxidation (free radical damage from sun, pollution, smoke, smog, and other environmental aggressors), which leads to cell damage. Repeated exposure to oxidative stress leads to inflammation of the skin and other vital organs, which further leads to disease and aging. Antioxidant ingredients include vitamins A, B, C, D, and E, plus beta carotene, resveratrol, glutathione, and green tea, just to name a few. Get your daily dose of defense with an abundance of skin-saving antioxidants in the entire MD Glam fam of protecting, prettifying products.

DMAE

A derivative of vitamin B choline, DMAE is a superior hydrating agent used in many luxury, medical-grade skincare products to effectively boost skin’s elasticity and radiance, while decreasing the look of lines and other imperfections. Win the war on wrinkles – and keep your makeup from melting by midday - by slathering the MD Glam DMAE Antioxidant Day Moisturizer before your MD Glam Sunshout Sunscreen 50 SPF. Used by celebrity makeup artists, the MD Glam DMAE Antioxidant Day Moisturizer doubles as a makeup primer, gripping makeup and keeping your look on lockdown. So, feel free to save time and skip a step. 

Sea Algae

This marine-derived, anti-aging A-lister not only touts detoxification properties due to its myriad of skin-perfecting minerals, it also provides therapeutic benefits for the skin. Create a clean slate and wash away impurities with the MD Glam Deep Pore Foaming Cleanser. In the morning, follow-up with the sea algae-enriched MD Glam DMAE Antioxidant Day Moisturizer.

Summertime is the season for much-deeserved rest and relaxation, but your skincare should never take a vacay. Go light on the makeup and hair products, but keep your skincare routine rocking and rolling. What are your go-to, summer skincare secrets? Be sure to dish the deets with our MD Glam fam @mymdglam on the ‘Gram.