The heavy-contour era is over, or at least it’s taking a long nap. What’s replaced it isn’t really a trend so much as an exhale: skin that looks like skin, lips that look like lips, color that reads as warmth rather than a product. The beauty editors and the dermatologists and the chronically online skincare people all arrived at the same place this summer, which is that the most flattering thing you can do is look like you’ve been somewhere nice. A weekend upstate. A long Saturday. Outside, basically.

The products that make that happen aren’t always the flashiest ones. They’re the glosses with the right amount of slip, the highlighters that disappear into skin rather than sitting on top of it, the blushes that make people ask if you’ve been getting more sleep. Here are the products our Beauty Buying team recommends have a place in your rotation right now.

LIPS: Your Lips, But Better

Haus Labs – PHD Hybrid Lip Glaze in Guava
Somewhere between a gloss and a stain, which is exactly where most people want to live. Guava is a soft, warm pink that looks like you’ve just been out in the sun – effortless in a way that’s almost impossible to fake with a liner.

Nudestix – Lip Glace in Nude 04
A warm mauve-nude that reads completely differently depending on who’s wearing it. That’s the hallmark of a well-formulated neutral. It works with you, not over you.

Thrive Causemetics – Sheer Strength Lip-Plumping Peptide Gloss in Taylor
The plumping is real and not uncomfortable, which is a bar more glosses should be held to. Taylor is a true tangerine that gives you that just-eaten-a-popsicle flush of color, warm and a little unexpected on the lips. 

Jouer – Essential Lip Oil in Naturel Shine
Lip oils have earned their place. This one is sheer and glass-like without the stickiness. It’s the thing you reach for when you want to look like you’re not wearing anything.

bareMinerals – Dewy Lip Gloss Balm in Friendship
A terracotta-nude that pairs with everything from a linen shirt to nothing at all. The dewy formula is comfortable enough to actually forget you’re wearing it.

 

GLOW & COLOR: You Look Like You’re Back from Vacation!



Thrive Causemetics – Triple Threat Highlighter Stick in Joy
Gold shimmer that reads as skin, not product. The built-in brush means you can blend it standing at a red light, which is peak utility for a highlighter.

ILIA Beauty – Multi Stick in Dreamer
One of those products you stop explaining to people and just hand to them. A warm terracotta nude that functions as highlight, blush, and lip color depending on how much time you have.

ILIA Beauty – Sunshift Cream Bronzer in Ray
Cream bronzer that actually looks like a tan and not a smudge. Ray is buildable enough to go casual or polished, which is the flexibility summer requires.

Danessa Myricks – Yummy Skin Blurring Balm Powder in Bellini
Bellini is a golden peach that makes you look like you’ve been eating well and sleeping better. The balm-powder hybrid blurs and adds color in one pass.

Iconic London – Illuminator
The liquid highlighter that launched a thousand dupes. Still the original, still better. One drop mixed into anything changes the texture of the light on your face.

EYES & EXTRAS: The Details That Do the Work

 

Jason Wu Beauty – Diamond Darling Eyeshadow Palette in Deja Vu
Fifteen shades that all happen to go together, which is rarer than it should be. The champagne and bronze shimmers carry the summer brief. The mattes are actually pigmented. A warm gold lid and brown outer corner take about ninety seconds.

 

Laura Mercier – Caviar Stick Eye Shadow in Strike A Rose
A rosy-nude stick that blends out so quickly it almost feels like cheating. Strike A Rose reads as warmth on the lid rather than color, which is exactly the assignment.

 

bareMinerals – Gen Nude Highlighting Blush in Opal Glow
Half blush, half luminizer, fully worth it. Opal Glow adds a lit quality to the cheeks that reads as health rather than highlight.

None of these products demands much from you. No elaborate brush collection, no perfect lighting, no 20-step routine. And that’s the appeal.

The best summer makeup has always been the kind that slips seamlessly into your day. You wear it, forget about it, and somehow look better for it. Then someone asks what you’ve been doing differently. You don’t have an answer.

That’s the magic!