June theme series - Summer staples

June is my birthday month and to mark the month, I've decided to commit to weekly themed posts, which makes 5 since I intend to post them on Sundays. 

To kick off this series, please take a look at my summer staples. 

My makeup routine varies from day to day. It could be pure physical sunscreen with eyebrows one day or foundation, cream blusher and lip gloss with eyebrows over sunscreen the next day. Due to the great difference, I've chosen to omit most makeup items in this post. 

These are my haircare summer staples. I rotate them depending on the situation but most of them have been in play since last year. 

Left to Right

Goldwell Nice Balance Calming Milk, purchased from Ebay UK years ago. This product was introduced on Lady First, the Taiwanese beauty/shopping show and I remember spending quite a bit of effort to track down and buy the products used in that episode. I have the L'Oreal Professionel Techniart product from that episode too (somewhere).

Toni & Guy Cleanse Dry Shampoo. Quite frankly, I bought this when it was cheap. It's a typical dry shampoo spray.

Legitime Scalp Air Tonic. This Korean hair product was purchased after I used and liked their scalp shampoo. The interesting thing about this tonic is the blunt bristles at the top similar to scalp scrubbers. The product comes out of a central nozzle and you can instantly give your scalp a massage instead of rubbing product in with fingers.

Lucido Oil Control Tonic. This was introduced on Lady First either in a summer episode of 2012 or 2013. It's a cooling spray for the scalp and alcohol is high on the ingredient list. This and the Legitime are my favourite for oily roots and scalp.

(Top) Kracie Ichikami Hair Treatment Essence. I remember purchasing this years ago due to rave reviews and the supposedly sakura scent. I found reviews of this dating from 2010/2011 and this actual product has been discontinued, so my best guess is this bottle is at least 3 years old. Due to the size (100ml), I've only found that it's running low recently. I typically use it at least once a week to tame frizz on damp hair as a leave-in conditioner.

(Bottom) Utena Matomage Hair Styling Stick. Yet another product introduced by Lady First. This one was far more tricky to identify and buy than the others as it was introduced on the show as a Japanese product not available for sale in Taiwan at that time. The usual bloggers/forums who could usually identify products featured on Lady First were stumped as the presenters were very careful not to show the product name (their usual practise). Without the product name, it was simply a bright green container that the hairdresser was smearing over the celebrity's hair. This product tames my flyaway hairs very well especially when I pull my hair back in a ponytail/chignon. 

Left to Right

Coppertone Water Babies Pure & Simple SPF50 is my current go-to daily pure physical sunscreen. This was purchased from USA and not available in Singapore. 

Happy Bath Aqua Cooling Gel purchased from Korea. Happy Bath is actually a bodycare brand under the Amore Pacific group (Sulwhasoo, Laneige etc). I usually apply it immediately after a shower and it gives me a slight cooling feeling without stickiness.

(Top) Aqurea Moisturising Cream. This is basically a 10% urea cream and it's my fail-safe moisturing cream for body (I find the texture a tad too heavy for my face). It's unscented and I find that it calms skin down immediately (I've used it on children who had insect bites/irritated angry skin). I try to keep a tube in my bag so I can use it wherever I go to moisturise my hands after washing with hand soap or splashing my arms with water to keep them cool.

(Bottom) Daiso Everbilena Eyebrow coat. Purchased at Daiso at the price of S$2 for 6ml of product, this works very well.  It comes in a nail-polish/Benefit tint container and one uses the product by dabbing it on with the brush after you've used eyebrow powder/pencil. I personally find this to seal the eyebrow colour really well, yet it is easily removed by normal makeup removers (no special lip & eye makeup removers required).

(Top) Neutrogena makeup remover cleansing towelettes, not available for sale in Singapore. I carry this around when I have a long day out and at some point, I might want to redo/remove my makeup. It's gentle on the skin and I do prefer it over Watsons house brand makeup remover wipes or unscented baby wipes inspite of the difficulty in getting it and the price. 

(Bottom) Gatsby Facial Paper . I don't tend to use this on my face often as the second ingredient on the ingredient list is alcohol. However, it is great when your face is an oil slick and your neck is sticky from being outside for a long time. The piece shown here is my backup pack, I carry around half a pack in my bag daily. 

Technically, Singapore doesn't have a summer season but late May-July usually sees very high temperatures and humidity. One day it can be scorching hot and the next it could be raining cats and dogs. Most people try to escape indoors as much as possible and this is tricky as it means entering air-conditioned spaces from a typically hot/humid exterior. I use the above products in rotation whenever I see the need, typically on hot and wet days.     

Disclaimer: I received no payment or payment in kind for writing this blog post. Any opinions expressed are my own.