Isabeli Fontana by Koray Birand for Vogue Latin America, March 2013

In our dream lives, summer is a verb.  But even if you spent Memorial Day Weekend shopping the sales and the closest you’ve been to sun and surf are the fluorescent lights and water cooler in your office, we’ve got beauty and fragrance tips to get you glowing.  We can’t transport you to Montauk or Malibu, but no one will ever be able to tell the difference.

 

Liz and Rachel Edlich, 50 and 45, via the Jewish Chronicle Online/Radical Start Kit via Sephora.com

Is your skin looking a little rough around the edges?  Radical Skincare will polish your complexion to perfection within weeks. This powerful cosmeceutical line was created by sisters Liz and Rachel,  whose father  Dr. Richard F. Edlich MD PHD is a world-renowned Professor of Plastic Surgery and an expert in skin rejuvenation, wound repair and burn treatment. Both sisters had real life skin problems and worked with chemists and scientists to help women like us who want more than hope in a jar; Radical Skincare gives real results for real skin issues including aging, sensitive skin and rosacea.

Their proprietary Trylacel technology fights the causes of aging with powerful antioxidants that don’t lose potency when exposed to air.  Start with Age Defying Exfoliating Pads to remove dead surface skin.  Next, use the Advanced Peptide Antioxidant Serum to reduce wrinkles, even skin tone, and improve elasticity and firmness.  Follow up with Anti Aging Restorative Moisture  (Jessica Biel is a fan) to provide luxurious, concentrated anti-aging treatment, and finish with Eye Revive Cream  (Melanie Griffith is a devotee) to brighten the most delicate skin area.  (All four products are available in convenient starter sizes in the Radical Start Kit from Sephora for glow on the go).

Photo: Glam Glow Tingling and Exfoliating Mud Mask

If you don’t have time for intensive treatment but need radiance on short notice, try Glam Glow, a mud mask designed to be a “ten minute facial in a jar” that is beloved by red carpet celebrities including Miley Cyrus and Nina Dobrev.  Beyond buzz, it also won the Cosmetic Executive Women 2014 Indie Brand award for its ability to firm, smooth, and soften skin in mere minutes.

 Photo: Vogue UK, Coco Chanel made tanning chic, 1920s

When you’ve got the canvas properly primed, it’s time to get golden. Blame the tanning craze on Gabrielle Coco Chanel, who exposed her on a Mediterranean cruise in the 1920s; until recently looking like a Bain de Soleil model was the goal for generations. Now we know that there is no such thing as safe sun, but looking pallid is out of the question.  We know going away to “the islands” doesn’t immediately bring Ireland to mind, but it turns out our new favorite for sunless tanning  is from the Emerald Isle.  Karen Brown, the founder of Karora Cosmetics, is known as the country’s foremost self-tanning expert and created a line of self tanners that is a breath of fresh air in a crowded market. Besides taking even the palest skins to bronze in minutes, the proprietary formulations are chock full of botanical ingredients and smell like wildflowers.  Karora is your new BFF for safe, natural looking, non-smelly self-tanners with skin treatment properties that soften as well as color you golden brown.

Karora Cosmetics Gradual Tan and Self Tanning Mist

Karora offers different self tanners depending on your needs.   Gradual Tan Buildable Colour  is applied daily as a face and body moisturizer and builds color over time, but if you’re in a hurry reach for the Tinted Self Tan Mist, which comes in two concentrations, Light/Medium and Medium/Dark. Unlike Michelyn who can't remember her natural skin color, Nancy has avoided self-tanners as a category for years due to an embarrassing orange over-application that also gave her sensitive skin hives, but Karora’s unique botanical formulation completely sidesteps these common pitfalls of tanning products and after a weekend of application, when we returned to work, quite a few colleagues asked “Where did we go?”.

Photo: Karora CC Cream Face & Body For All Skin Tones

Once you’re bronzed enough for Biarritz, try the line’s CC Cream Face & Body for All Skin Tones.  Better than a BB cream, this product adjusts to your skintone, creating a flawless complexion without foundation and feels absolutely weightless, even in summer heat. Banish blotches on legs and use this miracle cream to rejuvenate the delicate skin of your Décolletage. A little goes a long away and one tube will keep you glowing all summer long.

Photo: Chanel Collection Reflets d’Été 2014

Now that you got your glow on, only minimal makeup is needed.  CHANEL’s Summer 2014 Collection Reflets d’Été is the perfect non-caloric sweet treat, with its candy colors intended to be mixed and matched , so experiment.  The Lévres Scintillantes Glossimer lip glosses are highly hydrating and although they look like popsicles in the tube when applied they range from clear to sheer coverage. We recommend  Happy #186 Glossimer that amplifies your natural lip color and the peachy sheer but there Sunny #188.    Summer Beauty would not be complete without a  bright pop of color.  We love to "mismatch" CHANEL Le Vernis Nail Colour Limited Edition  Mirabella (bright orange) on our tips and Tutti Fruitti, (warm watermelon pink  with a hint of gold shimmer) on our toes.  For a little drama, add a few coats of CHANEL Violet Inimitable Waterproof Mascara on your lashes and you are good to glow from beach to barhopping.

Photo: Clarins Eau Dynamisante

Summer beauty at CaFleureBon wouldn’t be complete without fragrance, but perfume is tricky in the sun because the ingredients can actually damage your skin.  Play it safe with Clarins Eau Dynamisante Treatment Fragrance, which was specially formulated to hydrate and tone as well as to scent.  Its citrus top notes deepen to spicy wood as the sun starts to set, and it leaves your skin feeling smooth and soft.

Photo: Chanel Eau de Cologne

Mademoiselle Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel offered EAU de COLOGNE in her 1929 catalog.   Les Exclusifs Chanel Eau de Cologne, created by Jacques Polgein 2007, is a modern twist on the classic House’s original formula and sparkles with citrus and neroli mixed with musky white flowers. The perfect scent for a summer soiree; Chanel Eau de Cologne is unexpectedly complex and very elegant.

Photo: FELT

Thanks to the generosity of the lovely folks at Karora Cosmetics we have a great draw for two of their full-sized self-tanning products, Karora Gradual Tan Buildable Color and Karora CC Cream Face & Body For All Skin Tones (available at Ulta.com, and  at one of our favorite shops in  New York at C.O. Bigelow and from our friends at Clarins USA  3.3 oz of  Eau Dynamisante Treatment Fragrance (available on Clarins.com )for one lucky U.S. reader.  To enter, please leave a comment indicating where you’d like to spend your dream summer or  which of our Summer fragrance & beauty tips you found helpful.  Draw ends May 30, 2014

Disclosure: Reviews based upon full-sized products and samples provided for promotional consideration.

— Nancy Knows, Senior Editor and Beauty Editor (with Contributions from Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief)

We announce the winners only on site and on our Facebook page, so Like Cafleurebon and use our RSS option…or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume.