The holidays are over, the ground is starting to thaw, and it looks like there’s some warmth on the horizon. This can be an exciting time for many as we put away heavy coats and sweaters to make room for lighter fabrics and pastel tones. There’s nothing better than that first warm day of opening all the windows and looking outside to see the greenery coming through. The transition from winter to spring can be a lovely time to reevaluate our skincare and makeup wardrobe as well, and experiment with new spring makeup looks. A temperatures rise, our skin will typically experience things like more perspiration, higher sebum production and a greater need for SPF. The truth is keeping our skin regimen in sync with the seasons just makes good sense. Let’s look at some ways we can prepare for warmer weather. The Clean Start: Swap Your Makeup Remover in Spring During the cold winter months, we often switch to creamy cleansers and balms to remove makeup. Some people choose to return to soaps or foaming cleansers during the warmer months. While this change can be lighter on the skin than heavy cleansing balms, keep in mind that foaming cleansers and soaps can sometimes strip and even dry out the skin.  A great moisturizing face cleanser duo is jane iredale Beauty Prep Face Cleanserand Magic Mitt. The Beauty Prep Face Cleanser is an excellent alternative to traditional cleansers because it is a Micellar Water cleanser rather than soap based. Made from nourishing ingredients like Cucumber and Aloe, it won’t dry the skin, yet you’ll find its just as effective. Micellar Water lifts dirt and impurities from skin gently and leaves a layer of soothing hydration that absorbs right in.  The Magic Mitt is made from microfibers that are smaller than a human hair. They mimic the action of emulsification dissolving makeup and residue to get skin incredibly clean without upsetting the pH or drying the skin. When combined with the Beauty Prep Face Cleanser, the results of this face cleanser duo are amazing! Warm up the Magic Mitt under warm water and apply a few drops of Beauty Prep Face Cleanser on top. Then gently scrub in a circular direction all over the face, including around the eyes and on the lips. Keep your Magic Mitt clean by washing it with soap after using and letting it air dry. Prime Before You Paint: What Finish Do You Want Your Spring Makeup To Have? During the winter, you may have been using one of our Smooth Affair Primers to keep makeup looking smooth and hydrated. This isn’t a practice that you should quit when weather gets warm. Just keep in mind what kind of finish you want your skin to have. Here are two face primers we highly recommend for seasonal transitions: Smooth Affair Brightening Face Primer is still our most popular face primer, famous for giving the skin a healthy, hydrated appearance. During transitional times, it will ensure that your makeup stays smooth and hydrated-looking regardless of the temperature.  Smooth Affair Mattifying Face Primer is a great way to compensate if your skin tends to easily get shiny in warmer weather, making it the perfect base for spring makeup looks. But know, even though it mattifies, it won’t dry out your skin. Rather it calibrates the sebum and moisture balance of your skin for excellent makeup longevity and an even looking complexion.  Built On The Right Foundation: Go for Sheer Coverage Spring Makeup Because our skin tends to get blotchy and red in the winter, many people choose makeup with more coverage. Spring is an excellent time to go for more sheer makeup looks and let your skin breathe. At jane iredale, breathable foundations are what we’re known for. Here are some of our most popular formulas: HydroPure Tinted Serum – Even though this is one of our most hydrating foundations and favorite for winter, most people find that it takes them well into warmer months because it is so lightweight. The nourishing ingredients and liposome technology also help the skin to continue recovering from the long winter dehydration that might have occurred. Just remember to apply an SPF over or under it to keep your skin protected. Dream Tint Tinted Moisturizer– This long-awaited return couldn’t have happened at a better time. Yes! Dream Tint is back and ready to take your skin into the Spring and Summer with a lightweight finish, a broad-spectrum SPF and beautiful skin-like finish that everyone loves. Wear it alone as the perfect spring makeup base or under our PurePressed Base for extra coverage. PurePressed Base– Of course we can’t make the transition to warmer months without our favorite product, jane iredale’s bestseller, to carry with us. This weightless 4-in-1 powder, foundation, concealer, and SPF is a staple whether we wear it alone or over another product. Use it in the morning and take it with you for touchups throughout the day. Purepressed Base is a great addition to any spring makeup look since it’s such a versatile product. Warm Me With A Kiss: Spring Lip Must Haves The final step of our wardrobe is an imperative, the lips. They get chapped in the winter and burned in the summer; so often overlooked, we must take care of them, especially as weather warms up. Here are a few really important products to consider as we move into warmer temperatures: HydroPure Hyaluronic Lip Treatment – This is a product purely created for repair. Made with wonderful ingredients like Padina Algae and Shea Butter, it helps lips retain moisture and restores their natural moisture. It also smooths lip texture and makes them look more youthful. It’s the perfect product to help lips recover from winter cold. LipDrink Lip Balm– If we’re going back out into the outdoors, LipDrink is a must. Available in the shades Flirt, Crush, Buff and Sheer, this SPF 15 lip balm has a petroleum-free, hydrating formula that provide an antioxidant-rich protective shield. You’ll love the way it feels and howeasy it is to wear. And if you get a seasonal cold, apply a little to your chapped nose for relief and recovery! ColorLuxe HydratingCream Lipstick– This is our newest lip formula and a beautiful addition to your spring makeup collection. Its finish is rich and luminous, and its formula drenches the lips with moisture. You’ll love all the gorgeous colors it comes in and how long it lasts on your lips.  Coming out of the cold doesn’t have to be a traumatic experience for your skin. Just keep in mind that your body goes through a transition when the seasons change and plan your spring makeup accordingly. So open your windows, step outside and take a deep breath. Enjoy the warmth on your skin and know that we’ve got you covered. 

It’s that time again, the sun is shining brightly, the days are longer, and the look of sun-kissed skin is in. Summertime is the ideal time to explore the world of bronzers. There is a misconception that bronzing and contouring are one and the same, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Contouring is meant to bring dimension and depth to the face with subtle sculpting while bronzers are meant to bring warmth and glow.  There is also a distinct difference in the shades of contouring products and bronzers. Because contouring is meant to add depth and dimension the shades often have a noticeably cooler undertone while bronzers have more a skin-like undertone. Cream vs Powder With so many options you may find yourself asking should I choose a cream or a powder? Cream bronzers are often a great choice for drier skins because of their emollient nature making it easy to get a softer blend. However, the new PureBronze collection, despite being a powder, gives a soft touch and blends easily even on a drier skin. It is equally important for oily skins to choose the correct texture for bronzers. Oily skins should avoid choosing bronzers that are heavily shimmered this can cause the skin to look very textured and shiny.  Finding Your Undertone Just like any other complexion product, both depth of skin and undertone play important roles when choosing a bronzer. The general rule of thumb is to opt for a bronzer one or two shades darker than your natural skin tone. Whether you are fair, light, medium, deep, or somewhere in between, knowing your skin’s undertone is just as important as knowing your depth of skin.  If you are unsure of your undertone here is a quick review: Undertones fall into three basic categories: warm, cool, and neutral. A warm undertone is more peachy, golden, or yellow. A cool undertone is generally associated with skin that has hints of blue, pink. Neutral undertones have a mix of cool and warm undertones. Your undertone will affect how your skin appears when it is tan. Lighter skin tones with warm undertones tan more peach. Choose a bronzer that is peachy based or neutral tan. Light to medium skin tones with warm undertones tan more golden. Choose a bronzer that has a copper tone. Deeper skin tones tan with warm undertones tan more of a deep bronze. Choose a bronzer that is deep rich chocolate. Lighter skin tones with cool undertones tan rosier. Choose a bronzer with a rosier tone. Light to medium skin tones with a cool undertone tan more of a deep cinnamon. Choose a tan shade bronzer with a hint of that cinnamon hue. Deeper or richer skin tones with a cool undertone tan more reddish. Choose a deep brown with a hint of red. Lastly, if you have a neutral undertone there is no detectable prominent shade, you may burn then tan. Opt for a beige tone that will not cause the skin to look to red or orange. Now that we have discussed undertone and depth, application is also an essential element in getting the ultimate natural sun-kissed look. If using in conjunction with complexion products such as foundation make sure to apply a dusting of powder to prevent an uneven application. If a cream bronzeris preferred, it can be blended directly onto the skin after foundation or tinted moisturizer. Just as contour has specific rules for placement so do bronzers. Applying where the sun naturally hits the face is key. Proper bronzer placementincludes the sides of the forehead, around the temples in a c formation, the tip of the nose and the chin. Fan brushes are the best tool to use, remember this is to add warmth not coverage. A fan brush will keep the application light and natural. Don’t forget about the neck and decollate. For an added glow use a shimmer bronzer on the high points of the face such as the cheekbones and the bridge of the nose. Bronzers can also be great on the days where you’re not wearing a lot of makeup or taking photos. Whether you choose cream or powder, bronzers are a great way to welcome in and celebrate summer.

I’ve always marveled at this ocean planet. 71 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered by water and 96.5 percent of it is contained in the oceans. Actually, it’s really one ocean with bits of land popping up here and there. How is it we’re so lucky to have a planet with an ocean that is capable of sustaining such an abundance of life forms on land and sea? Where did the water come from? Scientists have theories but nothing is certain. Do other planets have water? Evidence points to oceans on other planets, but Earth is the only known planet to have consistent, stable bodies of liquid water on its surface. That’s because Earth is in the habitable zone, meaning that it isn’t too close to the sun for the heat to evaporate water and not too far to freeze it. And then there’s the perfect amount of gravity which holds the water where we want it to be. I know that exploring space is as exciting as it gets, but we know so little about this miracle planet that we live on, that I wonder why we aren’t more curious about it. A NASA employee once told me that the amount of money that goes into exploring the source and maintenance of life on Earth, the oceans, is a rounding-error in the amount of money spent on space exploration. It boggles my mind! Is there anything out there that is more beautiful than where we already live? The Importance of Coral Reefs I think we need to protect and nurture Planet Earth, and the only way we can do that is to try to understand it. One thing we do know is that the oceans are under stress. Climate change is literally changing everything. Take, for example, our barrier reefs. Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is so huge that it can be seen from space. It stretches over 1,400 miles. It’s home to billions of marine species and is the world’s largest living organism. It’s importance to our survival can’t be over-estimate, all reefs are important to our survival. Why? Well, selfishly from a human point of view, they protect our shorelines from the ravages of storms that are becoming more and more frequent due to the extreme fluctuations of ocean temperatures. Storms erode coastlines taking homes and livelihoods with them. Over half a billion people depend on reefs for food, income, and protection. The net economic value of the world’s coral reefs is estimated to be tens of billions of dollars per year. And what of the reefs themselves that are often called “the rainforests of the sea?” About 25% of the ocean’s fish depend on healthy coral reefs. That’s a lot of fish! They find shelter and food, reproduce, and rear their young in the nooks and crannies formed by corals. (And here I have to digress and recommend a documentary called “My Octopus Teacher.” If you haven’t seen it, put it at the top of your list. It won’t disappoint.). Reefs are fundamental to a healthy ocean.  But coral reef ecosystems are severely threatened. Pollution, sedimentation from run-off, unsustainable fishing practices, and climate change are leading to coral bleaching and death. In 2005, the U.S. lost half of its coral reefs in the Caribbean in one year due to a massive bleaching event. Between 2014 and 2017 unusually warm waters affected 70% of coral reefs. The Great Barrier Reef lost hundreds of miles to bleaching. What Can You Do to Help Our Beautiful and Essential Ocean Reefs? Even if you live thousands of miles from an ocean, the weed-killers and fertilizers you use will eventually flow into the ocean. Find green alternatives that won’t harm coral reefs and marine life. Research where your seafood comes from and if it's caught sustainably. Overfishing is one of the biggest threats to coral reefs. You probably think that buying wild-caught shrimp is a better choice than farmed, but the methods for catching shrimp are devastating for the oceans. It’s too long to explain here, but this article will tell you everything you need to know. Be conscious if you buy aquarium fish. How were they obtained? Recycle and dispose of trash properly. Somehow so much of our trash ends up in the oceans. Whenever I walk the beach, I take a garbage bag with me. I’m shocked at how much plastic I pick up that has washed ashore. I’ve seen plastic bags wrapped around coral, choking it to death. Don’t buy coral ornaments or jewelry If you love to scuba or snorkel, avoid touching or standing on reefs. Anchoring your boat on the reef will damage and potentially kill the delicate coral animals. Volunteer! If you live near the coast, volunteer in local beach or reef cleanups. If you don’t live near the coast, get involved in protecting your local watershed.  Using Reef Safe Sunscreen There is more but I’m going to end with a plea about sunscreens and wearing one that is considered reef-safe. Several common sunscreen ingredients have been shown to be toxic to coral reefs. Again, whether you are in the ocean or not, what you wear will eventually wash off and end up there. Millions of people wear sunscreens and have no idea that they are negatively impacting coral reefs. What Sunscreen Ingredients Are Not Reef Safe? Key ingredients to avoid are Oxybenzone and Octinoxate. Additionally, look out for Benzophenone-1, Benzophenone-8, OD-PABA, 4-Methylbenzylidene camphor, 3-Benzylidene camphor, and Octocrylene. These can affect corals' reproductive cycle, damage DNA, and worsen the effects of coral bleaching. Active sunscreen ingredients that are considered reef-safe are Zinc Oxide and Titanium Dioxide. A quick word about the amount of protection from SPF ratings. (By the way, SPF only refers to UVB protection). An SPF 15 protects from 93% of UVB rays. SPF 30 protects from 97%.  Afterthat, the difference in protection is small. SPF 50 blocks 98%, and SPF 100 stops 99% of UVB rays from reaching your skin. To achieve these high SPF ratings, disproportionately more chemicals have to be used. Check out our Sun Protection Guide to learn more. What Sunscreens Are Reef Safe? jane iredale uses reef-safe sunscreen protection in all our mineral powders. The highest rating is our Powder-Me SPF 30 Dry Sunscreen at an SPF 30, which uses Titanium Dioxide as its active ingredient. Its convenient brush makes it so easy to apply and reapply, and it comes with handy refill canisters. I’ve been wearing it for years and I don’t see any reason to change now, even though my days of sunning are far behind me. Better safe than sorry!