Six beauty products to give you that summer sheen

Last week’s column focused on summer bodies, which are really just winter bodies, but a little more loved. You might be shocked how much exfoliating and moisturising dry, winter-weary limbs can do for confidence and the appearance of skin when you release them from their fabric prisons for summer.

I don’t use false tan for the most part, other than to test it for the purposes of this column, so it isn’t unheard of that I will be smuggling two different coloured legs inside my jeans. The consequence of this refusal to tan artificially or in the sun is that I need summer make-up with a lot of glow to it.

I would love to read a treatise by some philosopher of aesthetics on the necessary and sufficient conditions for “glow”.

Until that is written, and I’m not holding my breath, we will simply have to recognise glow when we see it. Vaguely, “glow” is a light reflective quality to the skin, which is not sparkly or glittery, and is not so wet looking that it resembles flu sweats.

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This is glow, and since my upstairs neighbours (no joke) played Macarena and did the accompanying stompy dance last night until 2am, I need it very badly indeed. The new La Mer The Hydrating Illuminator (€72 at Brown Thomas) is one way to get it, applied under make-up for subtlety, or mixed in for oomph. Apply it over the top of make-up as a dewy finishing product.

If the idea of a cream or light highlighter frightens you, start with a bronzer that incorporates one. Clarins Summer Bronzer in Sunset Dunes (€47 at Clarins stockists nationwide) is this year's iteration of Clarins' annual big and bountiful bronzer, and it is characteristically knee-weakening. Apply where the sun naturally hits the face – top of the cheekbones, bridge of the nose, temples and forehead.

Charlotte Tilbury Glowgasm Palette in Lightgasm (€75 at Arnotts) does something similar but is, in deliciously Tilbury fashion, just a bit too much. The powders leave an almost glossy finish on the skin (wet the brush for even more of a liquid metal finish), and you can achieve an entire face, eyes and all. It also comes in a deeper shade, and one of the two will work for the vast majority of people.

For something subtle, Chanel Le Vernis in Afterglow (€25 at Brown Thomas and Arnotts) is a dreamy wash of watercolour for nails, but has the most subtly elegant iridescence to it. For a "goes with everything" nail, you will never need anything else.

I will freely confess to having dismissed L'Occitane Multi-Baume Délicieux (€22 at L'Occitane stores nationwide) on sight. I happened to give it a go when I ran out of my usual bedtime lip balm, and it was a revelation. For day, it gives lips a colourless, soft but rich gloss while hitting a perfect balance between actually comforting the lips and shielding them from the elements. For night, it does the same, but there will usually be fewer people to admire it.