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Your Guide to Glowing Garden Party Skin

The azaleas are in full bloom now, which, in southeastern N.C., signals the approach of our region’s annual celebration of southern culture: the North Carolina Azalea Festival. Whether you’re interested in food, fashion, art or history, the festival offers something for everyone. But one of the highlights of the weekend is the Azalea Festival Garden Party, a beautiful outdoor social gathering. If you’re planning to attend, here’s how to make sure your skin is glowing as you mix and mingle.

Keep it simple

A simple, carefree look isn’t just easier to maintain throughout the garden party, it’s also more appropriate for a daytime affair. Go for a mostly nude color palette and inject a touch of glamor with a pink lipstick or blush.

SPF

You’re going to be outdoors all day, so you need to protect your skin with some kind of UV protection. But many sunscreens make your face look shiny or chalky, and it’s difficult to apply foundation or concealer on top of them. We recommend finding a foundation that offers sun protection. While you won’t get the same level of protection as you would from sunscreen, you can add a sun hat to your attire to shade your face. A hat, combined with a touch of SPF makeup, will protect your face from the sun’s harmful rays.

Prepare to reapply

Typical weather for April in southern N.C. is very mild and comfortable. But when you’re socializing outdoors all day, your makeup will start to slide off, regardless of the air temperature. Make sure any dark makeup you apply, like mascara or eyeliner, is waterproof. To touch up your skin, bring a small compact with a mirror and powder foundation, plus oil blotting sheets.

Apply a primer

Primer goes on before your foundation, eyeshadow and lipstick, and helps it last longer and look more natural. This is especially necessary when you’re going to be outside in the heat and humidity. For your garden party look, we recommend applying two primers: a foundation primer, which keeps your foundation and concealer from sliding off, and a lip primer, which stops your lip color from fading and feathering as you smile, laugh and sip on your cocktail. You can also dab a little bit of powder on top of your lipstick. This will mattify it and make it last even longer!

So, whether you’re going to the garden party, or one of the many other Azalea Festival events, you can use these tips to make sure your skin looks radiant throughout all the excitement!