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Goth makeup for the summer that won’t make you lose the will to live

What do you get when you mix heavy Goth makeup and blistering sunshine? The Goths in Hot Weather website obviously, and/or a truly miserable day sweating your face off like some kind of less-awesome surrealist artwork.

Understandably, a lot of Goths take a wide swerve on the makeup front when it really is baking hot,other than perhaps for nights out-but if like me you are determined to persevere through your pain,there are some ways to keep your game face on without suffering unduly while you do so.

In this blog post I’m going to share some of my tips, tricks and product suggestions for a summer Goth face-and if you’re looking for some alternative ideas (from, I dunno, people who actually know their shit or something…) check out this post from Emma Hope Allwood on Dazed Digital.

Preparation

If you’re anything like me, one of the most ass-draggy things about summer is that you’re probably literally already sweating by the time you sit down to do your face even when you’re fresh out of the shower, which does not exactly provide a sound foundation for your er, foundation. This cannot always be avoided, but using a mattifying face wash and toner/refresher can help somewhat, as can keeping tissues for blotting near at hand.

Also, spending the last minute or so in the shower with the water running cold will give you a miniscule head start with the brushes before you start melting again. Probably.

Skin

While not so many Goths rock the full white panstick look these days, most of us still feel kind of naked without something on our faces. This is one of the most motherfuckily shit things to cope within hot weather though, and I am something of a shit Goth anyway in that I cannot handle the feeling of having my face plastered in product anyway.

If you’re thinking like me, a bit of concealer or colour corrector where needed (eye bags, mainly) and a really light translucent powder, like a rice powder or blotting sheets, is the way to go, along with a heavy-duty sunscreen. Also as is the case with foundation, deliberately picking a powder shade a touch lighter than your skin tone can give a subtle summer “I’m on the verge of death” look without the pain.

Keep one of those fancy aerosol water sprayer things to hand too, to mist your face with without ruining your makeup.

Eyes

Considering how committed I was was balding my eyebrows back in the late 90’s, it’s a bit odd that I won’t leave the house now without colouring in their remains, along with every other girl in the world at the moment.

I tend to spend quite a lot of time on my eyes in general, but when you are quite literally sweating out of your eyelids, this is not always a good thing, so I try to minimise products and keep it as simple as I can without going out eye-naked.

I have to do my eyebrows (obvs) and then a really good waterproof mascara and eyeliner in the darkest black going seems like a natural progression of this. I will also sometimes put a very lightly iridescent white shadow on my lids too, to add a bit of pop without looking like a clown if I happen to smear it.

Lips

The great thing about lips is that they are apt to hold onto whatever you have slapped onto them regardless of what the rest of your face is up to, but even so, I am not a big fan of thick layers of lipstick in the summer.

There doesn’t seem to be a lot of middle ground in terms of makeup for your lips in hot weather either-you either have to spend a reasonable amount of time layering, blotting and sealing lip stick and liner so that it will stick all day (and make you feel as if your lips are made of sandpaper) or surrender yourself to something with little to no staying power, and keep re-applying it.

I prefer to go the latter route, which is only partially because I have a literal OCD thing about lip balm-it is like a nervous tick. I get through a pot of Vaseline Intensive Care lip balm every ten days or so, to put that in perspective.

However, this year I have found the Holy Grail in terms of Gothy summer lip products-a light, watery stain to begin with, topped off with a dark and Gothy sheer gloss. This means that you can keep slapping more gloss on throughout the day, and even if you can’t be bothered, the stain will show anyway.

Possibly my favourite beauty buy of the last year is this lip sheer stick in “Quasar” by Chantecaille, which is light and sheer in texture but a really lovely interesting dark purple/burgundy/brown when on.

Other shit

There is plenty of other shit you can try out in the summer too if you so wish, and you might well hit upon a winner if you do. Fixing sprays are useful if you’re anything like me in that you get scared when you blot your face and come away with a perfect imprint of your eyebrows.

I also like sheets of rice blotting paper that absorb sweat and oil on the go and leave a light layer of powder behind-infinitely nicer and more hygienic than keeping slapping the same powder brush on your progressively more sweaty face.

On which note, FFs make sure you wash your makeup brushes, blenders and other tools on the regular during the summer, because think of all of the bacteria and ick that you’re just painting right back onto your face each day.

…My ass might be dripping with sweat, but my face be on point.

And finally, SUNSCREEN. Sunscreen is our god, worship it well.

Lady Gothique
The gal who runs www.gothicangelclothing.co.uk.

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