Ka’anapali was my favorite place I visited on Maui. There were so many things about it that I loved – the beautiful clear ocean, the soft white sand, and of course, the shopping!
BEAUTYBLENDER | Two Original beautyblenders® & liquid blendercleanser™ | $39.95
LANCÔME | Color Design 5 Shadow & Liner Palette | Taupe Craze | $50
DIOR | 5-Color Alll-In-One Artistry Palette | Nude Pink Design | $60
DIOR | Diorshow Fusion Mono Long-Wear Professional Mirror-Shine Eyeshadow | 021 Étoile | $30
DOLCE & GABBANA | Passion Eyes Mascara | Nero 1 | $32
Maui was an interesting place; you can walk into fine dining wearing little more than a beach coverup and your bikini (if you so desire), but it’s also of course, entirely appropriate to walk along the beachfront shops and restaurants dressed to the nines, heels jewelry and all.
I was frankly surprised to have found a Sephora while in Ka’anapali, but in a way, it made perfect sense – Maui has the perfect vibe that calls for both casual and glam, meaning, you can easily go from being a bare-faced-beauty, to a full-face-of-makeup kind of girl, and no one is going to think twice of it.
I mention this, because I’d heard all sorts of things about what to expect before I ever set foot on the Hawaiian islands.
“Don’t take too much makeup, it’ll all melt off anyway”, “Why would you need makeup when you go to the beach?”, or “No one wears makeup to the beach. That’s just silly.” to name just a few of the comments I heard, in relation to my two makeup train cases I toted along with me.
Now, having experienced what it was actually like to deal with the humidity, salt water and beach scene, here is what I have to say about it: If you are traveling to Hawaii, do take a bit of your makeup. But don’t take too much.
Practically everything I put on my face could have been categorized as at least ‘water resistant’ if not waterproof. Believe me, you won’t want to wear anything that doesn’t fall into those lines if you plan on spending any time near the ocean, or out in the sun. The humidity is thick, and your mascara will be smeared all over your eyelids if you don’t make sure to use a waterproof formula.
All of my eyeshadows stuck pretty well on top of my NARS Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base (favorite eyeshadow primer!), and my skin stayed well protected and even-toned with my combination of Shiseido Ultimate Sun Protection Lotion+ Broad Spectrum SPF 50+ For Face/Body ($39) and M•A•C Face And Body Foundation in C1 (neither washed off after spending all day at the beach, and in the ocean). And worth mentioning, if you’re like me and don’t like to leave the house without perfectly structured eyebrows – I used the Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow™ Pomade in Ebony and my brows remained perfect all the while (no smearing, no fading. Whoo!), which had me even more sold than I was already on the wonders of Dipbrow.
Since then, I’ve had the chance to try out a few other phenomenal beauty products that I think I would take in place of the above, such as NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer Broad Spectrum SPF 30, simply because mixing a very white-cast sunscreen with my foundation wasn’t overly convenient, and it was a bit of a pain to blend. And I love NARS’s Tinted Moisturizer.
I’ll be spending some time in Oahu this autumn, so I will get a chance to re-test and refine my beach-appropriate beauty lineup, but until then, if you have any suggestions for me, please leave them in the comments. I love your feedback! ♥
xo
Ashley