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My SZN — Life, in season.

Hauls · ☀️ Summer

Beauty shades turning warmer

Berry lip, cream blush, softer bronze — the high-street versions worth the shelf space.

Editorial · 3 min read · 3 min read

A terracotta cream blush pot, a berry lip balm and a bronze compact on cream linen

Beauty is the one category where the seasonal shift is genuinely useful rather than invented: skin tone changes across a summer, and what looked right in June often looks chalky by September.

It's also the category where the high street competes hardest, which is good news for anyone who doesn't want to spend forty pounds finding out a shade is wrong.

What caught our eye

Cream blush in terracotta and warm rose. It sits better on late-summer skin than powder, and the affordable formulas are now genuinely hard to distinguish from the expensive ones.

Tinted balms in berry shades — a much easier first step into darker lip than a full matte.

Why it feels right this SZN

The light gets warmer and lower through September. Warmer blush and a slightly deeper lip read as natural in that light, where a cool pink starts to look like it's fighting it.

Worth buying cheaply

  • Cream blush and lip tints — high turnover, low risk, and you'll want a different shade next year anyway.
  • Nail colour. Nobody has ever needed an expensive burgundy.
  • Hair oil or gloss for the end of a summer of sun and salt.

Worth leaving, or spending properly on

  • Foundation bought unmatched under shop lighting. Swatch on your jaw, in daylight, at the door.
  • Limited-edition seasonal collections — usually the same formula in one repackaged shade.
  • Skincare bought on a shade trend. It isn't a seasonal purchase.

Being straight with you

No brand has paid for a mention here and no shade is recommended by name — formulas and ranges change constantly. Test in daylight and trust your own jawline over any list.

Make it yours

Kept for later 🤎

Kept ideas live in My Keeps, keep their category and season, and can be planned, lived and remembered later.

My SZN editorial inspiration — our own seasonal idea, not a listing for a verified external event.

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