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Evening Standard

Entertainment

Chloe Street

Beauty sticks: the best way to streamline your summer routine

Laura Mercier Pat McGrath Bobbi Brown Clinique

Can there be anything more irritating than your favourite bronzer smashing in your handbag? Or your summer scent seeping its way through your holiday ‘fits mid-flight? As we gear up for a travel-heavy summer, it’s time to streamline the makeup bag to ensure on-the-Tube-top-ups and airline security are a breeze. The quick fix? Makeup sticks.

From rollerball scents to foundation and blusher in solid creamy swipe-on formulations, the options for stick-ifying your beauty bag have never been better.

First up, the base. Rather than cart around large bottles, why not start with a swipe of Milk Makeup’s Watermelon Brightening Serum (£16) which combines moisture-boosting watermelon extract in a chunky stick format to deliver a surge of hydration. Then layer on the Noni Glow Face Balm (£21) from Miranda Kerr’s brand Kora Organics which is infused with coconut and rosehip oils before finishing with Supergoop’s Glow Stick (£22), a totally transparent non-sticky SPF 50 with inbuilt hydration from pracaxi oil.

Next, the foundation. Not only does a stick foundation minimise mess, but a good one can sit somewhere in between a liquid and a powder in consistency giving a lovely silky finish. Hourglass, Fenty and Nars all offer excellent matte, full-coverage options, while the Bare Minerals Complexion Rescue Hydrating SPF25 foundation stick (£29) is a super-hydrating option with 30 per cent mineral water content. For ultimate handbag efficiency try Laura Mercier’s clever Secret Camouflage Concealer Duo (£28), a face and under-eye concealer perfect for hiding blemishes.

Blusher, bronzer and highlighter sticks abound, and some of the best products out there are multi use. Bobbi Brown’s brand Jones Road does a great creamy lip and cheek stick (£22), and Nars’s Multipurpose stick (£30) can be used as blush, eyeshadow and contour. Westman Atelier’s creamy blusher sticks (£44) are some of the loveliest in the business and Clinique’s Chubby Sticks (£21) for lips and cheeks have a cult following. while Tilbury has just brought out a Quick & Easy mini kit (£55) comprising eye wand, highlighter and lip and cheek stick and fellow makeup artist legend Pat McGrath has also this month released a Limited Edition Highlighter and Balm Duo (£47), one side a highlighter, the other a hyaluronic acid balm.

Creamy, shimmering eyeshadow sticks offer a one-stop solution for dazzling eyes. Among the best are Laura Mercier’s Caviar Sticks (£23) that are pigmented enough to last an evening, and new brand Vieve’s Shimmer Eye Wands (£21), which come in five universally flattering warm metallic shades.

Lastly, finish things off with a roll, or brush, of scent. Le Labo and Sana Jardin do rollerball varieties of some of their classic scents. The funkiest fragrance application award though has to go to Jo Loves, which has developed fragrance paintbrushes (£40) — your body is your canvas.