Stay cool. We’ve got you covered for 4th of July Weekend and beyond.

Photo Credit: IcyBag.com

By Naomi Schoenfeld

Summer is here, and with it comes lazing by the beach, hiking in the mountains, and lounging by the pool. While this may sound quite glamorous, the reality is that heat and humidity can wreak havoc on your look. Warm weather means frizzy hair, burned skin, and melted makeup. Just the thought of it is enough to make a girl sweat. Fear not, beauties! The Bag Ladies have pooled our collective beauty brilliance to offer up solutions to all your summer quandaries.

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Blame it on Coco Chanel. The legendary style maker kicked off the modern tanning craze back in 1923 when she stepped off a cruise ship in Cannes with a deep, dark tan. Unfortunately, tanning then was no safer than it is today 87 years later.

Ultraviolet radiation from the sun causes 90% of the most common skin cancers, namely basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation. And astoundingly, one in five Americans will develop skin cancer in the course of a lifetime, and that includes the potentially deadly melanoma, the most common form of cancer for young adults 25 to 29 years old.

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Exquisite Gifts for the Mom in Your Life

Where would we be without mom? The inspirational force behind many successful women, mothers deserve their annual day of recognition and more. It’s your chance to spoil her rotten with flowers, baubles and, of course, luscious beauty items. Here are a few suggestions that will really show you care.

With Caviar, Platinum and the new White Caviar collections, La Prairie is nothing if not indulgent. Known for its luxurious yet extremely efficacious skin care, La Prairie also offers lustrous color cosmetics. “Whisper Shades,” the new spring/summer color collection emphasizes bright, lush lips and muted eyes lined in black. According to La Prairie Colour Ambassador Raychel Wade, “These are colors you’ll rely on everyday to bring light and beauty to your face.” I particularly like the Cellular Lip Colour Effects ($40) lip gloss in Guava Spice, a coppery peach, perfect for my mother’s and my slightly golden complexion. The packaging is gorgeous too in La Prairie’s signature silver tones.

I’ve long been a fan of the Bobbi Brown Shimmer Bricks ($65) and Mother’s Day is the perfect chance to share the glow. Available in beige, rose or bronze, the bricks, complete with a soft applicator brush, comprise six individual shades that can be blended together for just the right radiance. In a pinch, I’ve even used the individual colors for eye shadow. And now there’s new version for the body. The Shimmer Brick for Body Set ($115) gives legs, arms and décolleté a sexy, silky glimmer.

Photo Credit: Pamplemousse

To share that song in your heart with mom, give her Song Bird ($56), the latest fragrance from natural perfumer Dawn Spencer Hurwitz. A perfect perfume for spring, Song Bird is a cheerful harmony of fruit, florals and musk with vetiver A member of The Natural Perfumer’s Guild, Dawn creates signature scents inspired by art, literature and the natural world. The refreshing Pamplemousse ($65) is a bubbly grapefruit tonic composed of 95% botanical ingredients. Visit www.dshperfumes.com for fragrances so unique they’re practically customized.

Or for a more classic approach, try Beautiful from Estée Lauder, the eternally best selling fragrance. A lush floral, rich and romantic, Beautiful’s ingredients are said to be so expensive the fragrance would never be composed today. Its notes include rose, mandarin, lily, tuberose, marigold, orange flower, muguet, jasmine, ylang-ylang, sandalwood, vetiver and amber. Special for Mother’s Day is a value packed gift set that includes a 2.5-oz. eau de parfum, a 3.4-oz. body lotion and a 1-oz body powder. With a price of just $68.00, that’s a lot of fragrance for your buck.

For a gift that speaks of times gone by, check out the Estée Lauder Jeweled Blossom Compact ($100) filled with Lucidity Translucent Pressed Powder. Created by object d’art designer Jay Strongwater, the compact harkens to simpler yet more glamorous times with a retro deco feeling. It’s available exclusively at Bergdorf Goodman.

Nurture My Body’s Organic Ginger Hand and Body Lotion ($28.75) is sure to energize mom’s body and soul. The essential oil blend of cinnamon leaf, sweet orange and ginger stimulates, tones and soothes while providing a mental uplift. “The ginger body lotion is to die for,” said Ann Garrity, founder of www.organicdivas.com, which carries the Nurture My Body collection.

The exquisitely wrapped (and smelling) soaps from another of my longtime favorite brands, Fresh, couldn’t be more giftable. The new Frankincense, Myrrh and Gold Soap Trio ($45) sounds Christmassy, but actually was just introduced it in time for Mother’s Day. The soaps, alternately earthy, fruity and sunlight shimmery are composed of pure vegetable, triple-milled ingredients infused with moisturizing shea butter. Ornately wrapped and festive, the soaps are ready-to-give in a beautifully outfitted gift box.

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