Another sweltering summer is upon us. Fun fact about me, I hate summer. I hate being hot. I hate bugs. I hate sweating. Obviously, this isn’t the season for me, lol. However, I decided to go on a mini shopping spree for some summer time goodies to try and make these next few months more enjoyable.  I bought things from Sun Bum and Hawaiian Tropic. All of the Sun Bum products I bought from Ulta and all of the Hawaiian Tropic products I bought from Walmart. Walmart is cheaper than Ulta but I will be linking to Ulta for almost everything because I know it’s more accessible for some people.

*The Hawaiian Tropic bottles do NOT say that they’re cruelty free. From what I can find they are cruelty free but it’s always a little sketchy to me when a brand doesn’t put that on the bottle. If you know more about this please let me know.

Hawaiian Tropic

• After Sun Moisturizer: This lotion is $10.00 for 16 ounces. I believe I paid around $6.00 for this at Walmart. This is my new favorite summer lotion! It smells amazing, like lime coolada. It’s not sticky, moisturizes well, absorbs quickly and the smell lasts a very long time on the skin. I highly recommend this.
• Dark Tanning Oil with SPF 6: This oil is $10.00 for 8 ounces. I paid around $7.00 for this at Walmart. This is my first time using a tanning oil but I’m very impressed with this one. It smells fantastic, like bananas. It is an oil so your skin will feel slightly oily but it’s not sticky and for the most part it does sink into the skin. This did help me tan faster while out in the sun, however, this will increase your chances of getting a sunburn so be careful. I highly recommend this.
• Sheer Touch After Sun Moisturizer Ultra Radiance: This lotion is $9.00 for 8 ounces. I also really love this one. Again, it smells fantastic, like mangos. It moisturizes well and leaves behind a golden glow on the skin. For some reason this makes my skin feel very warm. It’s not uncomfortable and it doesn’t last long but I thought I would mention it. I highly recommend this.

Sun Bum

• Cool Down After Sun Hydrating Gel: This gel is $10.00 for 8 ounces. From now on this will be a product I use every summer. It does a fantastic job of cooling down sunburns while moisturizing and not being sticky. If you buy this, do yourself a favor and put it in the refrigerator. It makes it even better. I highly recommend this.
• Face Lotion with SPF 50: This lotion is $13.00. This will be my moisturizer all through the summer. Usually I hate putting SPF on my face because if it even comes close to my eyes they start burning but this didn’t bother my eyes at all. It is a very thin and watery consistency but that enables it to blend into the skin easily. This did fine under my makeup but it did seem like my face got oilier with it underneath. This isn’t a huge deal to me but might be to somebody with oily skin. This is unscented and didn’t break out or irritate my face at all. I highly recommend this.
• Sunscreen Lip Balm with SPF 30: This lip balm is $4.00 and I got mine in the Coconut flavor. First of all this does smell and taste just like coconut! I loved that, however, I really didn’t like anything else about this. It’s not a very heavy balm and it seemed to rub off my lips within ten minutes. It never sank into my lips or provided any moisturization. The only way I would use this is underneath another lip product. I do not recommend this.
• Cool Down Hydrating After Sun Lotion: This lotion is $12.00 for 8 ounces. This isn’t a bad product, it’s just not my favorite. It smells like bananas, so amazing. It’s not sticky and it absorbs quickly into the skin. However, I don’t feel like this cooled or hydrated the skin as well as the Cooling Gel does. I recommend the gel or the Hawaiian Tropic After Sun Moisturizer over this.

That’s everything I bought and I believe I’m ready for summer! I do typically use sunscreen when outside but I’m still using up some non-cruelty free stuff from a few years ago so that’s why I didn’t buy any. Ulta has had both of these brands buy one, get one half off a lot here lately so definitely check there if you’re interested in any of these products. Let me know what your summer essentials are! Thanks for reading and have a great day!