5 Beauty Products For Summer Girls Who Are Struggling To Survive This Bleak Ass Winter

Is this winter the beginning of the apocalypse? I think so. The East Coast is getting dumped with snow, the Midwest is practically one giant icicle and even Atlanta’s getting hit; it seriously looks like the set of the “Walking Dead” out there.

I hate it.

Winter is not my bag. No, despite my North Dakota roots, I am a summer girl. And when the temperature drops way, way below zero and the winds howl I reach for the beauty products that make me feel like it’s beach time, even if it’s January.

1. Bobbi Brown Beach

This is the classic, the ultimate in summer escapism via scent. It’s also, to date, the only bottle of perfume I’ve ever repurchased. Beach is the perfect mix of warm jasmine and that old-school Coppertone sunscreen scent. When I wear this to work, my coworkers never fail to ask who smells like summer. The rosy-pink body oil is equally divine, even more so if you pour a teeny bit in your bath.

2. Tahitian monoi oil

I bulk-buy this oil from Amazon in summertime. I use it on my skin after a long day of lazing about in the sun, in my bath and even in my hair. Monoi oil comes from Tahitian gardenias mixed with coconut oil and using it as body oil makes you glow, seriously. It smells like flowers floating along on a hot breeze.

3. Demeter perfume library scents

Demeter is famous for its evocative scents from Dirt to Gin & Tonic to Funeral Home. They manage to capture the feeling of a place or a memory in only a few notes, which is nothing short of amazing. When I really miss summer, I spritz on their Suntan Lotion, Swimming Pool (which smells like the experience of a swimming pool, with a cold grape pop and some tanning oil, versus chlorine) or Salt Air to take me far, far away from the cold leaking through my bedroom windows. I like to layer Coconut with my favorite summery lotion, the fresh coconut Skin Trip. If your summer experience is more Saltwater Taffy than Coconut, they have that too!

4. Oribe Apres Beach Wave & Shine Spray

You know how tousled and sexy your hair looks after a day in the salt and waves? This fancy spray from Oribe mimics that, minus the crunchy feel. There are tons of beach sprays on the market (none to compare to the now-discontinued beauty that was John Frieda Ocean Waves, RIP angel) but this one is for the Beyonce-on-a-yacht set. Get a little fancy. You’re stuck in winter hell. You deserve it.

5. Queen Helene Cocoa Butter lotion

The smell of tanning salons is one of my favorite smells in the entire world, period. Even though I rarely fake bake anymore, I still love the scent of tanning lotion settled into hot skin. This cheapo lotion (seriously, the giant size is like $3) smells exactly like that. It’s insane.

That’s the power of scent; it can capture even the teensiest moment of your life and take you right back there with one whiff. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be here huffing on perfume for the rest of the afternoon pretending I’m at an island resort.