Summer Style and Beauty Bible

Let our experts help you navigate the mystifying seas of summer's prettiest looks

From strategic pops of color to the clever application of go-to products, this summer's beauty and fashion essentials work wonders at keeping you looking cool and crisp when you're feeling everything but.

To give you a leg up in making sense of all the options, we've consulted with several experts who've honed in on their absolute must-wear products and trends and the resulting picks are sure to add just the right amount of sizzle to your summer style.

Ready to ride the wave of the season's hottest looks? Let's dive in to this pool of cool knowledge with our first awesome option …

1. WHITE JEANS

Summer may conjure visions of crisp white linen pants and skirts but since it's so unforgiving and wrinkle prone, denim is a much more practical option. "White jeans are a must this summer," says life and style expert Alejandro Peraza. "Whether they're a tight, skinny jean, a high-rise waist or a straight leg, white jeans are a snap to pair with any combination of pieces from your wardrobe. Choose a bright top, a man's Oxford or a casual tee and you're ready to go." Plus, you can easily transform the look from day to night just by switching from a flip-flop or ballet flat to a heel or wedge.

Tip: Disregard that old "no white after Labor Day" adage and incorporate white jeans into your yearlong wardrobe to brighten any ensemble and highlight your basics.

2. STATEMENT LIPS

Burgundy and black cherry lips may scream <i>winter</i> to the uninitiated but this summer they're all the rage. "These shades are beyond in," says makeup artist Sabrina Mae, "They're very dark but if you leave the rest of the face clean, they look stunning for summer." Dubious? Scarlett Johansson's beautiful burgundy lip look at the Tony awards should help assuage any fears you may have.

Tip: To avoid smudging or bleeding, Mae recommends using a matching lip pencil.

3. SHEER BLOUSES

"The sheer blouse has made a strong comeback," says Peraza. And, why not? They're lightweight and perfect for staying cool during the dog days of summer. "These blouses are also super-versatile and can be worn over anything from a tank to a tee to a bikini top," Peraza adds. Because they're diaphanous, sheer tops are a great way to inject some fun color, bold patterns or even tie-dye into your wardrobe.

4. ORANGE NAILS

Tangerine Tango was Pantone's color of the season for 2012 and, in summer 2013, the shade is still going gangbusters -- especially when it comes to finger and toenails. "Offbeat orange and retro mod brights straight out of the swinging '60s will be big," Jan Arnold, the founder of CND has predicted. And, why not? Orange is the perfect pop of color against white, black, and turquoise -- three of the season's hottest clothing shades, plus, it looks great with a tan. (Fake, of course.) 

Tip: The new de rigueur nail shape is long and filed to be super-thin but with a soft, curving tip, not pointy or sharp as we've seen over the last few seasons.

5. YELLOW HANDBAGS

As with orange nail polish, carrying a yellow handbag is a simple, yet impactful, way of infusing some summer fun into your look. "From canary to sunflower to a vivid neon, this illuminating color is the perfect summer accent," says Peraza, who adds that yellow bags are available in every material from wicker and straw to leather, satin and even faux jewels. Carry a clutch, or load up a tote for a day at the beach, this bright beacon will brighten up every outfit.

6. Beach-y Hair 

and Kate Hudson <i>is</i> attainable -- even if you live in a landlocked state. And, if you're partial to whipping up products in the comfort of your own kitchen (and saving some hard-earned green while you're at it,) try your hand at this super-easy sea spray.

You'll need:  

-       10 oz. of water (heat it so it helps to melt the other ingredients)

-       8 drops of essential oil (choose whatever you like. I love rose. But coconut sure smells beach-y and Tahitian flower or gardenia work wonderfully, too.)

-       2 squirts (or, if it's in a tub, teaspoons) of hair gel

-       3 teaspoons of rock salt (or, if you prefer, Epsom salts)

Pour the water into a spray bottle, then add the ingredients, shaking as you go.  Spritz onto damp hair (this is key! If you apply to wet or dry hair, the result will be too crunchy), gently tousle with your fingers and you'll have that "I just got off my sail boat, dahling" look anytime you want it.

7. HOOP EARRINGS

Along with any and everything neon, another 1980's trend is alive and kicking this summer season -- hoop earrings.  As demonstrated by several top designers at Fashion Week, including Balmain and Chanel,  with these modern hoops, you can go as big and as bold as you dare.  "Hoop earrings never really go completely off the fashion radar, but this season they're back in a big, big way," says jewelry designer Colleen Berg.

"In the 80's they were about new wave glitz and now the hoop stands for all out glamour. Plus, there's something about wearing an oversized hoop earring that puts a little extra strut in your step."  Bonus: because stores like Forever 21 offer up many options at utterly affordable price points, you can experiment with different sizes, colors and embellishments without breaking the bank.

Tip:  Don't have pierced ears? Lots of stores, including Claire's, offer up a variety of pierce less hoop options.

8.  PRIMER

How's a girl supposed to look cute and have everything stay in place when the mercury's on the rise with no sign of tapering off? The key, according to Mae, and practically every other expert out there, lies in applying primer to your face. "The perfect primer is your best bet for beating a shiny face and having your makeup stay put", Mae says. "Just smooth a small dollop onto your clean, lightly moisturized skin and it will form a barrier that absorbs oil and perspiration." From there, you can apply foundation, a BB cream or a tinted moisturizer without having to worry that it will melt off by mid-day.

9. MAXI DRESSES

Whether they're sinuous and drape-y or tight and curve-hugging, maxi dresses are as hot as it gets for summer 2013. (So hot that there's no shortage of D.I.Y. video tutorials to chose from.)

From graphic prints and florals to cutouts and stripes, these comfortable, flaw-concealing garments are available in an assortment of fabrics (cotton, chiffon, silk and even leather!), a variety of styles (strapless, tank, halter) and at all sorts of prices.  

10. BLUE EYESHADOW

When you think "blue eye shadow" do visions of Honey Boo-Boo Child  come to mind? If so, it's time to change your perception of the much-maligned shade and begin to embrace it as the totally modern and amazingly flattering color it is.

"Describing the gorgeous and colossal range of blues simply as "blue" is like calling the ocean big," says Jodi Bryson, makeup specialist for Trish McEvoy Cosmetics. "This season, several makeup lines are showing blues as 'aquatic' color profiles with shades ranging from electric to deep water to green-hinted turquoise, all in amazing shimmers and mattes."

As with any "look-at-me "shade, applying blue to your eyes takes some finesse. "When it comes to shadow," Bryson says, "you do not want to sweep the blue over your entire lid, that's a recipe for disaster. Rather, use the shadow to highlight a bronze, peach or gold crease color by creating a V shape in the outer corner of the eye with your brush."

You can also use your shadow as a liner. "Wet your brush with water and practice painting the pigment on the back of your other hand to gain control and confidence, then line from the outer to inner corner of your top lid."  Tip: If you have small eyes, only line about three quarters of the way towards the inner corner.

Tip: Because this look will be all about the eyes, keep the rest of your makeup palette neutral. "Add some bronzer to pop cheekbones," advises Bryson, "And, go with a clear gloss or barely-there pigmented gloss."

My Unsolicited Two Cents on The "Vampire Face Lift"

Having your own blood injected into lines and wrinkles. All the cool kids are doing it.

A friend recently confided that she'd had a "vampire face lift." Me? I had a "what the!?" moment and ran to Google it.

Turns out that this isn't some "True Blood" marketing ploy, it's a bona fide cosmetic process. One that's raising a lot of eyebrows -- and getting a surprising amount of praise.

Here's the deal. First off, it's not truly a "face lift." It's a line filler/plumper like Restylane or Juvederm only, here's the wrinkle, it's made from your own blood.

Still there?

Step 1: A doctor extracts blood from his patient.

Step 2: He puts in into a centrifuge that works to separate the platelets from the red blood cells.

Step 3: He injects the resulting "platelet-rich fibrin matrix" into your face.

Ta-da.

The process, called Selphyl (cell-fill), is being used by more than 300 docs in the U.S. and some say that their patients prefer the concept of injecting their face with a "natural" substance (like their own blood) over something synthetic like the mainstream hyaluronic fillers that dominate the market. Plus, it's purported to last up to 24 months, much longer than the traditional fillers do.

The price tag? Expect to cough up $1,200, which is on par for what to expect after a wrinkle-filling appointment with the derm.

Feeling up for a date with Dracula? Click here to get his digits.

WHITEN MY TEETH AT THE MALL? NO THANKS.

When I was 9, I auditioned for a role in my summer camp's production of "Winnie the Pooh." I couldn't wait for the Head Counselor to post the casting results on the mess hall wall. Would I be playing Christopher Robbin? (It was an all-girl camp.) Or maybe even, dare I hope, Pooh himself? 

What seemed like days later, the list was finally tacked up and while my name did appear, turned out I wasn't to play either of those lead characters. Instead I was cast as the sun. The freakingSUN. What? 

When I mustered the guts to ask why they'd thought I was suited to the part, they told me it was because my smile could light up a room -- just like the sun lights up the world. Gimme a break. 

I mean, sure it's true, I was blessed with nice teeth. They've always been super-white and I never needed braces (though I thought retainers were so cool that I wore a bent paper clip in my mouth throughout most of the fourth grade). But, because of them I was relegated to playing the sun? Clearly I've never gotten over it. 

Now umpteen years later I find myself longing to be cast in that part again -- minus the giant yellow orb costume. Why? After seeing pictures of myself over the past several months, I've realized that my once pearly whites are significantly less so. Don't know why. I don't drink red wine or coffee or even soda (I've been Diet Coke free for three years and two days -- but who's counting?). So, what gives? 

I asked my dentist and he said it was just normal "wear and tear" on my teeth, and would I like to have them whitened? Um. Sure. And, I'd also like a Malibu beach house, but as a single mother of two who gets zero child support I'm not about to indulge on such a thing. 

Hmm. Other options? Well, I could head to the mall and lie there with a blue light emanating from my mouth as Cinnabon-clutching teens snicker? I'd rather have dingy teeth, thanks. 

But if the mall's too unappealing and the pro whitening's too expensive, what's left? Do those drugstore whiteners really work? 

Yes. According to Dr. Michael Apa, a partner in the Rosenthal/Apa Group on Manhattan's Upper East Side where he works exclusively on aesthetic and restorative dentistry. He suggests that his patients use a whitening toothpaste daily and also recommends using Crest Weekly Clean Intensive Cleaning Paste, $14.99, saying that "[It] is a good product that has heavy silica ingredients to brush stains away." 

Well, OK then, I'm willing to try anything once. Will let you know how it goes -- and also if I get mistaken for the sun again anytime soon. 

Do you whiten your teeth? What do you use?

WHY I AGREE THAT TEEN MAGAZINES HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO FEATURE REAL GIRLS

As a tween/teen back in the '80s, I was a semi-regular model for "Seventeen" magazine. I never made the cover or anything highfaluting like that, but they used me a lot for beauty shoots, exercise demos, fashion spreads, and the like. This, of course, was back when actresses acted and models modeled -- none of that crossover craziness had begun as of yet. 

This was also way before PhotoShop existed. (It was probably even before the dude at Adobe who invented PhotoShop existed.) But, for a teen magazine, that was probably a good thing. Girls from all around the country could look at us, the "models," and see that we were pretty much like the rest of them -- just with better lighting, and pro hair and makeup folks gussying us up behind the scenes. 

My how times have changed. These days, if you flip through a copy of "Seventeen" or "Teen Vogue" or any other glossy kids book, you'll be amazed at the photos staring back at you. The models on these pages are perfect with a capital PERFECT. Teeth, skin, boobs, hair -- every last detail of their physicality has been tweaked to the point of impossibility and, guess what? It's not sitting well with some readers. Especially not with 14-year-old Julia Bluhm from Maine who is so annoyed with all the airbrushing and altering in "Seventeen" magazine that she's launched a nationwide petition to put a stop to it. 

Bluhm's petition, titled, "Seventeen Magazine: Give Girls Images Of Real Girls!" is gaining loads of attention, as the eighth grader seeks to get the mag to "commit to printing one unaltered -- real -- photo spread per month." 

The 14-year-old, who is also a blogger for the activist site Sparksummit.com, writes in the petition that "those pretty women that we see in magazines are fake," adding, "They're often Photoshopped, airbrushed, edited to look thinner and to appear like they have perfect skin. A girl you see in a magazine probably looks a lot different in real life." And, she goes on to point out that, "Girls want to be accepted, appreciated, and liked. And when they don't fit the criteria, some girls like to fix themselves. This can lead to eating disorders, dieting, depression, and low self-esteem." 

Do you agree with Julia Bluhm? Should magazines showcase REAL girls or is using altered models and impossibly beautiful starlets all part of the aspirational intent of a magazine?

'Survivor' Exit Interview: Two Newest Jury Members Face the Music

No matter how many episodes of 'Survivor' you watch, the most exciting thing is that you can never predict what's going to happen. 

Last night's 11th episode in Nicaragua was a perfect example -- nothing went down the way it was supposed to. What happened and who went to join the three jury members at Ponderosa? Read on.

While we may have had a week off from the tribal drama to indulge in turkey and family dynamics, the castaways didn't (duh, because it was filmed months earlier) and when we re-joined them last night, things were none-too-cheery around camp. 

WARNING: SPOILER ALERT

Forget that they had hardly eaten in nearly a month, forget that their camp had been decimated by fire and then near floods, it was the incessant rain and cold that were really taking their toll on everyone, and two players in particular had really had enough. Na'Onka Mixon, 27, for all her bravado and smack talk and Kelly "Purple" Shinn, 20, the unassuming youngster of the tribe, threw in the towel. Right then and there. That's right, for the first time in Survivor history, TWO people quit at once.

Do they have any regrets? Are they riddled with shame? Do they feel like they let Jeff Probst down? We talked to Na from her native Los Angeles and Kelly from Hawaii (where she's still trying to get warm) to see what they had to say for themselves. Here's the scoop...

Gotta ask ... any regrets? Viewers were genuinely surprised that despite the urgings from Jeff and Jane and Holly, you decided to quit. How's that sitting with you now that you've had time to digest?

NaOnka: I do not regret my decision whatsoever. I knew that I couldn't second guess myself, that I had to be 100 percent secure in my decision. I played a hell of a game and I'm definitely one of the most memorable survivors for all my crazy antics. I'm nothing like that in real life but when you go and you play for a $1 million dollars, you have no idea what you'll do. It was a game and I was cast for a reason.

Kelly: I do not regret anything . I will stand by every decision that I did make - and I made a lot of them, even though they weren't shown on TV. I played with integrity and am proud of that.

Marty, Alina and Brenda were clearly disgusted that you'd thrown in the towel. What was it like arriving at Ponderosa for the first time? 

NaOnka: I was excited because there's a shower, bed, pillow, couch there -- there was real life there! I wasn't concerned about seeing Alina or Marty, but I was concerned about seeing Brenda because just the night before I'd stabbed my best friend in the back and I was concerned about her asking me "What were you thinking?" Brenda was always asking me "What were you thinking?" But, when we got there, she was standing there with cookies and Marty was there with wine ready to greet us. Seeing them outside of the game was refreshing but we had to be very mindful with the things we said because they still wanted to be in the game and we'd voluntarily [resigned].

Alina, wasn't around us for the first while, she was too sick about us having [quit]. I'd have been the same way.

For the first 5-6 episodes, we hardly heard you make a peep, Kelly. Were you really that quiet around camp or was it just the edit?

Kelly: It was definitely because of the edit. Although, I didn't act as a leader and, just like in my real life, I didn't want drama around me. My process was to not backstab, not be the leader, and not tick any body off and just fly under the radar. I definitely wasn't quiet though, I just didn't talk a lot about strategic stuff so maybe it wasn't interesting for TV.

Na, you certainly ruffled a lot of feathers and raised some ire with fans. What has the reaction on the street been to you? 

NaOnka: It's been funny. I get stared at and sometimes I get approached. The No. 1 question I get asked is 'why were you mean to the girl with the prosthetic leg?' All I can tell them is that it was a game for a million bucks and that it's TV and you don't know how you're going to play unless you do it.

Are you still a P.E. teacher?

NaOnka: Yes! I'm still at my school and you can tell all the haters that are trying to get me fired that it's not working!

In hindsight, how does it make you feel that a little old lady like Jane could muster the strength to stick it out and you couldn't?

Kelly: I think Jane is a great person, but it also takes a lot of willpower and she's been through some crazy things. She has this sappy story and whether it's true or not, who knows, but in the end when your physical health is on the line, you have to do what you have to do. But for her to outlast us in the challenges? She is just amazing.

Na: Yes! You can not judge a book by the cover. I thought that there must be something about her to get cast in the first place. When you first meet, there's -- how do I describe it? -- there's a glow about her. Before she opens her mouth you know that there's something amazing about her. I respect Jane.

Jeff Probst seemed to be genuinely disappointed that you guys threw in the towel. Is that the impression you got from him at Tribal?

NaOnka: He was actually really nice about it. He was nicer than we thought it would be. It seemed like he wanted to understand where we were coming from. And when he told us that we'd still be allowed to be on the jury, we could NOT believe it!

Kelly: Jeff is perfect for TV. He gets the drama stirred up between all of us. He seemed concerned about us. I think that he's a good person.

Kelly, you and Fabio seemed to be bonding more towards the end. Was getting to hang with him ever an incentive to keep you in the game? He's so cute?

Kelly: [Laughs] Did I want to stay because Fabio is such a babe? It was hard for me to look at anyone like that! I don't think he washed his clothes even one single time. He might be a beautiful hunk of burning love, but he went from a hunk, to looking like a homeless man! 

We shared a lot and especially the aspect that we were both young , we were just so close and could relate on a lot of levels. He's a great person. You know how they show me in that yellow jacket? That was his and even though he was freezing, he let me wear it for more than a week. He's really great.