Facial suncare
Gone are the days of just slapping on a bit of your bottle of sunscreen onto your face. If you really care about your skin, then you should invest in a tube or two of dedicated facial suncare when you head off on your holidays. You should probably wear an SPF daily anyway, to keep ageing at bay – those UVA rays are harmful too!
It’s the UVB rays that burn, so when you are heading to the beach, remember to take suncare that protects from UVA and UVB.
If you use an expensive moisturiser, why would you slap some cheap sunscreen on your face? Doesn’t make any sense, does it? So, here are a few recommendations on facial suncare and SPF products for home and away this summer, and for the rest of trhe year in some cases.
Let’s start with Chanel’s UVEssentiel Daily UV Care Multi Protection SPF30 (£41, boots.com). This one protects against those UVA rays as well as the harmful UVB rays. It is a light liquid, and it disappears into your skin – no white smears with this. It is also anti-pollution, so great for city dwellers in the summer heat.
Creme de la Mer’s The Reparative Face Sun Lotion SPF 30 (£90, cremedelamer.co.uk) helps to shield the face from harmful UV rays to help prevent the appearance of lines, wrinkles and age spots and renew the appearance of existing damage. It smells heavenly, and goes on beautifully, but I would worry about using all of the 50ml bottle on a week’s holiday and needing another! Remember these are sunscreens, so you do need to reapply. As much as this cream feels so good you feel as though you don’t need a moisturiser, you must reapply! Only if you have the budget, this one.
Vita Liberata, my favoured fake tan brand this year, has recently launched suncare too – and this one is a Dry Oil Serum (£25, vitaliberata.co.uk). With Passionflower and Argan Oil, this serum is not at all oily, and an interesting innovation in facial suncare. But, again, you might need more than just the one little 30ml bottle for a fortnight’s break. Don’t forget to reapply!
Bobbi Brown’s Protective Face Lotion SPF15 (£35.50, bobbibrown.co.uk) has vitamin E and chamomile, smells beautiful, and sinks into the skin. Lovely. But I would suggest keeping this one for home use, rather than holiday. Even if you tan, SPF15 isn’t that high for the face. Remember – tanning ages the skin!
Piz Buin Ultra Light Dry Touch Face Fluid SPF30 (£8.49, superdrug.com) claims to dry and be absorbed instantly, and I can confrm that claim is true! This stuff is good. It’s not sticky, it smells lovely, it’s sweat and water-resistant. Reapply it often as well.
Clinique Face Cream SPF40 (£18, clinique.co.uk) is a classic facial sunscreen. I have to admit I am a huge fan of Clinique suncare. It works. Simple as that. It’s no frills, it’s not hugely expensive, it feels good, it goes on well and it keeps me safe from burning. I like SPF40+ on my face, but can find some 50 sunscreens too white. This solves my dilemmas. I take two tubes of this on a two week holiday to protect my skin.
Melvita ProSun High Protection Sunscreen SPF30 (£19, melvita.co.uk). Melvita are a gorgeous organic brand, and this is a lovely product. You need to renew this every two hours, and always after swimming. It’s enriched with oils from plants adapted to dry and extree climates, providing protection with mineral sunscreens from natueal origin. It cares for the skin as you use it.
Shiseido 50+ Wetforce Expert Sun Aging Protect Cream Plus (£30, feelunique.com) gives very high protection. It’s also very water-resistant. This innovativeprotective veil actually becomes even more effective when it comes into contact with water or perspiration. It has excellent skincare ingredients to prevent dryness, oxidation and damage to cells, and it smells fantastic. I would say this 50ml bottle would be good for a week or so. If you want complete protection on your face, go for this. It also comes in an SPF30 version.
Next week, body suncare…
