The Beauty Diary by Beck Sullivan: The summer skin survival guide
Holidays are all about sun, sweat and salt water meaning our skin can take a beating at this time of year. Here are 10 products to help keep you glowy on your last few days off work for the year.
The week between Christmas and New Years is such a weird blur.
Routine completely goes out the window and all sense of order is recklessly abandoned.
No one knows what day it is, the only vegetables we’ve eaten have been roasted in duck fat and our Netflix recommendations are completely stuffed up thanks to all those terrifically terrible Christmas movies we’ve been bingeing all week.
Maintaining any sort of beauty routine at this time of year is such hard work. Wearing makeup feels like a chore.
It’s so liberating to just roll out of bed, slather on some sunscreen and spend all day eating and drinking in the sun, near a cool body of water.
So before we all have to squeeze our Christmas bodies back into work-appropriate clothes, here are some holiday-friendly beauty products to help protect your skin while you enjoy the last few days of freedom.
Missed last week’s column? We reviewed the $70 cult face mask Instagram is obsessed with.
ULTRACEUTICALS ULTRA UV PROTECTIVE DAILY MOISTURISER SPF 50 +
Price: $79
Available from: Ultraceuticals online, David Jones
You can get plenty of great cheap sunscreens from supermarket brands such as Cetaphil, Neutrogena and Invisible Zinc, but sometimes it’s nice to treat yourself with an expensive SPF.
All of Ultraceuticals’ sunscreen products are fantastic, but this is the most versatile.
Here’s my excuse to justify the expense: My theory is that by protecting your skin properly, you’re saving money on expensive serums and in-salon treatments to fix lines and pigmentation caused by sun damage.
The sun is the biggest cause of ageing, so if you’re worried about that you should think about investing in the best sunscreen you can afford.
DERMALOGICA PROTECTION 50 SPORT 50 PLUS SUNSCREEN
Price: $53.50
Available from: Dermalogica, Adore Beauty, David Jones
When it comes to sunscreens, don’t bother with anything less than SPF 50.
This is how SPF works. SPF 15 protects against 93 per cent of UV rays, while SPF 30 blocks 97 per cent and SPF 50 blocks 98 per cent.
One way of looking at this is that SPF 50 only gives you five per cent more protection than SPF 15. Or, you could argue SPF 15 allows seven per cent of UV rays through, while SPF 50 lets through two per cent. But at the end of the day, SPF gives the most protection so we should all be using that.
It’s especially important to slather your neck and chest in sunscreen, because these areas age faster than the face. And no one wants a sunburnt, wrinkly décolletage!
DERMALOGICA DAILY SUPERFOLIANT
Price: $29 for 13g travel size, $87.50 for 57g
Available from: Dermalogica, Mecca stores, Adore Beauty, David Jones
Normally we should exfoliate once or twice a week, but somehow on holidays I feel like exfoliating everyday. All that sweat, salt water, chlorine and sunscreen clogs my pores and cleansing normally doesn’t seem to properly clean everything out.
This chemical and physical exfoliant is a fine, dry grey powder that you mix with a tiny bit of water to create a wet, lightly gritty paste. It contains AHAs and enzymes to get rid of dead skin cells, charcoal clears out your pores and niacinamide calms redness and breakouts.
After use the skin appears smoother, brighter and some pigmentation, freckles and sun spots have reduced.
CAUDALIE BEAUTY ELIXIR
Price: $24 for 30ml, $76 for 100ml
Available from: Sephora
There’s nothing I love more in summer than mooching around doing absolutely nothing, except for occasionally spraying my face with an overpriced, fancy hydrating mist.
Really, any spray from Sukin or Mario Badescu will do the job. But there’s something incredibly obnoxious about excessively spraying bougie water everywhere multiple times a day.
Try it — it’s super fun.
LANCOME FLASH BRONZER SELF TANNING FACE GEL
Price: $75
Available from: lancome.com.au
I don’t personally use fake tan, but the women in my life do. They have been raving non-stop about this gradual gel face tanner and demanded it be included in this column as a public service announcement.
It contains a self tanning agent and moisturiser to help you achieve a natural glow in about an hour. Apparently it’s fantastic on days when you don’t want to wear makeup, because it gives you a tan and some vague coverage.
RMS LUMINISER X QUAD
Price: $70
Available from: Mecca stores
Putting on makeup to go out feels like such a battle at the moment. But this quad is perfect for looking like you made an effort, when you actually didn’t.
The dewy, blendable shades can be used on eyes, cheekbones and other high points of the face to create a pretty shimmer effect.
FACE HALO
Price: $30 for a packet of three
Available from: facehalo.com, Priceline, Myer
Taking off your makeup when it’s midnight and you’ve had about 20 Aperol spritzers is hard. But it’s still necessary.
These little reusable microfibre towels get rid of all thick face makeup with only water. Yes, really.
In an ideal world, you would then properly cleanse your face again with your normal cleanser to actually clean your pores. But if you’re super lazy, the most important thing is getting the makeup off first.
Chuck your dirty Face Halo in the washing machine with your towels or hand wash it with soap or shampoo.
THE OUAI HAIR OIL
Price: $43
Available from: Sephora
When you’re swimming everyday, there seems little point in washing your hair when it’s just going to get dirty again in less than 12 hours.
But a good way to keep your hair protected against drying chlorine and sea water is to lather it in hair oil or a hair mask before you enter the water.
The oil acts as a barrier so it’s harder for the gross stuff to penetrate. This one from Jen Atkin’s very cool line of hair products smells like frangipanis.
PAUL MITCHELL KERATIN INTENSIVE TREATMENT
Price: $35
Available from: Hair salons and specialty hair stores, Oz Hair & Beauty, Hairhouse Warehouse
This is the best hair mask ever. It’s fantastic for dry and dehydrated hair.
I normally use it after shampooing and before conditioner, but you can use it on dry hair to prevent your ends from splitting and becoming crunchy from all that sun and sea salt.
SLIP SCRUNCHIES
Price: $45 for a pack of three
Available from: Sephora, slip.com.au
Scrunchies are officially back and my Year 5 self is here for it. This trend used to annoy me, but then I discovered how a scrunchie is the key to making a simple lazy low bun look super chic.
This actually works best on wet hair, so like all those magazines used to say, this look will literally take you from beach to bar.
Step 1. Tie your hair in a ponytail with a normal hair elastic.
Step 2: Plait the ponytail.
Step 3. Wrap the plaint around the hair elastic to create a Princess Leia-esque bun at the back of your head, then secure with a scrunchie.
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