Get Summer Ready: Bronze Up Safely with SPF

What is the number one essential during summer? What is your number one priority to apply on your face and body before you leave the house? Or should be at least? Well, you guessed it right! Sunscreen or sunblock! Everybody is talking about how damaging the sun rays can be for your skin and that you should be safe under the sun and avoid it at specific hours that it can get more harmful for you. So, in order to be prepared for summer you need to stock up on sunscreens! And you need to toss away last year’s leftovers because they’re expired. Every sunscreen has got a label on it that indicates how long you can keep it for, and mostly that period is 12 months. Applying an expired sunscreen will not cause you any skin issues, however the SPF indicator just falls down to almost zero. So if you’ve got a sunscreen lotion that you opened last summer and it says it’s SPF 50, now that it’s expired it’s probably close to 10. Let’s dig in my picks for this summer the, shall we?

Face

It is important to protect your face from the sun all year long but especially in the summer you need to go for higher SPFs. My number one pick this summer has to be a new launch from Frezyderm and it’s their Color Velvet Face Cream SPF 50+. It is a tinted sunscreen and it’s nothing like anything I’ve tried before in the sun care department. Forget about thick oily creams that used to make your face sticky when you applied them and made your foundation routine a big chore. This is a mousse like consistency, it goes on like a dream and it provides you with 50+ protection from UVA and UVB rays. It helps with eliminating your pores and it works wonders as a primer under your foundation. It has a completely matte finish which lasts for hours and a second skin feel to it. It’s an amazing find and it provides me with enough coverage to walk makeup free at the beach! Another favourite from last year is the Bioderma Photoderm AKN MatSPF 30. This has a semi matte finish and most importantly it didn’t break me out as it is suitable for acne prone skins! I enjoyed it a lot last year and I’ll definitely wear it this summer as well. Another recommendation would be the Vichy Capital Soleil Tinted 50+ (although I've noticed that Vichy has reformulated their face sunscreens and they now have a matte finish, the link provided is from the new range and new packaging) which I purchased last year but didn’t open it. I’ve been testing it for a couple of weeks now and I like it a lot. It doesn’t have the Frezyderm one feeling, it's definitely thicker, but it provides slight coverage as well and it didn’t break me out. 

Body

All my picks for body sunscreen are from the drugstore because I believe that they make great products. First comes the Garnier Ambre Solaire Dry Mist with SPF 20. This comes in a can and it has finally made it possible for us to apply it on our backs without any help, as it works in a 360 angle as well! The sun protection is pretty low, so I will be wearing it a bit later in the summer when I’ll be quite tanned. Last year I fell in love with the Hawaiian Tropic Silk Hydration with SPF 30 and I purchased it again this summer. This one smells A M A Z I N G and it has got layers of moisturising lotion, so it moisturises your body while protecting it. I absolutely love this product and it wouldn’t be summer without it! I also use tanning oils in order to speed up and enhance my tan and this year I went for the new Carroten Islands Escape Dry Oil with SPF 10. I like it when they put SPF in oils because I feel that I’m protected while sunbathing. This one smells divine and it doesn’t feel sticky or oily at all. My fiancé also picked an oil for this summer. As most men do, he hates putting sunscreen on, even when I volunteer to apply it on him while massaging him, so he usually goes for oils as he really wants to get tanned. The Coppertone Tanning Oil with SPF 10 was his last year’s pick as well, and this is a repurchase as he enjoyed it a lot.

Hair

There aren’t many hair sun protection sprays at the drugstore, so I went for the trusted Carroten Hair and Shine spray. This one moisturises your hair as well as protecting it from the harmful UVA and UVB rays and it makes it sleek and shiny.

After Sun

I’ve included the L’oreal Solar Expertise Icy Protection After Sun but after a little bit of googling I realized that it’s not available in Greece any more. That’s a pitty, because, in my opinion, it really is one of the best and especially if you put it in the fridge and apply it directly after you take it out it gives you the most amazing soothing effect. Now for one that is readily available at the drugstore, and probably your best buy out there, the Hawaiian Tropic Silk Hydration After Sun, with aloe infused strips which put back the moisture to your skin and a smell of coconut and papaya. It also helps in maintaining and enhancing your tan. That’s a definite must have for this summer.

These are the sunscreens I’m gonna be using this year. What are your picks? Let me know in the comments below, I’d love to hear from you!

Georgina x x x