Summer beauty guide: How to look and feel your best in the sun
Sun exposure and higher temperatures mean your skin needs more care in the warmer months — here’s how to look good all summer long…
By Will Stroude
In partnership with Notino
To look your best in summer, tweak your skincare routine and stock up on body care products with special ingredients that will help maintain your youthful glow. And why not indulge yourself with a new fragrance, too?
CLEANSE AND MOISTURISE TWICE A DAY
Refreshing the face during the day with a splash of water is fine, but your skin needs more than that to stay clean in summer. As we sweat more in the heat, our complexion gets oilier, which can lead to clogged pores and blemished skin.
It is therefore vital to wash your face and body more than usual, using good-quality cleansing products that will preserve your skin’s natural barrier instead of making it dry and flaky.
During the warmer months, reach for a facial cleanser that contains moisturising ingredients such as hyaluronic acid to keep your skin hydrated while removing all the dirt and oil. And at least once a week, treat your face and body to a scrub treatment to get rid of dead skin cells and and deep-clean pores.
After cleansing, use a facial moisturiser and quality body cream. This will help to keep your skin well hydrated and will also help reduce fine lines and wrinkles.
If you have oily skin, don’t skip this step; this type of complexion needs moisturiser as much as drier skins. In fact, when dehydrated, oily skin can become more so! Water-based moisturisers are best for this skin type.
ALWAYS WEAR SPF
Sun protection is vital — even if it is cloudy. There is a wide range of men’s moisturising day creams and lotions that contain high SPF that won’t leave your skin sticky and oily and are great for everyday wear.
The same applies for hand care. Extra handwashing and anti-bacterial hand gels have left them flaky and cracked. Also, did you know that the skin on our hands ages much faster than that on our faces? Daily sun exposure can also cause our hands to age prematurely as the skin here has fewer sebaceous glands and is prone to dryness.
Choose a hand cream with SPF to protect your hands as well as help repair the skin.
HOW ABOUT PERFUME?
The classic rule of thumb for smelling good is fresh and citrussy colognes for summer and warm and spicy perfumes for winter. But there’s no need to blindly follow this, hiding your favourite oud scent away in a drawer until autumn.
The same goes for gendered scents. Men’s and women’s fragrance blends usually contain the same or very similar ingredients, so dive in and experiment. The only factor to keep in mind is that some perfumes will react differently according to skin pH, heat and sweating, and humidity.