Summer Skincare Essentials: How To Save Your Skin From The Sun | Matti May Hardie

by May - 9:56 PM

Hey all,

Hows you?

Summer is here and I’m so excited!! It means more sun, lighter hair, longer nights, shorter days, drinks get colder, skin gets darker… and that’s what I want to talk about today. Your skin. It’s all nice when you have your tan and you’re looking sassy as fuck, but what do you do if your skin starts to peel and you start getting wrinkles at 20? Okay so maybe I’m over-reacting, but there is no way I can express to you how freaking important taking care of your skin is not only in the summer but in the winter too, but mainly the summer because you’re exposed to the toxic rays of sun that are beating down onto your skin. Here are my skincare essentials and a few tips on how to maintain your tan and keep your skin looking tip top this summer.

Quick side-note: if you’re anything like me (i.e. a broke 15 year old), you’ll agree that when money comes your way, you’ll be damned if you ever spend it. However, please, I beg of you, if you want to spend your money on anything, spend it on skincare. Save up and have a real good splurge on a fancy counter like Clinique (my all time favourite high-end skincare brand). Not only will you feel better for it but you’ll have some amazing skincare products to keep you skin looking lovely. I tend to have high end stuff and drugstore stuff too, so I’ll put them both on the list.

Moisturiser

Here are a couple of my favourite moisturisers:

Clinique “Superdefense SPF 20” Daily Defense moisturiser (££)

It was my birthday not long ago and this was my present to myself. I had 20% off as a birthday treat at a high end make-up/skincare/perfume shop that’s at my local shopping centre so I went in there with Clinique on my mind. I’ve been using this for about 2 weeks and so far I’ve been in love with it. It’s good because it has an SPF in it so I don’t have to slather my face in sun cream every morning (which is something I hate doing with a passion). It’s super creamy and smells amazing

L’Oreal “Revitalift” Day and Night Moisturiser (£)

My Mum gave me this a while ago when I was annoying her about moisturiser. It works really well, it’s the perfect consistency for the summer.

Sun Cream

Sun cream is a majorly important part of your skincare in all seasons, but particularly in the summer. Sun cream helps to keep your sun protected from the UV rays from the sun and stops you from burning (don’t know why I’m explaining what sun cream does, not gonna lie). I would recommend buying products with SPF in them (foundation and moisturisers more particularly) but I know that some people don’t like wearing foundations that have SPF in them because you can sometimes look a little white and washed out on photos. In any case, you should have SPF on your face whether it’s in your make-up or sun cream/block.

For your face: I would recommend an SPF of minimum 15. Generally, that’s what most foundations have but some are higher or lower depending on the brand/product.

For your body: Any SPF is good for your body but I tend to use an SPF of 30 if I can because, as I always say, I don’t tan, I burn, the go back to being as white as I was before.

Fun Fact: SPFs that are over 30 don’t work better than an SPF 30. Does that make sense? Basically, if you use a factor 50, you might aswell be using a factor 30.

One cool thing I found is that you can buy tinted sun cream if you don’t want to have to buy and go through the hassle of fake tan, you can just buy that, plus, you won’t forget to put suncream on.

I use the Garnier “Ambre Solaire Protecting Milk and Anti-Dryness” sun cream that has an SPF 30.

Exfoliant

Whether you tan or you use fake tan, you’ll know that one of the worst parts about having any type of tan, real or fake, is the peeling and up-keep. Even though I’m about as pale as you can get without being an albino, even I know that exfoliating is a fucking pain. I’m actually quite lucky, because I only ever peel on the bottom half of my legs, but I still exfoliate everywhere because it’s super good for your skin, especially when you live in the south west of France and it can get as hot as 40° in some places and you’re sweating so much you feel like soon there isn’t going to be any liquid left in your body so you’re going to start sweating blood just to have something coming out of your pores (too far?). Because I’m poor and it’s so easy to make, I rarely buy exfoliants for my body. To make your own body exfoliant, just mix some honey or olive oil with some sugar (I’d recommend honey because the oily feeling that’s on your skin isn’t something I like too much, but then again, it’s up to personal choice).

For your face: I used to use the Clinique “7 Day” scrub cream that I feel in love with (so much that I used both my sample and my mum’s too! But since that ran out a while ago, I picked up the Neutrogena “Visibly Clear” exfoliating cleansing gel after I used it at my friend’s house. It leaves my skin feeling super soft after and it makes my skin feel super clean.

For your body: Like I said before, I make my own and I’ve never actually bought body exfoliant!

Side note about that, you can make a lip scrub really easily by mixing water and sugar. It tastes rank but when you have chapped lips it’s the best.

There we go! So, let’s recap: exfoliate, bitch! And SPF is bae. Thank you.

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