Summer is here! Yipeeee! If you’re like me, you couldn’t be happier to peel off the layers and bask in the heat and sometimes, the sun. Not on purpose, other than to dry off after swimming, as that feels heavenly and healing. Just getting around in our day to day lives exposes us to enough UV rays that we need to cover up with sunscreen all the time. As a habit and part of our grooming routine, sunscreen used  head to toe just makes good sense.

Body:

Cover your body before you get dressed, that way you won’t have any tan/burn lines around sleeves etc. Give special attention and apply a generous amount to chest and décolletage area, shoulders and arms. These areas are under constant UV assault, and the skin on your chest is thin and fragile. It should never burn! Vichy Bare Skin Feel Lotion SPF 60 is amazing – it applies beautifully and smoothly, sinking into the skin and feeling quite emollient and moisurizing as well as protectant.  I don’t really bother with anything under SPF 45 these days – does it matter? I think so. I have noticed that since upping my SPF to 45 and above and being diligent with timely application and reapplication, I have not burned once. My skin doesn’t really burn anyways, but we’ve all had that first-day-out-on-the-patio oopsie incidents. It’s easy to take the right precautions and prevent premature aging and use a sunscreen with a texture, smell and performance that you like so you will use it every day. Easy! I use it on my hands too, just before leaving the house. I’d actually love a small tube of this to be able to keep in my purse to use on my hands throughout the day. I drive a convertible and short of wearing driving gloves,  I want some heavy duty protection for my hands that are on the wheel in the gorgeous sunshine.

Face:

Hand’s down, Skinceuticals Physical Fusion UV Defence SPF 50 is the best facial sunscreen I have ever used. You can read my raves about it here. It does not irritate my sensitive acne prone skin, or make it break out, and leaves a lovely primed surface. It has a soft veil of tint that just adds a soft glow to the skin vs colour. It dries semi matte and stays put all day. I use it with Skinceuticals CE Ferulic – an antioxidant that delivers advanced protection against photoaging by neutralizing free radicals, boosting collagen synthesis, and providing unmatched antioxidant protection. That is a smart thing to do, apparently, and here is what Skinceuticals says about that:

“Studies show that people use only ¼ of the amount of sunscreen required to protect their skin. SkinCeuticals antioxidants are the essential extra layer; increasing skin’s photoprotection by 8x. And it only needs to be applied once a day in the morning. Once absorbed into the skin, it cannot be washed or rubbed off, remaining protective for up to 4 days; thus making them an excellent addition to sunscreens. “

I find they work beautifully together, with both adding extra protection my skin while improving it’s tone and feel. I highly recommend trying this combination. Your future face thanks you. Your future skin head to toe thanks you!

Here comes the sun….