We may sometimes complain about the hot weather in Singapore, but we still love the beach life.
Whether you’re going to a nearby beach resort, or you’re sticking around local shores, you’re not going to be ready for the harsh sunlight of the beach until you pack these things in your bag. After all, you don’t want to end your holiday with significantly worse skin, or accumulating sun damage that’s going to come back and bite you in the future!
1. Sunscreen for face and body
Obviously. No self-respecting list of beach essentials would miss out anything to do with SPF. Just remember that sun damage can happen even on cloudy, overcast days! Try to use a sunscreen nearer to SPF 50 and with PA+++ for best coverage.
Even if you’ve chosen a long-lasting or a water-resistant sunscreen, it’s still recommended to frequently re-apply as a lot of product can be rubbed off or washed off in a few hours.
Make sure both your face and body are adequately protected. Sunscreens specifically for the face tend to be lighter in texture, and so more comfortable for wear, but may also require more frequent re-application. For convenience, get a sunscreen that’s suitable for both face and body!
2. Bio-Oil for skin hydration
Did you know that after your skin gets burnt, it loses water even faster than normal skin? When it loses water, your skin can start to feel tight, uncomfortable, and even make the burning sensation even worse.
Enter Bio-Oil – wait, isn’t that for scarring and uneven skin tone?! It is, but did you know that Bio-Oil is also a great product to hydrate your skin?
Bio-Oil contains a super nutritious cocktail of Vitamins A and E, and natural plant oils. Calendula oil even stimulates skin cell regeneration, so it helps replace any damage that’s been caused by the sun. The breakthrough ingredient PurCellin Oil™ ensures that all the goodness in Bio-Oil is quickly absorbed into the skin without leaving any sticky residue. Lavender and Chamomile further hydrates and soothes skin, relieving it from any tightness – making it a great after-sun care product to have.
As an oil, it is also more effective than regular lotion to seal in moisture in your skin and prevent it from being lost as the sun blazes on you.
Bio-Oil is available at all leading pharmacies, personal care stores and selected hospitals. It retails for:
- Bio-Oil 60ml: SGD 15.50
- Bio-Oil 125ml: SGD 25.90
- Bio-Oil 200ml: SGD 35.90
Click here to find out how you can win a bottle of Bio-Oil for yourself!
3. Sunglasses for eye protection
All right, you’re protected against the sun on your face and body – but did you forget your peepers? After all, sunlight is always entering your eyes, and even more so when you’re around a lot of light-reflecting surfaces like water and sand! It’s a known scientific fact that UV is harmful to your eyes on a long-term basis, and on a cosmetic note, you don’t want to get lines around your eyes from squinting too much either.
According to Mayo Clinic, a reputable health database from the USA, you should be choosing sunglasses that can:
- Block 99 to 100 percent of both UVA and UVB rays
- Screen out 75 to 90 percent of visible light
- Have lenses that are perfectly matched in colour, free of distortions and imperfections
- Have lenses that are grey for proper colour recognition
On top of that, you can consider getting polarised sunglasses, which will cut reflected glare entering into the eyes. Instead of dimming the intensity of light entering your eyes, it cuts out glare so that your world still looks true to life without all the damage to your retina! Don’t believe us? Try out the polarised glasses at your optician’s.
4. Lip balm with SPF for lip protection
Lips are another commonly forgotten part to protect against sun damage. Did you know that the skin on your lips are thinner than the skin on the rest of your body? Furthermore, they also have no melanin, which are the pigments in your skin that gives it its colour, and also serves as an additional barrier against sun damage. All in all, it should come as no surprise that the sun can do some pretty severe damage to your lips too.
It’s a good habit to always wear at least a colourless lip balm with SPF 15 or higher, especially if you’re going to be exposed to the sun for a long period of time. If you really need some colour in your lips, go for a tinted lip balm with SPF 15 or higher, or a straight-up opaque lip stick. Avoid high-shine lip gloss with little to no colour in them, as they actually focus the sun’s rays on to your lips without offering any protection.
5. Waterproof eye makeup
All right, you’ve got all your sun protection lined up and you’re armed and ready to go out for a day in the sun! If this also involves water, and you like to have at least a bit of makeup on so you’d look perfect in beach photos, then you probably also need to make sure you have an artillery of great waterproof eye makeup. You don’t want to go into the pool looking like a princess, and emerge looking like a panda!
6. Waterproof lippies
If you absolutely need a burst of colour on your lip, go for something opaque that would also help a little in blocking out the damaging sun rays. Lipsticks don’t really have as bad a problem with smudging as eyeliner does, since a lot of them are oil-based anyway which would naturally repel water. Nevertheless, go for something that is really budge-proof if you don’t want a problem with unsightly feathering, or colours moving around.
7. Mineral water facial mist
It’s hot, you’re sweaty, and you’re in a desperate need of some refreshing coolness on your face. Pack a bottle of your favourite mineral water facial mist with you for that delicious spritz of coolness when the sun is at its peak. Not only does it calm down hot and irritated skin, its rich amount of minerals can also be absorbed into the outer skin layer which may help with increasing its defences against environmental damage.
This article is brought to you by Bio-Oil.
