Beach Beauty Essentials and Link Up

It's not long now until our summer holiday in Greece and I've been buying a few luxury beauty items in readiness, as well as attempting to keep the list pared back. Here are my tried and trusted tips, plus what I've bought and why.

My top 10 beauty tips for a summer beach holiday

1. Make sure you take enough SPF with you. Of course you can buy it wherever you go, but it's usually nearly twice the price, and often they won't have the exact formulation or brand you want.
2.  I was a bit late in insisting to myself that I would always use SPF50 on my face. But it's never too late. I use Vichy or La-Roche Posay.
3. If you do use SP50 on your face, you'll need a fake tan or bronzer to avoid a mismatched physog. I like Dove's. See my review here.
4. Retailers often have special promotions where they give away boxes or bags filled with generous samples if you meet a threshold spend:  Marks and Spencer, John Lewis, Look Fantastic, for example.  These are great to stockpile for holidays. 
5. A lot of articles talk about letting your natural glow show, and wearing just tinted moisturizers or BB creams. If your skin is flawless, go ahead, but if like mine it's a bit pigmented or prone to redness or irritation after a day in the sun, you might want a foundation for the evening. 
6. Take advantage of candlelight and sunset evenings by wearing a blusher or eyeshadow in peachy or pink colours with some shimmer or glitter.
7. Hair gets tough treatment on holiday so I always take a good conditioner - don't rely on the shampoo and conditioners given away in hotels.
8. Your skin can start to turn into a handbag so take a rich body lotion/cream. Same for lips - use an SPF lip balm. 
9. Save money by doing your own manicure/pedicure and taking a bottle of the nail polish with you, so you can touch up chips.
10. I also save money by using a pack of disposable razors, Not very eco friendly I know but I would never go to a salon for waxing or sugaring, and I refuse to pay vast sums to Gillette for blades.

My holiday splurges

I love getting ready for the evening, after a sticky day out in the sun, so I like to experiment with a few new products I've got a Charlotte Tilbury Beach Stick to use as a blusher. It's a shimmery pale peach colour, very subtle, but will look great on slightly tanned skin.  Several months ago I bought her Bar of Gold Palette which I will be using for the first time.  And I also bought the eyeshadow cream, Eyes to Mesmerise in star gold (in top pic). 

The hyaluronic acid from Evolve in the picture above will be coming with me:  it was in the John Lewis Holiday box, as was the Bobbie Brown cream eyeshadow stick.

I like a pale nail polish which goes with everything. This year I have OPI's Kyoto Pearl. 

For eyes, I bought Guerlain's liquid eyeliner in Brun Cendre, which has a proper brush - much easier to use than pens I find. As for mascara......

Is this the worst mascara ever?

Apologies to YSL, but their Vinyl Couture mascara in green is one of the worst mascaras I've ever used. It's in a beautiful case, and I love to use a green, purple or blue mascara on holiday and have never had problems with their mascaras before. But this one - well, I had green panda eyes in just a few hours, on the first wear! And the mascara effect was negligible: with one coat, my lashes didn't look much different. 

A final finishing touch

I like to have a light natural tan and for the evening I enhance it with one of the body creams you can buy that has shimmer and a little extra colour.  The best one I ever had was from Helena Rubinstein, sadly no longer available in the UK.  This year I have Charlotte Tilbury's Super Model Body which is said to "visibly slimmer, shimmer, shape, hydrate and glow."  To be honest dear reader, I think it's a bit over hyped, particularly for £30.  And the scent is a little peculiar. But it might look better once my limbs are tanned.

Disclosure: no products were gifted

Staying with the holiday theme, last week's most clicked post was Should I Still Wear a Bikini if I'm Over 50? by Michelle at Fifty and Fab.