Are there really skin care products that I buy specifically for summer vacations? absolutely. (Though some of them do double duty for active winter vacations, too).
With so much to take care of for everyone else we moms often forget to look after ourselves. But on a family vacation, looking and feeling our best helps us to relax and enjoy our downtime, too . And if we can do that without a lot of fuss or expense, awesome!
Here is list of skin care essentials for women (and moms in particular) that are made for summer vacation. They’re all easy to pack and some offer time-saving shortcuts. So you can get out and enjoy more fun with your family without any fuss.
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Strong Sunscreen That Isn’t Heavy
I’ve discovered it’s hard to find a daily moisturizer with a reef-save mineral sunscreen and an SPF 30 that isn’t tinted. I think this is because it’s hard to get an SPF of 45 or 50 that isn’t at least a little chalky.
So for day-to-day life I’ve started using Native’s Hydrating serum with a mineral sunblock and SPF 30. It blends in very easily and has vitamins B and C plus other regenerative ingredients.
When I’ll be outdoors all day and need a bit more sun protection I turn to Derma e for its Skin Brightening Face Cream with SPF 45. It’s not as weightless as the label claims. But it’s lighter than other high-SPF moisturizers I’ve tried and it will does soak in without a white residue.
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A 3-in-1 Moisturizer To Speed You On Your Way
When I travel I love a tinted moisturizer with sunscreen. It combines three steps into one, which saves time and space in your toiletry bag.
The best one I’ve found yet is mineral-based Block Star from Bliss. It has an SPF of 30.
It’s fairly light, goes on easily and isn’t chalky at all.
I pack it for city vacations and work-related travel. In other words, situations where I’m outside enough that I need sun protection, but I also want to wear a little-make-up.
Get Your Tan Before You Go
Even while you’re staying sun-safe, it’s still nice to look a little tan on vacation. So some of my readers are just faking it before they go with Beauty By Earth self-tanning lotion.
It has a lot of natural ingredients mixed in with the tanning agent and comes in lighter or darker shade
I like this two-pack because you can pack the smaller tube in your carry-on to reapply it on longer trips.
As handy as this is for summer vacations, I really love self-tanners for beach getaways in winter, when I’m as pale as can be.
Easy After-Sun Care
Wind, sun, surf and sand can leave your skin feeling a dry and even a bit chafed at the end of a beach day, even if you aren’t sunburned.
This Sun Bum Cool Down Spray has cooling cucumber, soothing aloe and chamomile and moisturizing sunflower seed oil.
You can spray it all over for post-beach skin relief in seconds. And if you are sunburned it’s nice to not have to rub anything in (ouch!).
Summer Lip Care
Another great reader pick coconut-scented tinted lip balm from Sun Bum.
It has SPF 15 and comes in 4 colors to suit several different complexions.
It gets high marks for the beachy smell and for keeping lips moist and sun-protected all day.
I was a little distraught when Babo stopped making its tinted lip balms with sunscreen. But I got over it, moved on and tried Coola’s Tinted Lip Balm with SPF 30 earlier this summer.
I like it even better than Babo’s! It feels as creamy as a regular a lipstick and gives your lips real color, not just a light tint.
The color I chose, Firecracker, is more pink and less red than the case would suggest. I didn’t mind that, but it’s good to know ahead of time. There are other summery shades of pink, and a nude stick if you really just want the sun protection.
Bath Items Made For Travel
1. Dry shampoos from brands like OGX and Not Your Mother’s let you bypass your morning blow-dry on vacation and still look good.
You spray it on your hair and work it through to remove excess oil and add volume back.
OGX’s has Argan oil, making it a good option if your hair tends to be dry.
Not Your Mother’s offers a few options, including one made with natural tapica powder, one with a beachy coconut scent and one that gives your hair extra body.
Tip: Go for the roots mostly. And be careful of using too much on your ends; it can dry them out.
Replace Bottles With Bars
Those 3-oz bottles you can bring on an airplane will not get you through a 1-week vacation. And even if you check luggage, large shampoo and conditioner bottles are heavy.
So I’ve been eschewing liquids altogether and opting for a solid shampoo bar like the Honey Meadow bar made by the Naturalist Store, with its own travel tin.
It’s lighter than a large bottle of liquid and you can keep it in your carry-on.
Pair it with Beauty and the Bees’ Voodoo conditioner bar (left).
If you really want to save you can try a combined shampoo and body bar from Saphus.
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