Keep your cool during this week’s heatwave with these beauty heroes …
The sun’s gorgeous, but this week we definitely need to cover up, put on the suncream (be sure to re-apply if you’re out in it all day) and watch those shoulders and backs. Bright red skin is NOT the precursor to a lovely tan – it’s skin damage, pure and simple.
Here are some cool beauty heroes to help take your temperature down …
Spritzing
Keep a spray bottle everywhere – bag, pocket, desk, sports bag, bedside table. It’s the quickest way to cool down, if you’re not near a freezer full of icecubes. The menopausal among us will have already cottoned on to this trick. I use all and every brand, from bog-standard pharmacy ones to posher, skin-treating versions like L’Occitane’s Immortelle Precieuse Essential Face Mist (so gently fragrant!) and Venn’s Synbiotic Defence Mist (from €37 at SpaceNK – an “essence” with probiotic ferments to help balance the skin’s microbiome, and niacinamide in there too).
Gel creams
On a day like today, the priority is your skin protection. But to moisturise first thing, and at the end of the day, a lighter, more gel formula is the most refreshing way to go. I recently came across this Finnish brand, Lumene (stocked online at M&S). Lumene’s Nordic Hydra Water Gel is as coolly refreshing as it looks, packing moisture into the skin weightlessly with Nordic birch sap and arctic spring water. €24; refills €20.90 from www.lumene.com.
Cologne fresh
Many of us turn to colognes on warm days – something fresh and endlessly re-sprayable to keep giving us lifts when our attention is flagging and we’re hitting that after-lunch slump. Jo Malone London English Pear & Freesia works – so do Hermès colognes, such as Citron Noir, in its beautiful ink-blue bottle (€106, at Brown Thomas). More affordably, the lovely Caudalie Eau Fraiche line, €29, at pharmacies – unusually for a collection, all of them smell great.
Cool air
The dream? The Dyson Purifier Cool, a quiet, efficient air-purifier with a sensor, both cleans the air and cools it – you can even have it on at night time, with an extra-quiet mode. If you – or the dog – are in need of some instant heat-relief, this is the (investment) answer; it’s especially good for anyone struggling with hayfever or asthma, as its sensor is constantly monitoring the air and deleting the pollutants it finds. €549 at www.dyson.ie (free delivery); NB don’t forget to check the Dyson Outlet part of the website, for refurbished models, including fans.
