The Ultimate Guide To Holiday Skincare: Sun, Sea, And Self-Care

You’ve just come back from an unforgettable holiday filled with sun-soaked days, salty ocean breeze and late-night parties. While those memories are priceless, your skin may be telling a slightly different story. Sunburns, dryness, breakouts and fatigue can take a toll on your complexion. But don’t worry, because, in this post, I am going to talk about holiday skincare.

I will go through how I care for my skin during and after the holidays, I will reveal what I carry on my holiday skincare kit and how I pamper my skin after my return.

So relax, and let’s dive into the world of holiday skincare because taking care of your skin should be as easy and enjoyable as sipping a pina colada by the sea.

Basic Holiday Skincare

During our holiday we don’t want a never-ending skincare regime with 10 steps. However, it is during this period that our skin suffers more. During holidays, our eating and sleeping patterns change, we are exposed to sun, wind, sea salt, swimming pool chemicals, etc. We MUST take care of our skin.

I try to keep my holiday skincare routine as basic and minimalist as possible. Normally, I only take the very basic steps and try to use the same products morning and night (to avoid carrying lots of products). I focus my routine on the three basics: cleansing, moisturising and protecting.

Cleansing Holiday Skincare

I don’t use makeup during holidays (my skin needs also a break). Therefore, I don’t need the double cleanse when I am away.

During holidays, I cleanse my skin twice a day, morning and night, using a gentle water-based cleanser. The one I am using now is the Simple Refreshing Facial Wash Gel. This is an affordable cleanser that provides amazing results. The product is available in different sizes, including a travel-size version, which is the one I use. It is very handy to carry with you even if you fly.

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Moisturising

My skin is normally dry, but during holidays, it becomes drier than normal. This is a direct consequence of sun exposure, breeze, sea salt, etc. I like to keep my hydration levels high. To achieve that, I apply a thick moisturiser twice a day.

I use one product for the eye area and another for the rest of my face. My eye area is more delicate and soft and therefore, it deserves special care. Normally I use a ceramide cream during my morning routine and a retinol cream in the night. During holidays, I like to discontinue the use of retinol. Therefore, I use the ceramide eye cream morning and night (I found ceramides work really well on my skin).

The product I am using at the moment is the Revuele Ceramide Eye Cream. Revuele is a really affordable brand and their products are amazing.

For the rest of my face, I apply The Body Shop Vitamin E Cream Moisturiser. This cream not only moisturises my skin but also acts as an anti-oxidant thanks to the vitamin E contained in the formula.

Protecting

This is one step which I include only in the morning routine. I MUST protect my skin from harmful sun radiation daily (my skin is prone to hyperpigmentation). Well, not only do I protect it daily but a few times during the day.

Just after my moisturiser, I apply sunscreen. I use different brands as I am looking for the ideal sunscreen. At this moment, I am using Biore UV Aqua Water Essence Sunscreen. It is a quite new release. This is a moisturising sunscreen which doesn’t leave a white cast on my skin.

I like to reapply the sunscreen every two hours. For the re-application, I normally use a spray sunscreen which I can wear on top of my makeup. During holidays, that is not always convenient. Sometimes it is windy and under these conditions, it is difficult to apply a spay.

In this case, I prefer to use a stick of sunscreen. Stick sunscreens are easy to carry without making a mess in your bag and are easy to apply even in windy weather. The one I am using now is the Isntree Hyaluronic Acid Airy Sun Stick. I love this sunscreen because I feel my skin hydrated after application.

It is also important to protect the lips. The lips are a very delicate area which most of the time we forget to protect. I also apply sunscreen on my lips. I am using Apivita Cocoa Butter Protective Lip Balm SPF 20 as a lip protector. This product protects my lips against wind and sun, preventing them from getting dry and cracked. It feels nice on my lips and doesn’t have any taste.

How does my skin feel after the holidays?

Even if you have been doing a holiday skincare routine, your skin suffers during this time. You change your skincare habits, eating and sleeping patterns, and all of that together affect incredibly your skin. As a consequence, your skin may show the following:

Appears rough and with less elasticity
Looks less brighten
Feels tight
Wrinkles and fine lines are more visible
Hyperpigmented areas increase
Appears acne breakout

And that is only the visible part. Your skin may be also suffering non-visible damage, the oxidative stress, caused by UV radiation.

The post-holiday skincare

First of all, as soon as you can, re-start your usual skincare regime. Come back to your normal healthy diet and sleeping pattern. That will help your skin to recover. However, there is an emergency treatment which will make your skin look radiant and luminous again. That involves a few steps:

Cleanse

Make a deep cleanse of your skin. After coming back from holidays, re-take the habit of double cleansing your skin at least once a day. Use an oil-based cleanser followed by a water-based one. Try to choose a cleanser with hygroscopic ingredients (like hyaluronic acid or glycerine) and occlusive (like squalene).

Exfoliate

Exfoliation is a good complement to cleansing. Most probably during holidays, you may skip the exfoliation. Consequently, dead cells may be accumulated on your skin. It is important to remove them.

I like to exfoliate my skin the day after I come back from holidays. From that point, I re-take my exfoliation schedule, which will depend on your skin type and condition. I also recommend the use of an enzymatic or chemical scrub better than a physical one. Your skin may be dry and a physical scrub can damage it.

I love the Wishful Yo Glow AHA&BHA Face Enzyme Scrub.

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Treat

After coming back from holidays, I apply a face mask daily for 3-4 days. I try to apply masks with different properties like brightening, cleansing, moisturising and soothing.

Moisturise

Keeping your skin hydrated is the most important step of the skin recovery process. Apply your usual eye cream, day cream and night cream. During a few nights after coming back, I like to apply a hydrating overnight mask or facial oil to give extra hydration to my skin.

In conclusion, taking care of your skin during and after the holidays is not just about looking great. It’s about feeling great too. With some extra TLC and a few easy tricks, you can keep your skin looking healthy. So, remember to hydrate, protect and pamper your skin. Treat it with love and it will reward you with a healthy complexion that is ready for whatever adventures lie ahead.