As mentioned in my last post, I just returned from a week-long vacation in Mexico. We’ve been to Mexico a few times but always in the fall/winter when the temperatures were in the high 20’s, very low 30’s at most. Having never been in May before, I was completely unprepared for the heat, as well as the humidity. There were days where it hit 85%, it was ridiculous.
When I’m on vacation, especially a beach vacation, I like to keep my beauty routine as simple as possible, for multiple reasons. Firstly, it’s just less work to pack light overall, second it means less of a chance of something leaking or spilling and saturating clothing in my suitcase (been there, dealt with that a few times), and lastly I typically just don’t want to spend a lot of time doing my hair and makeup when there’s better things to do like lying on the beach. 🙂
During the day, when I’m at the pool or beach I tend to stick to a good facial sunscreen, body sunscreen, waterproof mascara, and SPF lip balm. Mascara probably isn’t necessary but because I’m so fair in skin and hair, I feel naked without it. Below are the products I used during the day:
Facial Sunscreen – Peter Thomas Roth Max Sheer All Day Moisture Defence Lotion with SPF 30 ($42 CAD)
I received a deluxe sample of this sunscreen at Sephora a few years ago and have been using it ever since. The thing I like about it is that it’s a sunscreen and moisturizer in one. It’s oil-free, and contains aloe, and vitamins A, C & E and pro-vitamin B5. Typically I find it works quite well for me but on this trip I found it to be a little greasy and it took a really long time to absorb into my skin. Normally it does take a while but it took extra long this time around and I’m thinking that had something to do with the ridiculous humidity in our room and outside of it. On the positive side this doesn’t cause breakouts for me which I’m typically prone to when using sunscreen. I should clarify that I ONLY use this while on vacation – there’s no way I could use this as my every day moisturizer as it’s way too greasy for that. On vacation when it’s the only thing I put on my face during the day, it works well but I can’t imagine trying to apply foundation overtop of this. The other thing I don’t like is that, like many other PTR products, this has parabens in it. The last time I purchased this it came in a PTR gift set with a handful of other products so I’ve never actually purchased this on its own. Not sure if I will once I finish this up, it’s quite expensive and I feel like I may be able to find something that works just as well, if not better.
Waterproof Mascara – L’Oreal Waterproof Voluminous Carbon Black (approx. $5-10 CAD, depending on retailer)
For years I used the non-waterproof version of this mascara for years and I loved it. I still do love it actually, I’ve never had any mascara make my lashes look as full and lush as this can. However, lately I find that any L’Oreal mascara flakes and rubs off under my eyes halfway through the day which is super disappointing. I’m not sure if they changed their formula or what but it no longer works for me. I thought I’d give the waterproof version a try to see if it would work any better. Sadly, it didn’t. This is most definitely NOT a waterproof formula. I had racoon eyes after a few hours of wear and it flaked off like crazy. I made the mistake of not removing it before hopping in the shower one day and I came out looking like Alice Cooper. Would not recommend this one unfortunately.
SPF Lip Balm – Sun Bum SPF 30 Coconut Lip Balm ($3.99 USD)
I never realized the importance of lip balm with SPF in it until a few years ago. We were in Jamaica and I was in the pool all day, lounging on a raft with my face upturned to the sun (stupid, I know). By the time I got back to our room, my lips were swollen to twice their size and extremely sore. It took me a while to figure out that I had, in fact burned them and since then I always pack and use a lip balm with SPF. Last year I was in Vegas at the Flip Flop Shop (LOVE this place BTW) and they were selling these Sun Bum Lip Balms. I picked up the Coconut flavoured one and kind of forgot about it. I found this buried in my drawer when packing for Mexico and threw it in my makeup bag. Little did I know how much I’d love it! First off, it smells AMAZING! I could literally eat it, it smells so good. It contains cocoa butter, vitamin E, and aloe so it’s super moisturizing. I loved that it never gave my lips a white tinge, as some lip balms with SPF can do. The bad thing is these seem to be difficult to find in Canada. Their website only ships to the States (boo!) so the next time I”m in the States I’ll be stocking up on these for sure.
Sunscreen – Hawaiian Tropic Sheer Touch Ultra Radiance Lotion SPF 30 ($9-$12 CAD, depending on retailer)
Prior to our trip, I purchased a tube of Neutrogena’s Ultra Sheer Dry Touch Sunscreen and Loreal’s Sublime Sun Silky Sheer SPF 30. I’d heard good reviews on both of these but unfortunately I wasn’t impressed by either of them. Both were fine as long as I didn’t go in the water after applying them. Once I did, my skin turned white and the sunscreen melted off. They both stated they were waterproof and I waited at least an hour for them to absorb before entering the water. We spent a lot of time in the water so having a waterproof sunscreen was super important. L’Oreal’s version had a very strong perfume smell to it that I wasn’t fond of – it reminded me to Revlon’s Outrageous shampoo that I used back when I was in junior high (do they still make this?). Personally I won’t be re-purchasing either of these.
Turns out I didn’t purchase enough sunscreen to last our entire trip so I ended up having to purchase another bottle for an exorbitant price at the gift shop. Their selection was limited to Hawaiian Tropic so we picked up the Sheer Touch Ultra Radiance Lotion. I was so impressed with this – it absorbed quickly, didn’t rinse off in the water, added no white cast to my skin, and had a really lovely scent (coconut – smells like vacation!) That’s why I was so disappointed to read THIS about it when I returned home. Apparently it received the worst possible score on UVA protection. 😦 Guess I should start searching for a replacement.
I was going to include all the products I used on my vacation but this list is getting quite long so I’ve decided to break into two parts. In my next post I’ll talk about the products I used in the evening.
Thanks for reading and have a fantastic weekend!
Classic Maggie 