Summer Skincare Series: August

It’s that time of year when everyone fits in a last-minute vacation before heading back to school and winter hits. So what can you do to ensure the best trip ever? Well, I don’t have the answer to that, but I can help you figure out what skincare and makeup to pack!

In this installment of the Summer Skincare Series, we are exploring tricks and tips for traveling with makeup and skincare, and staying sun smart all year long (yup, ALL year long).

There is no time like the end of summer, the rush of summer starts to slow down, and soon cooler nights are upon us. When taking those last-minute trips, a lot gets left out and skincare and makeup can be put on the back burner while people focus on planning trips and packing the right clothes. Hopefully, after this blog, you will feel confident in your choices when it comes to packing your beauty bag!

There are many types of climates, but the main ones I’m going to talk about are dry/arid or humid/tropical. If you live in one of these, you can use these tips for your home care or shifting from summer to winter.

Eri's Skincare Tips:

• When going from a climate, like ours here in California, to a drier one like Las Vegas, bear in mind that your skin is going to dry out not just from the lack of moisture in the air but also the air conditioning and heating inside the buildings. So make sure you are drinking loads of water always.

• Using a heavier moisturizer at night will help to seal the moisture in your skin while you sleep, or you can also pack an overnight mask and use it once or twice while traveling

• Packing a toner that is hydrating, like the Cucumber Hydration Toner, can help bind water to the surface and keep your skin in balance. The main thing to avoid is anything drying or too strong, like an astringent. Save the oil absorption for your moisturizer and exfoliant.

• Speaking if saving, save your glycolic/salicylic face wash for when you get back home! You don't need anything very active on your skin while you are traveling, remember we want to think of hydration to keep the skin balanced.

• Always pack a spot treatment or overnight acne dot patch just those pesky pimples that can pop up! Eating out amongst other factors can trigger a breakout so be prepared.

• Using a hydrating serum containing Hyaluronic Acid will help keep your skin balanced and hydrated in all climates. The better balanced our skin's surface is, the better our ability to manage climate changes and the brighter our glow!

• Load up on antioxidant-rich food as well as skincare ingredients to help minimize the sun damage accrued during your desert trip too. Remember, you are what you eat!

On the otherside of the dry climate, you have more humid and damper climates that require different needs.

Don’t think that you need to strip your skin because of how sweaty you’ll get there, that will just dehydrate you! Instead, consider what happens when our skin is in this climate.

Sweat can dehydrate us too, so it is still very important to moisturize and hydrate our skin. Maybe you will use a foamy cleanser to cut through the sweat and grime picked up from the day, but follow it with a hydrating toner and a Hyaluronic Acid (HA) serum.

Feeling extra gunky? Pack a scrub that doubles as a mask! In my online store you'll find an amazing Retinol 2% Jojoba Scrub which when left on for a 3-5 minutes can give a deep pore exfoliation as an exfoliating mask without stripping your skin.

Over the counter there is also Modern Friction from Origins is a favorite of mine, and Dermalogica's Daily Microfloliant, but being a powder it can be tricky to travel with. Whatever you do, please don't use the notorious St. Ives Apricot Scrub...

Packing a moisturizer for a trip in this climate might be lighter than the one you use at home, but don’t skimp out on your SPF and daily moisturizer. Keeping facial wipes in your bag throughout the day can also help reduce shine while keeping your skin clear, just remember to reapply your SPF!

I may have mentioned this before, but toilet seat covers are amazing oil blotting papers and unlike the ones you buy in the store, aren’t loaded with extra ingredients. They sell them in places like Smart N’ Final where business can buy supplies or at Costco. My favorite way to store them is cut in small squares in a metal business card holder in my bag, no one knows they were at one time toilet seat covers!

Wherever you go, keep your skincare simple, just the basics: cleanser, toner, exfoliant/serum and moisturize. You don’t need a whole facial to keep your skin healthy, just the right products and consistent use.

I put exfoliant and serum together as these are each great to have, but you can get away with only one or the other. If packing a serum, you can never go wrong with a hydrating one! For exfoliants, try to pack a scrub as they tend to have less acids or active ingredients and are easier to travel with.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my glycolic wipes, but they don’t pack well and the liquid they soak In might dry out during traveling as fluctuations in temperature can change the active ingredients.

Even if you are only going away for a day trip or an overnight trip, don't forget to pack your basic skincare needs. We never know when our skin, our even a fellow traveler is going to need a spritz of toner or a quick cleanse. Pack light, pack smart and pack what you’ll actually use.

One of the coolest tricks I ever saw was actually more of a tongue-in-cheek joke that turned out to make a lot of sense.

I saw a picture of a girl on a plane rolling her sheet mask over her face with a jade roller while rocking sunglasses. I laughed so hard because I AM THAT GIRL! I do the most, but sometimes it is necessary.

Yet here’s why I say it makes a lot of sense: airplanes dry out our skin, that is a fact, but using a sheet mask with a jade roller can definitely put that moisture back in there and leave you with a perfect glow, just maybe not in your seat during flight :-D When traveling, you can never over-hydrate!

With that said, here are some tips on how to pack your makeup so you don’t destroy your brushes, bag, and possibly even your favorite clothes you just carefully packed.

Packing Makeup

When packing your makeup, it is important to not bring the actual product you use at home to prevent exposure and oxidation from fluctuations in temperature or altitude. So here are some quick tips to help streamline your packing:

• If you use loose powder for your face, try putting some of it into a small airtight container. I find mine either at the Dollar Store or a craft supply store.

• Keep your makeup in a separate, plastic-lined makeup bag away from your brushes.

• Wrap your brushes in a plastic bag inside of a separate makeup bag than your makeup product. Yes, two bags! That way you’ll have an extra container if one gets messy during use and you don’t have time to clean them.

• Most department stores (or your Ispy bag!) have small sample sizes of things like mascara and eye shadow. Keeping some of these unopened until your trip will save space and money.

• If you use liquid anything, wrap this guy up separately in a small snack-sized baggy.

• Always pack Q-tips, cotton balls, and a face towel.

• Pack a little cream-based cleanser to help clean up mascara and eye shadow fall out, just use a Q-tip!

• Don’t pack something you never ever use.

• If you have a big eyeshadow palette but you only use two colors regularly, scrape out (or if that scares you, take several toilet paper squares and wipe some of the colors on there and then seal in a ziplock bag and use as a “paper palette”) that way you don’t risk your favorite colors cracking or getting spillover from less desirable colors.

My goal in this blog is to get you excited and thinking creatively about your travel beauty products. Always keep in mind temperature and heat, trying your best to keep your skincare and makeup out of the heat.

If you take road trips often, keep these products inside the car with you or pack a reusable ice pack with it while driving during hot summer days, just remember to secure it back in your trunk when you park and leave the car! Travel smart and travel often!

Do you ever think about how above the clouds the sun is still shining just as strong and just as bright? For most of my life, I never thought about the sun still being out all year long and would only SPF during spring and summer. Man was I wrong!

The sun is out all year long unless you live in Alaska, and even there it is really important to be UV smart! The sun reflects its rays off surfaces like cement, water, snow, and objects all around us. What’s important to note about this is sometimes we may think we aren’t getting sun exposure in areas like the tops of our ears and under our chin.

Applying SPF everywhere is crucial, and sometimes our clothes are supporting UV protection too! Did you know that cotton has an SPF of 5? It’s not a lot but anything is welcome!!

Try keeping a body SPF by the front door to remind you to apply it to your arms and legs before heading out. I don’t recommend keeping SPF in your car, however, as the fluctuations in temperature can denature the ingredients and can even cause skin irritations.

Keep a small bottle at your desk at work and wear your UV blocking shades all year long. But is there more we can do? Yes!

Did you also know that SPF is boosted by antioxidants? Eating a diet rich in leafy greens, whole foods and omega-3 can help your skin naturally support UV protection.

How does this work you ask? When the sun’s rays hit our skin they can cause something called a free radical. Free radicals are damaged skin cells that are missing a piece, which antioxidants naturally have an abundance of and will lend freely to these damaged cells.

Helping your skin repair from damage like UV radiation is one of the many benefits of eating a seasonal diet rich in fruits and veggies. Also known as anti-inflammatories, and even anti-aging benefits, your diet affects all aspects of your life and your body.

I’m not a nutritionist (yet) but after living the first few decades of my life eating food I was allergic to (gluten), I am personal proof that changing your diet can truly help transform your skin and body. My face is no longer beet-red, I don’t have tinea versicolor and even my keratosis pilaris has improved!

I hope you will use this month’s Summer Skin Series as a reference for you when packing your travel bag, and every time you apply SPF when it’s cloudy! There are small things we can do for ourselves every day in every moment to improve our overall wellbeing. 

That was a lot! Bookmark this page so you can find it quickly when you need travel skincare tips!

Till next time, be good to your skin and even better to yourself,

xx eri