One of the things I love about jetting off on a summer holiday to water climates, aside from eating amazing food every night and partaking in one too many special cocktails, is that my makeup bag instantly halves from what it would be on a day to day basis.  In fact, when on holiday I don’t wear a scrap of make up in the day and it makes my morning routine so much easier and gives my skin an extended period of time to soak up some Vitamin D and breathe unlike when I’m at home and slapping on the war paint for work, socialising or whatever else requires a full bag full of make up.

What I do ensure I have to hand instead for throughout the day is a few must have beauty items alongside towels, my Kindle, headphones and a portable charger in my beach or poolside bag.  As much as I don’t need makeup until I head out for the evening, being out in the sun during peak hours means that I need to keep my skin and hair protected from UV rays.

While we’re all busy on the beach slathering on spf all over our bodies, hair is often neglected. Providing essential sun protection for hair, this Charles Worthington Sunshine Protection Spray is a must have dual-action leave in treatment available from the minis range at Boots (the 50ml provides exactly the right amount of product for a two week holiday).   With UV protection, a repair system including moisturising rice protein to nourish individual strands, this spray is designed to maximise shine and softness whilst safeguarding your hair’s colour and condition.  I found this combined with OWay After Sun Hair Mask* was a saviour for my hair after a day in the sun and in and out of the chlorine of the pool/salty sea water.  This transformed my hair from crispy, dry and dehydrated to more supple and manageable.  I would apply this to damp hair after showering as a leave in treatment and then also spray it through the ends in the morning before going into the sun.   and the sun allowed me to  This spray’s unique anti-uv protect and repair system is designed to provide all the sun protection hair needs to stay strong, supple and super-glossy. Created to give the optimum sun protection for hair, each of the products in this range (including a shampoo and conditioner) contains a preventative uv filter which guards your hair from harmful uv rays, and a moisturising rice protein to nourish the individual strands. And with exactly the right amount of product for a two week holiday, it’s the perfect addition to your beach bag.Is there anything worse than applying greasy sun tan lotion to your face when on holiday only to find that although it may well stop the sensitive skin on your face from burning the thick formula means it blocks your pores, breaks you out in spots and leaves you with sticky skin?  Not exactly helping you to channel that sun kissed goddess look is it?  I saw this La Roche-Posay Anthelios AC Anti-Shine Matte Fluid featured on a couple of blogs and after hearing nothing but positive reviews picked it up in Boots. It’s water resistant and has Mexoplex, Mexoryl XL and Mexoryl SX to provide high broad spectrum sun protection available the harmful effects of both UVA and UVB rays. At £12 it’s a bit pricier than your usual bottle of sun tan lotion, but with a mattifying affect and SPF30, its ideal for oily skin and is so easy to wear and I can sunbathe easy knowing that my skin was being looked after.   I also wore this underneath my makeup (just because it’s night time it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t wear an SPF!) and there was no slipping or sliding.  I’d highly recommend picking this up.

If you’ve ever burnt your lips then you’ll know that SPF for your lips is an absolute must have.  The skin on your lips is super sensitive and requires the same sort of TLC as you would give the rest of the skin on your body.  The NIVEA Sun Protect lip balm is a stick formula and is enriched with Vitamin E and Sun Flower Extracts to provide a barrier from effects of the sun and gives long lasting moisture which means no burnt and peeling lips – not sexy!  Some reviews have said that this leaves their lips with a bit of an unsightly white cast but this is something I didn’t experience.  A quick slick in the morning and in between eating/drinking and being in the pool and my lips were well looked after!

You’re probably no stranger to  Caudalie Beauty Elixir, a facial toning mist made up of a blend of antioxidants from grape extracts, orange blossom, rose, organic balm mint and rosemary that helps restore radiance to your skin and is inspired by the centuries old ‘elixir of youth’ used by Queen Isabelle of Hungary.  I used this purely for an invigorating peppermint scented spritz throughout the day to refresh my skin.  It’s a pricer alternative to the likes of the Avene Facial Mist but the dinkly 30ml bottle was ideal to pop into my bag for the day.

These are all under the 100ml hand luggage restriction so if (unlike me) you can travel light, these will easily fit in your plastic bag for liquids!