Top 10 Summer skincare tips and tricks

Top 10 Summer skincare tips and tricks

Beat the heat and keep yourself nourished and healthy this summer! Here are our favourite tips and tricks to keep cool and hydrated over summer.

1. Take a cold shower

Over the warmer months having a cold shower can be a great way to cool down after long day, but did you know that there are also many benefits for your skin and hair? Based on scientific research, cold water brightens the skin and keeps hair healthy and glossy. This is because cold water tightens and constricts the blood flow to give a healthy appearance and doesn't dry out the sebum layer, (naturally lubricated barrier that provides protection for skin and hair)! Over the summer we are already prone to dry skin due to sun exposure, dehydration and heat, so retaining as much hydration as possible is paramount. The cold water also improves hair by closing and strengthening your hair cuticles!

 

2.SPF

We all know that our NZ sun is very harsh, so us kiwis need to be extra vigilant in keeping ourselves protected whilst outdoors. SPF is your best friend over the summer, as your skin is the largest organ of you body. Protecting it from UV rays is of course a major factor when it comes to preventing skin cancer. Having an SPF moisturizer will help make sure you have a small amount of protection no matter what. The Essano Vitamin C SPF moisturiser in our November Box, or the natural Goodbye sun balm in our Summer Lovin' Christmas Box will keep you protected depending on the adventures you want to get up to. It is also a good idea to set an alarm or download an app like ‘SunMinder’ that reminds you to reapply your sunscreen and remember things like shade, a hat or light clothing have great protection for your skin! 

3. Get Misty

This summer is predicted to be one of the hottest we’ve had, so keeping cool is an absolute must! Our favourite trick is keeping a light face mist in your bag for on the go refreshment throughout the day or keep it in the fridge for an intensely cooling mist to give an instant refresh. I love being able to do a quick mist in between meetings and shifts to help me reset and am currently using (and in love with) the Linden Leaves Gold toning face and body mist. Not only does it feel and smell wonderful it actually has genuine 23 karat gold leaf for extra luxury with scientifically proven results!  Or you could make your own refreshing face mist by extracting cucumber juice and mixing it with rose water and mint.(Even a spray bottle with just cold water from the fridge feels wonderfully refreshing).


4. Treat your feet

Give your feet some love and make sure to take care of your feet, because after all, they can be the ones that suffer the most over summer. If your like me and suffer from cracked heels, you need to regularly scrub away the dry skin. You can find pumice at the beach, use a hard loofah or get a foot or even a body scrub will work. I am currently using the linden leaves body scrub to help buff away my feet's dry skin.  Then follow this up with some good old nourishment overnight to provide intense hydration. 

I recommend at least once a week, taking any of your facial oils that you have collected this year and after a shower, whilst your feet are still warm, massage the oil into your feet, giving special love and attention to your heels then cover with socks overnight to keep feet nice and warm and allow your feet to soak in all that goodness. Just be a little careful in the morning and wash off any excess oil so you do not slip! 

5. Hydration station

Keeping hydrated is always important, but over summer especially as we spend more time outdoors, in the sun and are usually more active. To make sure you keep hydrated, we have tips that really help in making sure you don’t forget to get your daily water intake. 

  • Download the app ‘Water reminder’ which is self explanatory, simply put how much water you want to have each day and it will remind you at regular intervals to have a drink. 
  • Take a 1L bottle of water with you!! This one I personally live by, since if I’m honest I can’t be bothered to refill constantly, so keeping a massive bottle on me encourages me to drink more. Since I started doing this I can easily get through two bottles and keep my other bottle in the fridge ready to go so I can swap and have fridge cool water!
  • Use a straw. If you really don’t like drinking water, straws have been proven to make you drink more as it is a pleasant experience as a straw creates a sucking action – which believe it or not is the oldest way to calm and de-stress the body and brain!. You can buy a large bottle with a straw top, or buy some metal/or rubber straws that you can just use all day.

6. Light makeup

Over summer heavy makeup will either end up becoming a sweaty mess or running off with salt water and clogging our pores! Our biggest tip is to give skin a break and use lightweight products that won’t clog your skin, like for instance, changing from foundation to a bb cream, or mixing a bit of moisturizer with your foundation to make your own, then follow up with a light powder to set it in place! Or try the Lauren and Louise mineral powder, it's perfect for the summer and my daily go to now over my SPF. It looks and feels so natural I forget that I have it on, but I still have a light coverage. Another tip is finding a lip and cheek tint, to add some colour to lips and cheeks without heavy powdery coverage. You can use lipstick (one that suits your lips AND cheeks) keep in your purse and lightly dab some pigment onto cheeks, then lips for a rosy, dewy summer look. Then to finish your face all you need is a waterproof mascara and eyebrow tint for a super low maintenance, gorgeous summer makeup look that will keep skin healthy and happy.

TOP TIP - If you shy away from waterproof mascara as it can be hard to remove, keep a small bottle of oil (even olive oil/coconut oil from the pantry will work fine!) in your bathroom cabinet, lightly rub into lashes to break down the product then simply wipe away with a cloth! Follow up with your normal cleanser to clean off any residue.


7. Bugs begone

In this month's November Box we were focused on finding the best summer essentials, two of those products were the Goodbye Sandfly insect repellent and My Boutique Treat itch stick, which are absolutely amazing at keeping pesky bugs at bay and also relieving any bites. If you aren’t subscribed, we can’t recommend buying these two products highly enough, especially if like me, mozzys just love to eat you over summer! I am already using if for me evening walks and the repellent is super light to apply and doesn’t smell overpowering, in fact it smells quite nice on the skin, and the itch stick is actually wonderful for providing instant relief from bites and I have also been putting it on any other skin itches and spots just rub the tube directly on the irritated area whenever you need.


8. Up the anti(oxidants)

Antioxidants are awesome to have throughout summer, to give your skin a boost and protect from pollutants, UV rays and other radicals which can cause premature aging, the breakdown of collagen, sagging skin and more. Think of it the same as an apple cut and left in the sun, the brown spots are evidence of oxidation. You can buy skincare serums and creams that are full of antioxidants, or make sure this summer to take advantage of the wonderful fruit we have and eat fruits high in vitamin C, vitamin E, and vitamin A.

Try - The Rata Love box is full of skincare essentials made with wonderful anti-oxidant & probiotic products to keep skin fresh and protected over summer.

9. Exfoliate

Exfoliating is super important throughout the dryer months, as the sun can cause dry, peeling or scaly skin that looks dull but feels gross! We recommend exfoliating once or twice a week, maybe slightly more if you have oily skin or are sweating a lot to completely buff away any residue and unclog pores. We absolutely love the Arture Microdermabrasion for intensive exfoliating and the most beautiful skin and my one Jar is still going from this time last year. The Spacify coffee and kola-nut scrub is great too as it also provides hydration and you can really feel the soft skin that is left after using. (The coffee scrub is now in some of our Christmas boxes!!) Exfoliating makes a huge difference to skin's appearance, as it buffs away the top layer of dead skin cells to reveal glossy, silky skin underneath. If you have some bath salts leftover from winter, you can mix this with coconut oil for an easy homemade scrub, or, sugar, honey and oil for an easy lip scrub. It's handy to have some products you can reach for in the shower or from the beauty cabinet to make sure skin glows and looks beautiful all summer long.

10. Moisturize

Last but not least, moisturize! It makes sense that our skin is exposed to the sun but there is also other things like air conditioners, chlorine and salt water that dries out your skin, so keeping skin moisturized as much as possible will help to prevent those dry itchy rashes or flaky skin. Especially for after you’ve exfoliated, make sure to use a body lotion, moisturizing stick or oil to keep the body hydrated. For the face, you won’t need a heavy moisturizer like in winter, we recommend switching to something a little lighter to let skin breathe, but it’s still important to keep skin hydrated to protect and repair from the elements.

Over summer we recommend switching to a moisturizer that is light and purifying like the By Nature one - here - or a moisturizer with hyaluronic acid to retain the moisture.

 

Did you learn a few new tips and tricks for the summer? Do you have any we could add? Let us know! Everyone loves a few summer survival tips and ways to keep healthy and happy, so any extra tips would be amazing!

Have a wonderful summer! Love, The MyTreat Girls xxx

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