Whether you're opting for a Bank Holiday weekend in Cornwall or jetting off to more tropical climates for a longer break, your holiday beauty picks should be low-lift and take you from day to night with ease.
Maybe, like me, you also like to embrace a different holiday version of yourself: one who isn't a slave to a full face or a razor-sharp cat-eye flick, but opts for nearly-bare, sun-flushed skin instead and a pop of colour smooshed onto the lips with their fingers.
Here's everything I pack to ease jittery nerves on a flight, flood my skin with moisture and mimic golden hour with a few quick strokes of a makeup brush.
For the flight
I'm a bit of a nervous flyer but these patches by acupuncturist Ross Barr are what you will often see adorning the wrists or temples of beauty editors on a plane. The scent of natural oils - think Chuan-xiong from Chinese medicine, white peony and peach – are all deliciously relaxing.
At 30,000 feet, humidity in an aircraft cabin drops to around 20%, which means that the skin on your face and body can become incredibly dehydrated. Hyaluronic acid is like a magnet for drawing water to the top layers of your skin and I've used this serum on flights every since it first launched 10 years ago.
I love a face mist for shuttling moisture back into my skin and making me feel more refreshed just before landing. Not only is this Summer Fridays face mist the perfect size for hand luggage, but the cherry on top is the sheer volume of soothing ingredients – aloe extract, bisabolol, centella asiatica, cucumber extract – that support the skin barrier and dial down any sensitivity.
The higher the altitude, the stronger the sun's rays. I always apply sunscreen if I have a window seat and this one by Simple is my new favourite. It not only protects your skin from UV rays with a broadspectrum SPF50, but it also contains breakthrough technology that boosts your skin’s ability to produce its own protective glutathione, helping to reverse the signs of sun damage you already have by evening skin tone.
The thin skin around your eyes always shows signs of dehydration first. Eye patches are a great way to decrease water evaporation and hydrate – plus these ones by Dior are so chic, you can release your inner First Class diva even if you're flying economy.
If you're wedded to your retinol and tackling concerns such as pigmentation, acne scars and fine lines, then these precisely dosed capsules are ideal for a flight. They combine traditional retinol with hydroxypinacolone retinoate (HPR for short), which is 10 times more potent but also super gentle so there's little to no irritation.
I start applying sheet masks a few days before takeoff as an insurance policy for my skin. I recently wore this Boots sheet mask on a flight to Madrid and not only is it doused in an intensely hydrating serum, but it also contains walnut collagen, an ingredient from walnuts that helps to boost collagen in the skin, leaving it plump and juicy.
I always take a probiotic leading up to a trip abroad just to strengthen my gut's defences against unfamiliar pathogens in food and water. Heights Biotic+ is one of the best as it contains seven active bacterial strains that are backed by over 380+ scientific studies.
For me, a cosy hoodie is must-have on a flight. This one from Aman's tennis collection is super soft but it also taps into the trending 'tenniscore' aesthetic so will probably encourage me to hit the court on holiday, too!
It's no secret that I love Hailey Bieber's Peptide Lip Tints and have them in most shades. The formula is powered by the same hydrating peptides that you normally find in serums and moisturisers and the Lemontini's sheer gold gloss makes even the most jet-lagged complexions sing.
No holiday beauty haul is complete without a do-it-all makeup palette. This Nars palette featuring blusher, bronzer and highlighter, has everything you need to both perk your skin up after a long flight and to create a gorgeous sun-kissed glow throughout your holiday. I'm obsessed with the yellow and white striped packaging, too. It reminds me of deck chairs in the South of France and always makes me smile involuntarily.
In my suitcase
The cooling, non-greasy gel-like texture is what has earned this Medik8 vitamin C serum a place in my year-round skincare routine. But for holidays, it plays nicely under SPF on the beach and it's seriously high-tech, too, with plant exosomes from green tea to encapsulate the vitamin C, carrying it deeper into the skin and making it even more effective at protecting your skin cells from damage.
When buffed into the skin with a big brush, it creates clouds of soft buttery bronzer the exact shade of toffee before drying down to a powder-like finish, ensuring the colour lasts all day. Nothing beats its next-to-natural, lit-from-within glow, which is why – despite the hundreds of bronzers on the market – I still religiously use this one by Chanel every single day without fail. This year the Chanel Bronzing Cream has had an upgrade, too, with two new colours on either end of the shade spectrum and a sweet embossed CC in the formula itself.
This body oil is sinfully sexy. The scent of woods, citrus and warm amber wraps itself around your limbs while leaving a subtle golden sheen in its wake. Think peak poolside glamour and the type of smell that will instantly whisk you back to a sun-drenched beach long after your holiday is over. On a practical note, it easily ticks off both a perfume and a moisturiser in one if you're pushed for space in your suitcase.
Any shade of pink lipstick just pops against tanned skin. I find that Minx by Westman Atelier makes my skin look brighter, my smile whiter and I like to blur the edges with my fingers to keep my whole look casual but pulled together.
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A few swipes of mascara is the finishing touch when getting dinner-ready on holiday. This Maybelline mascara consistently wins GLAMOUR's Beauty & Wellness Power List Awards and with good reason: it creates the type of voluminous flutter you can see in your peripheral vision.
I've tried a lot of self-tans in my time but this gel is a firm favourite. Unlike a lot of fake tans, it doesn't smell in the least bit biscuity – quite the opposite, in fact, as it smells like expensive perfume. For me, nothing beats its 'I've been lounging by the pool for a week' tanned glow but I also love how evenly it fades afterwards and that it never seems to dry out my skin.
Given 80% of ageing is down to environmental aggressors such as UV rays, your skin needs all the support it can get on a beach holiday. These single-use, science-backed sachets are so easy to take away with you – I simply add one to water or fruit juice to get a boost of antioxidants and marine collagen peptides.
This is basically sunshine, joy and cocktail hour bottled. This year the OG beach fragrance comes in a lighter EDT that opens with a rush of citrus before bright florals, nutty pistachio and warm amber burst through. The dry-down is hypnotic, smelling like an old-school French pharmacy aftersun rubbed onto damp skin.
Sunscreen is non-negotiable but making it sexy is another matter altogether. New kid on the block Le Rub has managed to do just that with its jazzy packaging and an SPF50 mist packed with hydrating squalane and soothing niacinamide that dries down fast for zero transfer onto your clothes.
Humidity plays havoc with my fine hair. I swear by this dry shampoo, not just for mopping up oily roots but also for giving me extra volume on the crown.
I literally slather my skin in this gel-based cream overnight as it contains ingredients that help your skin barrier to retain more moisture – something it's crying out for after sun, sea, sand and dips in the pool. Water creams also scratch my itch for weightless layers of hydration, while the pleasing, cooling sensation is exactly what you want in the heat.
Remember science class when they told you that like attracts like? Well the same is true in beauty: oil attracts oil, making a cleansing balm a great option for lifting away the oils in sunscreen. I'm a big fan of the Drunk Elephant Slaai cleanser as it's packed with nourishing oils such as marula and baobab to slough away the day. It conveniently also comes with a mini bottle of bamboo powder that you can use once or twice a week for more intense exfoliation.
For more from Fiona Embleton, GLAMOUR's Associate Beauty Director, follow her on @fiembleton.
