I am completely guilty of cramming my suitcase full of beauty products when I go on holiday, probably more so than I do with clothes. Sea salt spray, intensive conditioners, oils, balms, waterproofs - you name it. Few products really impress though and tend to be a 'throw away before you come home' kind of thing, a handful of products really amazed me for my holiday though so i'll leave you with a brief review of my 3 fave holiday buys.
Garnier BB cream
I initially bought this as I'd seen rave reviews in almost every magazine I'd picked up, not sure why so much hype surrounded the product i gave it a quick google, BB stands for blemish balm which is huge in Asia, but has not yet made it to our stores, meaning people wanting to buy these products have to import them online, at a cost. So at £9.99 a pop (currently £7.99 in Superdrug) this seems like a good deal.
Instantly I was surprised by the lack of colour choices, as a tinted moisteriser you would expect several shades but no, only a light or dark option. Of the two choices I went for dark, I have olive skin and was about to go away so knew it would get darker. I think if you're very fair skinned this probably wouldn't work for you without mixing to another lighter product, which would get pricey. Anyways back to the review, BB cream claims to blur imperfections and smooth fine lines with the added bonus of 24hr hydration and SPF 15. My skin tends to look tired, for that I can blame my 5am alarm call, and i do have the odd breakout and uneven skin tone. After initially applying my skin felt a bit tighter and did make my skin look more even without feeling heavy, however it is slightly oily and as I have oily skin I did feel the need to cover with powder, if you have dry skin this would be better. It felt a little like flash balm, but was only a snippet of the price, anyone expecting amazing coverage needs to buy a more pigmented product, this is both a moisterising skin product and a beauty product combined not a heavy foundation. Having said that if you don't want to clog your face up with make up products this is ideal for a smoother and more blended appearance and instantly looking more awake and brighter. I've given it a 4 for the oily skin problem and the lack of available shades.
4/5
Piz Buin after sun with tan intensifier
I picked this up for under £10 in Wilkinsons, I wouldn't usually spend that much on a simple after sun but as it claimed to contain taminel which doubles the production of your skins natural tanning pigments, essentially prolonging and enhancing a natural tan I thought i'd try. I used this at the end of the day once all oil and sun cream had been washed off in the shower, the after sun is like a general moisteriser cream consistency, once applied to the skin it doesn't take too much absorbing and sinks in to the skin nicely, not too shiny. It didn't feel oily or greasy and leaves even my sun drenched skin hydrated all day.
As for the tan intensifier, well i've only been back for a couple of days and I tan easily anyway but at least the product doesn't contain fake tan (why bother laying in the sun all day if you're going to add fake tan?) and it doesn't smell like biscuits, hurrah!
I read several negative reviews which seemed a bit unfair as they were mainly people who regularly suffered from allergys complaining about an allergic reaction, if your skin is sensitive and you tend to come out in rashes if you use different products, avoid this and go for a simple unperfumed after sun.
4/5
Morrocan oil treatment
My biggest praise for holiday products undoubtedly goes to this Morrocan oil treatment, I purchased a 25ml bottle on feelunique.com for £12.85 which seems a lot for such a small bottle but you really don't need to use a lot at one time, even on my long hair after two weeks of using every day and my mum using too, i've only used 1/3 of the bottle. Let me begin by explaining my hair situation, I always need a brilliant conditioner after dying my hair for six years and not having it cut regularly, I think it's fair to say it's in bad condition. Whilst I was away my days were spent lying in the sun for 8 hours a day, if I weren't doing that I was in the cholrine filled pool or the salty sea. My hair needed rescue. After washing hair, I would towel dry (I know this is terrible for your hair but my god it would take ages to dry if i didn't) then apply a pound sized amount from my ears down (don't like putting oily products on my roots but you could try...) if you put together in your hands it goes further than you'd think, i then dried my hair and styled as normal. After the first application, even after drying and straightening my hair was soft, sleek and in general in better condition. My hair is dry more than frizzy but I imagine this could help frizzy hair a lot, I had read a lot of amazing reviews of this but wrote it off as hype but now I can really say this WILL make your hair softer and glossier - looking and feeling similar to salon results. This works better than any leave in conditioner i've tried, and is incredible as a detangler too. A small 25ml bottle would last roughly 7/8 weeks I'd assume, vo5 have just bought out a similar oil treatment and there are several other budget versions, i'll give them a try but can't see them beating the results of the Morrocan Oil.
5/5
