It’s that time of year again when our Facebook feeds are saturated with photos of exotic summer getaways; riding elephants in India, eating lunch in Central Park or scuba diving in Bali, it seems as though everybody is jetting off for an unforgettable holiday. So whether you’re off to top up your tan on a Mediterranean beach or soak up some culture on a city break, here is your go-to list for holiday essentials!
Sun Cream:
By now you will have heard enough horror stories of skin cancer and burning to know that the sun is dangerous; it only takes burning once to damage your skin. It’s very easy to convince yourself that a good tan is worth the hours spent with unprotected skin in the blistering heat, but don’t take that risk. You don’t need to slather on the bright blue suncream you were forced to wear as a kid anymore, there are plenty of lightweight and effective alternatives. If you’re spending your summer in the city, many good facial moisturisers and foundations offer SPF protection. This will provide you with sufficient protection but without the greasy finish that many suncreams can have. It will also provide a great base for makeup.
Alternatively, if you’re planning on tanning this summer, go for an oil-based product. It will keep your skin hydrated, helping it to tan faster as it prevents dryness and flaking.
Makeup Primer:
There’s nothing worse than spending a full evening perfecting your makeup, just to have it melt off your face within an hour in the holiday heat. A good primer is essential if you want to keep your makeup looking fresh all night long. Urban Decay’s eyeshadow primers are faultless for preventing creasing and even stopping mascara from running, but facial primers can be a little tricky to choose. If you suffer from spots or other skin blemishes, it’s best to shell out a little bit on a better primer which won’t sit in your pores causing more breakouts. Look for the phrase ‘non-comedogenic’ which means it wont block pores. Furthermore, if you’ve got combination or dry skin, primers can increase the appearance of dry patches, so it’s best to stick to the application of primer in the oilier T-zone (forehead, nose and chin).
Book:
For me, no summer is complete without a good book to read as I relax. If you’re a fan of The Hunger Games (and let’s be honest, who isn’t?!), then look no further than Endgame, an action packed trilogy to get excited about.
Twelve ancient bloodlines are represented by twelve competitors who must race to find the Earth Key and fight to the death, the sole survivor securing the survival of their people at the end of the world.
What’s more, each chapter starts with a clue and at the end of the book the reader has the opportunity to piece together the clues and win $500,000. So far nobody has solved it, so if you fancy getting rid of your student loan early get your thinking caps on.
Travel journal:
A holiday with your family or friends is always worth remembering! It’s so annoying when trying to remember the name of your favourite restaurant to recommend to a friend and having a total mind blank. Keeping a travel journal with spaces for photos and scrapbooking not only provides you with something to keep you occupied in the sun lounger, but will also be a reminder in twenty years time of all your favourite nights out and activities.
Holiday apps:
We’ve all been through the last minute postcard panic at the airport to send to your grandma, but the app ‘Touchnote’ allows you to take a photo yourself, add a message and send it as a postcard to anyone, making the postcard sending tradition more personal and a lot less pointless.
If you haven’t already jumped on the YikYak bandwagon (and you should, it is a well known fact that Lancaster has the single best YikYak feed in the world), now is the time to do so. It’s basically a location based, anonymous Twitter, allowing you to post statuses to the people around you. Unsurprisingly, it can get very interesting to see what people post under the cloak of anonymity but amongst the gossip and jokes you might find some great recommendations for things to do in the local area on your holiday.
