So I've Fallen Out With Suncream...

...But there's some other SPF formulas that I'm loving right now.

The sun has (finally) started to show it's face in Manchester, and it's actually been almost too hot. When I went on my annual trip to stock up on suncream I decided to stray away from my usual traditional suncreams and my P20 options in favour of some newer formats and I'm really impressed.

The format that I've been enjoying the most is one that been around for a while: oil. I like oil-base sun protection because generally they're even more moisturising than the traditional cream/lotion based formulas and they're basically goof-proof when it comes to white-casts and streaky application. The oil I've been enjoying this year is the Golden Protect Protective Oil Enriched with Shea Butter from Garnier's Ambre Solaire range. This is a light, non-greasy formula that is water resistant and moisturising on the skin. It comes in multiple sun protection factors, personally I generally go for a factor 30 across the board. I also like that this formula has a subtle sheeny finish to it that gives the skin that glow that we all want in the summer.

Nivea have a brilliant range of sun protection products and the one that really caught my eye was the Protect and Refresh Cooling Sun Mist. This is a super fine formula that is applied to the skin via an aerosol spray can. At first glance I thought that this product would be the perfect answer to the problem of topping up facial SPF throughout the day without disrupting makeup but I was a bit disappointed to find that the directions specify that you can't spray this directly onto the face. I'll still get enough use out of this since it's nice and refreshing on the skin for reapplication but I'd love to see something along the lines of this that is completely safe for use on the face.

The last sun care product that caught my eye this time around was Nivea's Lip Care Sun Protect SPF30. Again, I love Nivea's sun protection range and they're also known for their lip balms so I figured this was a pretty obvious choice. The formula is light but nicely hydrating and the scent/flavour is nice but not overpowering as well. I even really like the packaging with the pop of summery yellow and it's a great one to slip into your handbag.

High Street Heros - Other Beauty Bits

So for the final installment of my High-Street Hero's series, I thought I'd touch on hair, nails and body. As usual I've bunched these categories together because they tend to be the beauty categories that I neglect a little bit and so I didn't have enough favourites from any of them to put together dedicated posts for them, but I still didn't want to miss them. So without further a due:

A product that I've been repurchasing for years now is the VO5 Heat Protect Spray, i just love this product as it's light, smells nice, protects my hair and isn't something that going to break the bank every time I find myself needing to make a repurchase. I have tried other heat protect sprays in the past and have liked them, but I always go back to this one. Bonus points for the spray-mist application method.

While I've recently developed a love for the Bumble & Bumble Hairdressers Invisible Oil Shampoo, it's eye-wateringly expensive for a shampoo, and so I like to rotate it with the more budget friendly L'Oreal EverPure Shampoo. I've been through multiple bottles of this now and I really like it. It doesn't contain any sulphates so it's great for my coloured hair and is less irritating on my skin (if anyone is currently suffering from horrific back acne I'd suggest looking at your shampoo because my skin has gotten to much better since switching to a sulphate-free shampoo).

For once I've only got one conditioner in my shower and that's the OGX Argan Oil Conditioner, it's just so nourishing on my hair and it's smells nice without being over-powering. I do like to do a hair mask on the weekend for a suped-up hit of hair hydration but day-to-day this does the trick perfectly.

A hair favourite that fills me with sadness is Batiste's Hint of Red Dry Shampoo, mainly because it's been out of stock for the last 4 months and I've had to go without it for such a long time that I'm worried it's in the process of being discontinued. It's my favourite dry shampoo and it's great for hiding roots if you're as bad at getting to the salon to have your hair re-coloured regularly as I am. Come back into stock soon Batiste! I need you!

For those with naturally wavy hair, I'd recommend the Naked Style Devine Curls, I picked this up on a whim and it became a favourite pretty quickly. This is the only hair styling product I ever take on holiday with me as it gives my naturally wavy hair some real curl that I love. It works in any temperature so I can use it when I'm at home too, I wash my hair, blow dry my roots and then scrunch this into the ends and let them air dry and I get some really nice curls from it.

And my final hair favourite is Ion Volume Dust, I'm not too sure how available this product is but I pick it up from Sally's and Salon Services (thank you mother for being a nail technician so I can get insane deals on beauty products). If you pick this up anywhere it's a great dupe for + Fluff Dust and it's basically one of those powders that you work into your roots to get volume.

A couple of Soap & Glory body favourites are their Heel Genius foot cream. A minty foot cream that absorbs into the skin quickly, it' designed to be applied and then worn under socks overnight but as I can't sleep in socks I use it on the weekends when I'm just hanging around the house (most of which is time I spend working on these posts actually) and it leaves my tootsies feeling nice and soft. My other favourite from them is their Pulp Friction body scrub. I've tried lots of other body scrubs in the past but I always go back to this one because it really is my favourite. The squeeze-tube bottle is a great delivery method and the formula is quite creamy so it sticks to your skin in the shower and makes for an easy exfoliation job. Also, the scent is amazing.

I thought I should include a nail polish favourite in this post because while I don't usually bother painting my finger nails, my toes nails are always painted and my favourite budget polish brand is definitely Top Shop Nails. They're so affordable and the formula is great and even better? The colour selection is insane for a high-street polish brand. Much love.

And finally a scent favourite. Now perfumes pretty consistently fall outside of my £15 budget for this series of posts so I had to think slightly outside of the box and then I realised there's a budget scent that I use constantly! The Soap & Glory Body Sprays are my scent-purchase of choice for work just because no-one wants to be using their £100 perfumes for the office now do they? I do often get compliments on their "Glam-A-Lot" scent but I also like the "Mist You Madly" fragrance.

And there we have it. Slightly shorter than the other instalments with just 10 products in this post but like I said these are categories that I struggle with. Back to my regular posts next week!

SFP For Dummies

As a fully-fledged member of the paley-and-proud club, it might be unsurprising to hear that I am an absolute SFP fanatic. My sun-worshipping mother seems to question where she went wrong with me every summer when she finds me in the garden, reading a book, under a towel... Sorry mum! But the good thing about being an SPF freak? Getting to know what formula's you really get on with, and since the weather in the UK is looking pretty nice lately, I figured I'd dedicate a post to my not-so-secret obsession. Here's 3 of my must-have SPF formulations.

The first SPF I apply on a summers morning is my facial SPF. My current favourite facial SPF is the Kiehl's Ultra Light Daily UV Defense SPF 50 PA+++ UVA (long name there) which, despite the name, does provide the user with UVA and UVB broad-spectrum protection against the suns rays. It's a super light formula that you can use alone or on top of a regular moisturiser and it doesn't have any weird smells/colours to it. Being the super pale girl I am (seriously, the back of my hand is essentially the same colour as the white tube the product comes in) I can't really comment on whether any of these products leave a white cast as a white cast never shows up on my skin, but with the light feeling of this product, I can't imagine it would. If the Kiehl's is out of your budget, try the Piz Buin Allergy Face Cream, it's SPF 50+ (so, again, very high protection) and while it's a little heavier and greasier on the skin than the Kiehl's, it's at least half the price and still sits well under makeup.

For my body I like to double up on the SPF. When I'm getting ready to leave the house, I'll apply a generous amount of Riemann P20 Once A Day Sun Protection to all of the parts of my body that may be exposed to the sun during the day. It's a watery oil-y texture that can feel a little film-y on the skin when first applied and does take a good few minutes to sink in (so i'd apply this, do my skincare while it dries and then get dressed) and it's waterproof, sweatproof etc and will stay on all day. You can get it in a whole load of factors so I usually get a low-medium 20 and then a high-very high 50 to cover my bases and switch out depending on the levels of sun exposure. I like this because it's waterproof, so on holidays if I'm in the pool or whatever I still have some protection at all times. Although I'd never rely on a "Once a day" formula completely.

The thing with SPF is that it multiples the time that you can spend in the sun without getting burnt naturally by the factor you're using. This means that if you get burnt in 10 minutes, an SPF of 20 would mean it would take 200 minutes, so 3 hours and 20 minutes of sun-time. This in mind I like to take something to reapply throughout the day with me so I don't end up looking like a beetroot. For my on-the-go SPF I love dry oils like the Calypso Dry Oil Clear Protection, they're easy to apply and because they're a clear oil, they never leave a white cast on the skin, meaning you can layer them up without worrying. The Calypso one smells lovely too (like coconuts and holidays) and it's super cheap in most places too.