July
There’s an ad currently doing the rounds – now that I think of it, it mightn’t actually be on telly, it might only be on in the cinema, because I definitely saw it the night I went to see The Da Vinci Code (not half as bad as I’d been led to expect, it’s amazing what a slew of savage reviews will do for your expectations. Anyway, I digress.) This ad – I think it might be for Flora margarine, but don’t hold me to it – shows a load of people jumping off a quay-side, into freezing-looking water and the shoutline is ‘Give yourself one good scare every day.’ Or it could be ‘Every day do one thing that terrifies the living bejazus out of you.’ Or somesuch. Anyway, I was sitting there watching it and thinking, WHY? Why would I deliberately seek out fear? I spend most of my time with a ball of anxiety in my stomach, wishing it would go away.
However, you might be different. You might have embraced the Flora ‘one good scare’ ethos. So if you haven’t had today’s scare, worry no more. (Paradox.) I’ve got a topnotch one here – well, it’s actually from Boots’ Suncare expert, a man with the benign-sounding name of Mike Brown – that’ll put the fear of God in you. (Just occurred to me. Mike Brown: Suncare expert. His name. Brown. Is he a real person at all or just an evocatively-named invention by Boots?)
Okay, ready for the scare? Here goes: One in eight people in our glorious republic will develop skin cancer and that number is set to increase. Oh yes! How about that for scary? And it’s all the fault of the sun. (Well, 80-90% is.) Frankly, I wouldn’t have thought that the Irish sun shone enough to do all this damage, but it would appear that I’m wrong.
Tans are lovely, we’re all agreed on that. But a lovely tan is actually burnt skin. Yes! Think of your skin as a slice of bread, the sun as the grill and your tanned skin as toast. But toast is nice, I hear you say. Yes, if you eat it immediately! But if you don’t, then what happens? Yes, it goes strange and chewy and not nice at all.
Pop along to Boots, they have loads of (terrifying!) information and comprehensive sun protection courtesy of their Soltan range.
Lots of other sun stuff out this Summer - Clarins have launched the excellent Sun Wrinkle Control Eye Contour Care SPF30 – in response to the fact that we always forget to protect our delicate eye contour - the part of the face which has practically no hydrolipidic film! (Not exactly sure what a hydrolipidic film is, but I’m sure it’s something good.)
Apparently, we feel that traditional sunblock is too oily to risk using on our eyelids in case it runs into our eyes and blinds us. (It’s true, it’s happened to me and I’m not keen to repeat the experience. It took about a week for the watering to stop.) And thinking we can protect the area with sunglasses is utter foolishness – the sun’s rays can sneak around corners, (well, the oblique ones can, anyway.) This product is excellent in the following ways: it’s non-oily so won’t run into your eyes, in fact it’s even suitable for contact lens wearers; the tube has a spout tip which makes it easy to apply, even without a mirror; and the texture is superfine so it glides on without pulling the skin.
I’ll tell you another body part that always gets a raw deal – the lips. And I’ll tell you why: if you smother your lips in sunblock, you end up swallowing most of it. Instead treat yourself to Bobbi Brown’s Lip Balm. Not only has it an SPF of 15, it transforms cracked, dry lips to soft succulence, has a barely perceptible fragrance (I don’t know about you but I no longer like it when lip stuff smells like sweets, it just sets up a horrible craving for a 2 pound bag of pick’n’mix, the kind you get at the cinema) and comes in a handy little tin, dinky enough to travel everywhere with you.
While I’m scaring the daylights out of you, I might as well remind you that it’s not just our skin that the sun makes mincemeat of. Research from Shiseido shows that our hair suffers too. Okay, you won’t get hair cancer, but you might get really horrible hair. Their press package has an artist’s impression of a strand of hair which had been overexposed to UV rays - protein degradation inside the cuticle led to cavities until it eventually looked like swiss cheese. And what that means in the real world is diffused reflection, loss of lustre and hair breaking off in handfuls. As part of their highly comprehensive and effective suncare range, Shiseido provide hair – and scalp – protection. Because please don’t tell me I’m the only one who’s ever come home after a walk on a sunny day feeling as though a flame thrower is being held along my parting.
Okay, are you ready for another scare? Up to 80% of skin ageing is the result of sun exposure. Even when you’re not on your holidays. Even when you’re doing normal city-stuff like running out to fend off car-clampers or buying a family-sized toblerone or hurrying to your fruit-carving lessons. Even when it’s not very sunny, we need SPF protection. I mean, I knew all that already. But it’s been tricky using the same stuff I use on the beach – it’s too thick and makes my face look risibly shiny and gets into a vicious it’s-you-or-me standoff with my foundation.
However, this summer is the summer of day-cream/sun-block hybrids, which provide not just protection from the sun, but many of the features you’d get from an excellent day-cream. Mar shampla, Sisley’s Sunleya Age-minimising Sun Protection has an SPF15, a non-greasy, foundation-friendly texture and 4 – yes 4! - successive levels of age-defence protection: first, filtration of UV radiation; second, reinforcement of skin’s anti-oxidant defence system using a first-time combination of plants and minerals to make smithereens of free radicals; third, protection of DNA; and fourth, maintaining the skin’s protective moisture and lipid barrier and thereby plumping out wrinkles.
More multiple benefits from sun protection comes from Estee Lauder. Their Sun Performance Anti-Ageing Sun Lotion For Face SPF15 (God almighty, the length of these titles, is it my imagination or are they getting longer and longer?) goes head-to-head with pigmentation spots and ensures a more even tan, as well as all the other things it says in its informative title.
And here’s another example of sun-care synergy - very exciting! From Bliss, Ray of Hope is a sun-screen (for the body) with ‘solar-activated slender spheres.’ The sun releases caffeine and Centella asiatica, both of which are well-known for getting into street brawls with cellulite. I haven’t tried this yet, it’s just new, but Christ, I can’t wait! (The first Bliss outlet will be coming to Ireland soon, details the minute I have them.)
And finally, nothing to do with sun protection – an eyeliner from MAC. Called Technakohl, I’ve really fallen for it, even though it’s non-liquid and I thought I only liked liquid ones and even though they only sent me the grey one and I thought I only liked jewel-colours (and you should see the pictures! Intense blues and greens and purples.) It glides on in a satisfyingly non-pully way, doesn’t smudge, lasts for hours and looks fantastic.