A Vampire’s Guide to Sunlight

As you may have gathered if you’ve seen any pictures of me, or read my Fenty foundation review, I’m pretty pale. By which I mean, my skin actually reflects sunlight… Grace is convinced I’m a vampire because sometimes my skin even sparkles in the sun a la Edward from Twilight. I wish I was exaggerating, but there’s photo-evidence. So, I have a lot of experience avoiding sunburns, if not the sun itself! The Victoria Day weekend is really the first time I spend any prolonged time in the sun - I mean, Canada, this is the first weekend that it’s usually warm enough to spend any prolonged period of time outside. We literally had snow just a month ago, baffling! But, one of my favorite times of the year is spent on the dock with these girls at the annual cottage trip for Rachel’s birthday, so knowing how to get around the sun is something I need to be able to do!

A lot of my tips and tricks have been developed from experience, namely the experience of intense sun burn… Not something I ever want to repeat!

First off, we have the all-important choice of sunblock. With so many brands and SPFs to choose from it can get a little overwhelming - and if you have sensitive skin it can also be a minefield of potential rashes! My go-to brands are Coppertone, and Neutrogena - with Coppertone’s spray sunscreen being a quick on-the-go favourite, and Neutrogena having the highest SPF offering on the market! Yes, I know SPF110 may seem like overkill but after using it for a week in Mexico and not getting more than a toonie-sized sunburn where my bikini top had rubbed my sunblock off? Yeah, I’m going to go with the overkill every time!

How and when you apply your sunblock is also super important - the rule of thumb I’ve developed is that whenever I start to feel like my skin is getting hot, it’s time to reapply sunblock! Not just warmed by the sun, but actively hot - I know there are instructions on how often to reapply, but honestly, who is paying that much attention to how much time has passed when you’re stretched out on a dock or the beach? Definitely not me! So, apply liberally and apply often, it’s worth it.

Hats, hats are your friend! I have a fairly old-lady style sun hat which I love, but honestly any hat helps, as long as it keeps the sun off my face! Because my neck is probably one of the palest parts of my body, I tend to steer away from baseball caps but whatever works for you! Trust me when I say, a sunburned scalp is not a fun time. Thankfully, hats are in style right now, so you can look cute and avoid pesky things like sunburn and sunstroke!

Cottage weekends don’t tend to require any makeup, but if you’re not comfortable going without foundation (especially if cute photos are happening!), there are a bunch of great foundation and BB cream options that have sunscreen built-in! Usually the SPF level ranges between 15 and 30, so nothing too crazy but definitely enough to give you some protection! Some of my favourites include Aveeno’s BB cream with SPF30, Maybelline’s Fit Me! foundation with SPF18 and MAC’s StudioWaterweight SPF30 foundation. All give you nice coverage and a decent amount of SPF so you don’t have to worry about getting your face burnt during that perfect dock photo op!

Moral of the story is that the sun is wonderful, and since we don’t get much of it here in the Great White North, we want to spend as much time in it as possible! So, I hope some or all of these tips help to keep you babes sunburn-free as you enjoy some sunshine this holiday weekend! Now I’m off to spend some more time out on the dock - slathered in sunblock and wearing my old-lady sun hat, of course!

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