Beach Tested: Beauty & the Beach's Sunscreen Awards

Today I'll be talking all about one of summer's most important beauty items - sunscreen! This is an essential part of every summer beauty regimen. You should be wearing SPF 30 on your face every day, whether it comes from your moisturizer or and actual sunscreen lotion. It's the best way to prevent sun spots, premature aging and skin cancer. I'm pretty lax about wearing sunscreen on the rest of my body for regular days, but at the beach it's absolutely essential. Below are my tried-and-true picks, what they're good for and why I love them. Enjoy, and always remember to keep yourself protected!

Category: BODY
If you have truly fair skin or burn easily, please don't use a number this low. Also, try never to wear anything lower than 8. It's a nice, low number that still gives you fair protection - anything less is basically no protection at all.

I do not have an opinion on spray sunscreens. I don't use them and quite frankly, I don't recommend that you use them. No matter what formula you use, they will always wear off quicker and you are far more likely to miss spots with spray than you are with a lotion.

Best All-Around: Sun Bum Sunscreen

Image via trustthebum.com

I am a HUGE fan of Sun Bum's sun care products. They're an amazing brand out of Florida that got their start in small, local surf shops. Surf shops up the East Coast and into the West Coast started picking up the brand, and now you can find it on the shelves in Ulta and at some drug stores. I love they're classic sunscreen because it has a super rich formula that's emollient and feels like you're getting really good coverage. It's water resistant without being sticky, and only needs to be reapplied if you rub it off on your chair or towel. It gives great protection and they offer SPFs of 15, 30, 50 and 70. It's broad spectrum so you know you're covered, and the light coconut-banana scent is WAY less cloying than that of another popular sunscreen (it's Hawaiian Tropic. That is NOT what Hawaii smells like. I know.) It's a sunscreen you'll actually enjoy wearing, and the adorable packaging, fun mascot and pleasant scent make this a home run.

Best Low-Number Sunscreen: Coppertone Tanning Lotion SPF 8

Image via coppertone.com

Sorry to all the dermatologists out there, but when I go to the beach I want my skin to show it. I wear SPF 15 for the for the first few days until I get a good base tan going, then switch to SPF 8 when I want to get that covetable, golden color. I have an ancient bottle of this stuff and I love it! I don't know if the formula's changed much, but I hope not. From my experience, this is a lightweight lotion that sinks right into your skin and doesn't leave any greasy residue. I rarely burn when I wear this, but I do reapply if I get chair marks on my legs from laying on my back. This is an awesome formula that'll give you great color while still keeping you protected.

Category: FACE
I don't recommend that you use anything less than SPF 30. I know, I know - then your face won't get as tan as your body. Your face is more prone to sunburn and the first part of your body to develop skin cancer because facial tissue is so sensitive. Never forget to cover your ears, and make sure you get sunscreen up into your hairline and down your hair part if you have one.

There are lots of moisturizers containing SPF, but clinical trials have shown that you'd need to drown your face in the stuff to get the full effect of the sunscreen. My suggestion? Mix one of the following face sunscreens with your SPF-free moisturizer to get a one-step layer that's both moisturizing and protecting.

Best All-Around: Neutrogena Ultra Sheer 

Image via ulta.com

I have a fair amount of experience with this sunscreen and I've heard really great reviews for this product. It's a lightweight formula that dries to a matte finish. It's long-wearing and comes in a wide variety of SPF numbers starting at 30 and going up from there.

Best for Normal to Dry Skin and Sensitive Skin: COOLA Classic Face SPF 30 (Cucumber or Unscented)

Image via birchbox.com

I discovered this product in my Birchbox last summer and just recently bought the full-size version. This is an incredibly gentle formula that combines SPF with moisturizer. Don't fret, this is a full-strength sunscreen, not the watered-down version that you find in most moisturizers. COOLA is a great new brand that uses as many organic ingredients as possible in their formulations without sacrificing sun protection. The moisturizing base is super lightweight and the cucumber scent is very pleasant. If you have sensitive skin, opt for the unscented version.

Best for Oily or Acne Prone Skin: Neutrogena Clear Face Liquid-Lotion 

Image via ulta.com

As an extremely oily, extremely acne-prone person, I spent a lot of years breaking out like crazy from sunscreens that were too heavy for my skin. This formula is the holy grail of sunscreens for those who just can't tolerate classic formulas. Available in SPF 30 or 55, this sunscreen is extremely lightweight thanks to its liquid-lotion base. It sinks right in and dries to a matte finish and controls oil while you're out in the sun. I love this because I can wear in under makeup like a primer and it doesn't make my face oily. Don't be fooled by the lightweight formula though, this will stay on all day and keep you protected with broad-spectrum SPF.

Best Touch-Up Stick: Sum Bum SPF 30 Face Stick

Image via trustthebum.com

For days at the beach when I don't want to bring a tube of sunscreen to reapply to my face, I love to pop this convenient and sweet-smelling stick in my beach bag. It's small and compact so it can go with you anywhere and offers relatively non-greasy coverage when you need to touch up. Face sticks making touching up super easy and this one doesn't need to be rubbed in thanks to its invisible formula.

Best Lip Balm: Zinka Lip Balm SPF 30

Image via zinka.com

I found this stuff at one of my favorite surf shops in North Carolina, It's a little hard to find and you may only be able to get it online or in surf shops, but it's worth every penny. It's a nice, thick, colorless formula made with zinc oxide, a sunscreen powerhouse that's been used for almost as long as sunscreen has been around. If you can envision the white sunscreen on lifeguard's noses or the colored stuff on surfers, that's zinc. It's basically a shield against the sun that lets in no trespassing UV rays. This stuff stays on and I like that it comes in SPF 30 - most of the lip balms I find with SPF only come in 15. If you've ever been surfing or skim boarding you'll recognize the taste of surf wax - for the average person, it can be a little hard to get used to, but it's worth it for such a great sun protectant.

Category: AFTER-SUN

Best Gel: Sun Bum Cool Down Hydrating After Sun Gel

Image via trustthebum.com

Last year I made the mistake of getting more than a little drunk and laying out by the pool at the beach house I was visiting for WAY too long. The result was an extremely painful burn all over my legs that I had to recover from while I was severely hungover. Not fun. This gel was my saving grace - I kept it in the fridge and applied it every few hours to my aching burn. It provided immediate cooling relief even when I didn't refrigerate it, plus thanks to its formula containing aloe vera and Vitamin E, I didn't peel at all after the burn had faded. Needless to say, I use this whenever I get a burn (which is rarely) and sometimes as a lightweight moisturizer in the summer. It's great for soothing after shaving and as a treatment for household burns, provided they don't blister.

Best Lotion: Hawaiian Tropic After Sun Lotion in Lime Coolada

Image via hawaiiantropic.com

This is a fantastic after sun product because it's formulated as a lotion. It's highly moisturizing and leaves a delightful tropical lime scent reminiscent of a beachside bar and your favorite cocktail. The moisturizing formula helps extend the life of your tan by keeping your skin moisturized, and helps prevent peeling after sun burns. Plus, it comes in a gigantic bottle that you can siphon into smaller bottles to take on vacation, but you'll never run out of it!


That's about all I've got for you! You'll notice I didn't review any makeup products - that was for a reason. BB and CC creams are great for daytime sun protection, but they can slide around your face if you're sweating, so I always recommend starting with an actual lotion as a base. There are also a lot of mineral powder sunscreens, but studies have shown that these aren't great protectants, plus inhaling sunscreen particulates can lead to buildup and possibly cancer in the lungs. If you're going to use these, use them EXTREMELY sparingly, and don't rely on powders with SPF for your daily sun protection (I'm looking at you, Bare Minerals).

June Birchbox Review

So it's a little later than I had hoped but here it is: my June Birchbox review! June was another good box, I was happy with the majority of the products I received and all were deluxe samples as opposed to one-time-use samples. Here's what I got in my June box:

I was really excited to get Number 4 haircare again, it's become a favorite of mine and although I haven't sprung for any of the full sizes yet, I think I'm gonna cave pretty soon. I received the Super Comb Prep & Protect, a product I'd read a lot about and was excited to try. I took it with me as my only hair product option on my recent trip to the beach so I got to do an in-depth assessment of it. It's a leave-in conditioner that you spritz into your hair while it's damp, and you can either leave your hair to air dry or blow dry it. Super Comb is a heat protectant in addition to being a detangler, and I absolutely loved this product. It made my hair extremely soft and shiny and really helped with the snarls my hair gets when it gets dried out by salt water.

The next product I received was SuperGoop's Everyday Sunscreen SPF 30. I love SuperGoop's products, and this was no exception - however, it's not a product that I see myself investing in. I'm a much bigger fan of SuperGoop's more innovative products, like their AMAZING CC cream and their Sunscreen serum, which is so lightweight that even with my oily skin, I can wear it under my makeup. However, this is just a run-of-the-mill sunscreen and I was not sufficiently impressed by its ingredients list. Also, they say this is a face and body sunscreen, but the full-size tube is SO small! What's up with that? The sample I received was also really small so I've only gotten about two uses out of it, and that's only applying to my face. Meh.

The next product in my box was a set of four Coastal Scents eyeshadows from their new Revealed 2 palette. To be perfectly honest, I haven't tried these yet, but I've used Coastal Scents products before. They're okay, but you certainly get what you pay for. I know Coastal Scents shadows to be somewhat dry and sheer, and I also get a fair amount of fallout with these. When it comes to nude eyeshadow palettes, I'll stick to Urban Decay's Naked.

The next product I received was Joie's Folle de Joie perfume and WOW do I love it! This scent is amazing, it's the perfect combination of floral and fruity but it has an incredible soft note to it that makes this a truly delightful, wearable fragrance. This would be perfect for spring and summer, but would also make a good transition into fall, and can be worn day and night. I will savor this sample forever, because the full-size only comes in one size and would put a large dent in my bank account.

The last sample I received was Jasmine Seven's Fresh Feet Wipes. This was one of those bonus samples that was pretty silly, and I'm not going to buy it, but was fun to try out. I used one after a long day at work (I work retail so I'm on my feet for 6 hours at a time), and I like that it had a pleasant fragrance, plus it felt like I was wiping away any dirt and grime I may have picked up while wearing my sandals, but I didn't find it particularly relaxing or soothing. Like I said, nice to try but not something I'm going to invest in.

All in all I really liked this box! There was nothing in the box that I was unhappy with and I've enjoyed all of the products I've tried so far. Although I wouldn't buy most of these products, it's always fun to sample them.

Belated Birchbox Reviews: May and June

My May Birchbox was held hostage by my school's postal services office for a month before they finally got around to notifying me of it. Unfortunately, by the time they shipped it to me it came during my vacation. However, I just picked it up at the Post Office today and I now present to you both my May and my June Birchboxes!

We'll start off with May since, chronologically, it came first. This box's theme was "Freewheeling," a fun theme for the transition from spring to summer. It was partially sponsored by Kate Spade Saturday, which involved a bright yellow outer box and fun black-and-white stripe inside the main box. Here's what I got:

This was a pretty great box in terms of value. The Gilchrist & Soames, Marcelle, Number 4 and Cynthia Rowley samples will all last me a while. The only single use samples I received were a Number 4 conditioner a sample of Smarty Pants vitamins, and the conditioner was a bonus sample to accompany the shampoo.

The two makeup samples I received are Marcelle's BB cream in Golden Glow and Cynthia Rowley's eye liner in Silver. The Golden Glow BB cream seems to be intended to be a primer more so than a base product. If you had really fabulous skin, this might be all you needed, but otherwise this is simply a sheer luminizer. It does help even skin tone and gave my skin a really beautiful glow. The eye liner is extremely bright and full color, which I love. It's super waterproof - I tested it on my hand and it stayed on during my shower, even after being scrubbed with a loofah - and doesn't smudge once you let it set for 30 seconds. Here are some swatches of the two products:

Left: Indoor light. Right: Outdoor light.

The next products I received were the Number 4 haircare products. I received a travel size of the Fleur du Temps volumizing shampoo and a single-use packet of the accompanying volumizing conditioner. I used it today and I have to say it made my hair really soft and full, even when I used it with an oil, which tends to weigh my hair down. The smell is lovely and you can use the product very sparingly - Number 4's formulas are highly concentrated.

The next product I received and LOVED was Gilchrist & Soames' Spa Therapy Body Lotion. It's a lightweight formula that moisturizes without feeling heavy, and sinks into skin quickly so it doesn't leave greasy residue. It's formulated with sea fennel, a spa ingredient used for relaxation, and it has a light citrus fragrance that's very pleasant. 

The last product I got in my box is a sample of Smarty Pants gummy vitamins. These are a three-in-one multivitamin plus Omega-3 and Vitamin D3 supplements. They have a nice texture that's reminiscent of soft gummy bears. They pretty much just taste sugary, and the full serving size is six vitamins which seems a little excessive to me. They're good, but I'll stick with my regular vitamins. 

Stick around, the June Birchbox review is coming soon!

Beach Tested Day 3: #SurfsUpVoxBox

As part of the Influenster program, I've received another awesome Vox Box: the Surf's Up Vox Box! This is a great box that had a bunch of awesome products for summer in it and I'm super excited to share my initial impressions and product reviews with you.

These are the contents of the box I received. The box itself was bright orange and quite cheerful!

The box included three beauty products and two "lifestyle" products. The thing I deemed most valuable is the full-size CoverGirl Bombshell Curvaceous mascara. It's a brand new product that hasn't been released fully yet and I'm really quite excited to have received it. Unlike the first Bombshell mascara which I have purchased, tried and am NOT a fan of, this mascara has a curved brush on one end accompanied by the fluffy building brush on the other end. I'm almost positive that this is the Clump Crusher brush combined with a run-of-the-mill volumizing brush, so I'm hoping I'll like this better than the original since I'm a huge fan of the Clump Crusher.

The next product is Sinful Colors' nail polish in Ocean Side. It's a mid-tone to deep blue that does, in fact, look like the ocean. This polish receives awesome reviews and Consumer Reports often ranks this brand number one in overall quality for nail polish, even when compared to the likes of Chanel and Dior. At $1.99 a bottle, it's a great polish for the price, and I love that I got such a summer-appropriate color right before my beach trip! Here's the polish on my toes:

I only applied two coats and got full color from the polish which is always a plus. The color is a little deeper than I generally choose for blues, and while I wouldn't use this on my nails it does make a nice toenail color. 

The next product I received is Hawaiian Tropic's Silk Hydration After Sun balm. It's a sweet-smelling lotion with aloe and other hydrators like shea butter. It's a fantastic product for soothing and treating sun burn - it helps cool the burn while the hydrators repair and prevent future peeling. It's also a great, lightweight moisturizer if you want an alternative to heavy body lotions and creams in the summer, but aren't ready to switch to dry oil sprays. For an extra dose of soothing, keep this product in the fridge for an even cooler application.

The first lifestyle product I received is First Aid Shot Therapy's Pain reliever medication shot. It's packaged in the style of 5-hour Energy, and contains an aspirin-like NSAID pain reliever and caffeine. I'm a little skeptical of things like this and 5-hour Energy that promise instant relief in the form of a concentrated liquid shot, but this product could be awesome for someone looking for fast relief from a migraine (caffeine is a fantastic treatment for migraines - it helps expand constricted blood vessels which cause migraine pain).

The final "product" I received is a coupon for a free Jamba Juice at-home smoothie. I also received a second coupon for $1.00 off a second smoothie for future use. I haven't redeemed the coupon yet but I do have some experience with these smoothies. They're sold in many major grocery stores and are sold in bulk at Costco. They're a little lacking in flavor, but what frozen fruit isn't? I'm happy to give these another go to see if I can find a flavor I like.

All in all this was a great Vox Box and I'm happy with everything I got. As I've said before, all of these products were completely free and were sent to me for testing purposes by the brands and Influenster. I'll give more in-depth reviews if I continuously use a product and fall in love with it, and I'll try to get out a full review of the mascara soon.

GEL POLISH UPDATE: It's become increasingly difficult for me to not pick at my nail polish due to the severity of the chipping on my right hand. By the grace of God, my left hand has yet to chip of its own accord; any chipping was deliberately caused by me. My right finger are now chipping at the base and the top of the nail, and half of the polish on my index finger peeled off with very little effort on my part. 

Beach Tested Day 2: My Favorite Bronzers

I have the pleasure of having a body that tans quite well and doesn't easily burn even when I use sunscreens with very low SPFs. I am aware that this is not good for my skin, and that wearing low SPF sunscreens increases my risk for skin cancer, but whatever, I like being tan: I rarely use an SPF lower than 8 so we're good. However, my face has refused to conform to this standard of bronzing and instead burns like no tomorrow unless I wear an SPF of at least 30 and reapply at least every two hours.

So why is this relevant? Well for the excellent reason that I found myself needing to make my face as tan as the rest of me. Enter bronzer, which has been my summertime companion for a number of years. Because my face doesn't tan nearly as much as my body, I choose not to invest in a darker foundation and instead invest in bronzer to make my regular foundation darker. I've tried many brands, finishes, consistencies and even different formulas but I have found my two all-time favorite bronzers, and they both come from the same brand.

The first is Too Faced's Milk Chocolate Soleil bronzer ($30). Milk Chocolate was the light-skinned ladies' answer to the classic medium-dark Chocolate Soleil, one of Too Faced's most poplar bronzers. Chocolate Soleil is a fantastic, true brown formula that has absolutely no shimmer and blends like a dream thanks to its sweet-smelling formula. Milk Chocolate is Chocolate's lighter-colored cousin, which truly looks like milk chocolate in the container, and smells like it too. I like to use a fluffy bronzer blush (the one in this set from EcoTools) to apply bronzer to the places the sun naturally hits - namely my cheekbones, the bridge of my nose, my hairline and my chin - then I apply right under my jawline so my face doesn't look too dark for my neck. I then blend it with a kabuki brush to smooth out the edges and make the color look more even.

Image via toofaced.com

The second is Too Faced's Sun Bunny bronzer ($30). This is a FANTASTIC bronzer for travel, especially during the summer, because the palette contains two colors which can be used alone or together. The formula is less silky and a little more powdery because it's lightly shimmery. This imparts beautiful, non-orange bronze color and a dewy glow that's perfect for summer vacations. At the beginning of my trips I stick to the lighter shade, then gradually blend the shades together as I build my tan. I rarely use the dark color alone, but who knows, someday a two week vacation might just get me there!

Image via toofaced.com

This is also a great palette if you like to contour with bronzer, since you get a lighter shade and a darker shade. I use the same technique as I do with Milk Chocolate Soleil but I blend a little more with the kabuki to even out the color since this formula is significantly darker than Milk Chocolate. It also applies more heavily, so don't start out with too much color on the brush and just build up to your desired coverage.

BONUS!!! Right now, ULTA is running a promotion that when you buy $25 worth of Too Faced cosmetics, you'll get a free deluxe sample of Chocolate Soleil, Too Faced's best-selling bronzer and Milk Chocolate's older cousin! Even more reason to run out and buy these babies ASAP ;)

***GEL POLISH UPDATE: My right hand is NOT doing well, but my left hand still looks pristine. Clearly, the start of chipping means the imminent ruin of that nail's polish. There are now two visible chips on my left hand and color wear on both hands. The front edges of the first two nails of my right hand have lost almost all of their polish, and my third finger had significant chipping at the front edge. My nails must be growing rapidly because the polish mo longer reaches to my cuticle.

Beach Tested, Day 1: Gel Polish

As the name of this blog would imply, I love the beach. I love the beach quite a lot, and lucky, lucky me is currently spending a week at the beach. I'm staying in North Carolina and it is fabulous and wonderful. Luckily, this give me the opportunity to bring lots of beach-specific posts, so stay tuned for new posts all week!

I recently got my first-ever gel manicure thanks to a nice welcome package from my new employers at Ulta. I got an OPI gel manicure in the Ulta salon in this lovely pink color and somewhat enjoyed the experience. I wasn't crazy about the tanning bed for your nails or the fact that it burnt one of my nails pretty badly, but the manicure looked nice and shiny and didn't have a single chip the next day, despite regular wear and tear.

I got the manicure specifically for my trip to the beach but unfortunately had to schedule my appointment for about a week before my departure date. However, I had seriously underestimated the power of gel polish because my nails looked close to perfect the day of our trip south. So, I decided I would leave the polish for the trip and live with the somewhat silly glitter I impulsively decided to get on one of my nails.

We all love a great manicure, and having pretty-colored digits is extra nice at the beach, but between salty seawater and abrasive sand, the color tends not to stay. So this week, I've decided to test the gel and see how well it holds up to the elements since gel is supposedly the be-all end-all of long lasting nail color. Here's what it looked like on Monday:

I know this is not a great quality picture, but as you can see there is nary a chip in my manicure. My right hand was slightly worse for the wear as that is my dominant hand, but there were only a few chips in an otherwise still very good-looking manicure.

Every day in addition to a fun, beach-themed blog post, I'll give you an update on how the manicure is doing. On the last day of my trip (next Sunday) I'll give you a picture and assess the durability of the gel polish.

Today is now Tuesday, and I have to say the left hand is holding strong, however I think the preexisting chips in the right hand have really been a detriment to the integrity of the polish. The chips are now two to three times as large on my right hand and there are a number of large chips on the edge of my right thumb nail. The only deterioration on my left hand is that some of the polish near the edge of my nails appears to be wearing off, but this is a slow process and is not pronounced. Three of the nails of my right hand have pronounced chips and only one nail on my left hand has any chips at all.

Summer Beauty: Casual Day

Today I'll be beginning my Summer Beauty series, in which I'll give you all the products you'll need for different types of summer days/outings/occasions. I'm starting off simple with a basic, casual day look. This is great for lazy weekends, trips to the farmer's market and walks with your dog - basically when you want to not look like a pale zombie but don't need a whole lot of makeup.

To start off, apply a base of your favorite tinted moisturizer. I say tinted moisturizer and not BB or CC cream because these can sometimes feel heavy on hot summer days, plus they have a tendency to oxidize in the sun and turn a bit orange-y. If you don't have that problem that's fine, but from personal experience I prefer the lightest possible thing I can put on my face for lazy days. I'm a fan of Clinique's Moisture Surge Tinted Moisturizer ($27), but I've heard really fantastic things about Laura Mercier's Oil-Free Tinted Moisturizer ($43) which I'm hoping to try very soon. Both have SPF so you're good to go - just make sure to apply a generous layer of the product to make sure you're getting full coverage.

Photo via lauramercier.com

The next steps all depend on what kind of skin you have. If you have oily skin, apply a dusting of pressed powder with a big, fluffy brush to help keep oil at bay - I'm a huge fan of Revlon's Nearly Naked Powder ($9.99). If you have dry skin, skip this step and move on.

Photo via revlon.com

From here I'll split this how-to into dry skin and oily skin, because the types of products to use vary drastically between the two. For dry skin, apply a liquid or creme bronzer where the sun naturally hits your face - I usually apply to my cheekbones, down the bridge of my nose, across my hairline and along my jawbone. Blend a little bit of the product down your neck and on your collarbones so the color looks consistent. Try CoverGirl TruMAGIC Skin Perfector in The Sunkisser ($11.99) or Benefit Cosmetics' Sun Beam highlighter ($26). Next, apply creme blush to the apples of the cheeks - Revlon PhotoReady Creme Blush ($12.99) comes in great colors that look scary but go on nice and sheer, or go for Stila's classic Convertible Color ($25). 

Photo via sephora.com

For oily skin, continue using powder bronzer. I usually apply to my cheekbones, down the bridge of my nose, across my hairline and along my jawbone. My personal favorite is Too Faced's Milk Chocolate Soleil ($30) or NYX Cosmetics Matte Body Bronzer ($8.99). Then apply powder blush to the cheeks for a touch of color - I like NARS Blush ($30) for its smooth consistency, but you could also go for Maybelline's Dream Bouncy Blush ($7.99).

Photo via sephora.com

Now that we're done with face products let's bring it back together. For the eyes, apply two coats of volumizing mascara - I like Mally Beauty's Volumizing mascara ($20) or CoverGirl's Clump Crusher ($7.99). You can also apply a nice coat of eyeliner if you, like me, feel naked without it. My favorites are Urban Decay's 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil ($20) or Rimmel London's ScandalEyes waterproof liner ($4.49). Finally, swipe on an SPF-loaded tinted lip balm. My new favorite is Jouer's SPF 15 Lip Sheer ($22), but you could also try Neutrogena's Revitalizing Lip Balm SPF 20 ($8.99). After that you're good to go!

Photo via birchbox.com