When travelling for your beach honeymoon, think of your beauty bag as what you'd need if you were stuck on a deserted island (aside from a satellite phone). Keep your skin and hair well protected and while you're at it, a little makeup won't hurt if you're going to be posting a bunch of photos on social media.
How to tame a hairy situation
1. Apply hair
mask. Chances are your tresses are in a fragile state after multiple hair trials, dye jobs and intensive heat styling from your wedding. To treat it, apply a hair mask for at least 30 minutes after you've shampooed, and then tie in a bun or plaits while you chill by the water.
The heat
from the sun will help penetrate the nutrients deeper into the hair
shaft. If you're staying at a honeymooners' private villa paradise, wear a shower cap over the mask too. This is heaven for
thirsty hair!
2. Pack a vent brush or a round brush because you can't get volume
from hotel amenity combs! Blow-dry upside down for volume and use
your favourite brush to finish the ends. Don't waste your time packing a flat iron — five minutes outside your seaside
room and that salty air will undo all your work. If your ends need
rehydrating, rub a pea-sized amount of the hotel-provided body cream and you're done.
3. The
hair benefit from a beach holiday is that you are surrounded by sea
water, which equals free sea salt spray! Have some handy in a small spray bottle and spritz for sexy tousled beach hair. If you have
short hair,
this works for you as well because sea salt sprays give great texture!
Styling tip: Want great looking hair for a romantic dinner by the beach? Twist
dry, lightly sea-salt misted hair into multiple buns, then let loose and shake hair out after 30 minutes. Voila! Perfectly tousled beach tresses!
Avoid a makeup meltdown
1. You'd think that if you're old enough to get married, you wouldn't need
a sun protection reminder, but just in case you're thinking of packing light, here it is: Never leave home without sunscreen! But if you've forgotten to pack it and the resort doesn't have any, ask for coconut oil from
the kitchen. It has a natural protection of 6-8 SPF, but bear
in mind though that it's a really low protection factor and insufficient for intensive tanning.
2. Skincare. You're on a honeymoon to celebrate your wedding, now is not the time to give up the fight on aging skin, especially if you're expecting to do lots of sun worshipping. Bring along moisturisers, which help soothe sensitised or burnt skin as well, just in case you get a little too carried away outdoors.
3. Primer. Yes. YOU are on vacation, but your sebaceous glands are not.
4. If you're a 'must wear foundation'
person, bring along a sheer
foundation two shades darker than your current shade and/or a liquid
bronzer
to help tint your foundation. Mix to achieve the shade that matches your new tan that is likely to
darken daily. Avoid powders which look chalky and mask-like, especially
on sun-kissed skin.
5. Highlights with a creamy texture go great with holiday skin with the bonus of making it look amazing in photos! But always remember to use it sparingly though, you don't want beacons for your cheeks.
6. Bring along water-resistant mascara and a liquid cheek stain, which usually has greater staying power than powder blushes.
7. Red
lipstick is always a great colour to bring on holiday as it can easily elevate
your casual day makeup to bronzed beach goddess. Planning to kiss your new
husband? Go with a lippy with great staying power or doesn't transfer easily.
Andrea Claire is a celebrity hair & makeup artist with over 20 years under her beauty belt currently based in Singapore since 2007. She has yet to try durian. Check out her hair and makeup portfolios here.
Photo credits
Photography: Brendan Zhang
Styling: Randolph Tan
Hair & makeup: Andrea Claire using Charlotte Tilbury, NARS, Benefit & bedhead by tigi
Model: Sofia Wakabayashi for Maison Zhou
