The Her Edit

July is UV Safety Month; and it feels like the right moment to talk about the gentlest, most loyal act of self-care there is.

Protecting the skin you live in. Not for how it looks; though it helps; but because it is the body’s largest organ, and it carries you everywhere. This is also a quiet love letter to those of us with deeper skin tones, so often told we didn’t need to worry about the sun. We do. And thankfully, the formulas have finally caught up.

An SPF with no white cast.The non-negotiable, and the one that used to be so hard to find on melanin-rich skin. Look for a fluid or tinted SPF 50 that melts in clear; brands like Black Girl Sunscreen or a Supergoop Unseen fluid; worn every day, sun or grey sky.

A gentle morning cleanse.Nothing stripping; a soft start to the day. Elemis’s Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm is a quiet indulgence that melts the night away and leaves skin calm rather than tight.

A moisturiser that does the quiet work.A daily cream to sit beneath your SPF and hold moisture through the warmer months. Elemis’s Pro-Collagen Marine Cream is the kind of steady staple you’re glad of weeks later.

A vitamin C for glow.A few drops of Garnier’s Vitamin C Brightening Serum each morning to brighten and help protect. The kind of small step that, weeks later, you’re quietly grateful you kept.

An after-sun to come home to.Hawaiian Tropic’s Cooling Aloe Gel for warm evenings; the skincare equivalent of exhaling after a long, bright day.

A wide-brim hat and good sunglasses.The oldest sun protection there is, and still the most elegant. Shade you can carry with you.

None of this needs to be a ten-step ritual. Protect, cleanse, moisturise, and let your skin be. Care, not correction.

What’s one small thing your skin has been asking of you?

Softly,
Fiona x