SUMMER ARRIVES AT WWW.HQHAIR.COM - WITH AT 10% OFF, FOR www.beautybible.com INSIDERS (AND BEST OF ALL, THEY’LL DELIVER TO YOUR HOLIDAY DESTINATION…!)
If you’re anything like us, your holiday suitcase weighs a ton. (Jo ended up paying excess baggage on the way to Madeira, recently, which was a first.) So, hurrah for clever old HQhair.com (one of our handful of ‘approved’ beauty websites): they’ll deliver your beauty essentials to your villa, hotel (not sure about campsites and beach shacks but you can always ask…!) The charge is £3.50 for the first item and 70p for each additional item, within Europe, and £6 for the first item and £1.20 for each additional item for the rest of the world. No more lugging a Samsonite full of SPF to Heathrow!
NB When you shop at www.HQhair.com, the Beauty Bible discount is automatically applied at the checkout and you don’t need to use a code.
Aromatherapy Associates Travel Essentials, £24 for 4 x 7.5 ml (take £2.40 off, with your discount). As you know we love, love, LOVE Aromatherapy Associates, and this contains our favourite oils in generous 7.5 ml sizes - Deep Relax (fabulous for helping you readjust your inner time clock, when jet-lagged), and Revive Morning (for when it’s midnight at home and breakfast at your new destination). These amazingly effective oils are accompanied by Revive Evening (the perfect pre-sundowner pep-you-up) and Support, with lavender and peppermint oils, to soothe skin and support a healthy digestion. especially thirsty. These oils, as we so often say, are in a league of their own.
Aveda After Sun Treatment Masque, £15 for 125 ml (or £13.50 with your insider discount). An intensive conditioner with a delectably tropical scent (think: organic neroli, ylang-lang and Spanish cistus): slather this on to undo the effects of salt, sun, chlorine and see breezes, and add a lightly protective shield against the damaging effects of UV light.
Shady Day Sun Protection Flat Pack SPF30, £9.95 for 15 wipes (take 10% off that, with your insider discount. Lightweight, mess-free, enriched with vitamins A, E, mango fruit extract and organic aloe vera: these moistened wipes swipe over the body to deliver sinks-in-fast protection. They’re actually great for carrying on board a plane (no worries about baggage restrictions), for destinations where you know you’ll be hanging around in the bright sunshine waiting to get through passport control. Not a style of sun protection we’d recommend for every day but definitely great for on-the-go.
Pout Sexy Sunwear Minis, £25. We sure miss Pout’s Covent Garden beautique - R.I.P - but we’re thrilled that the brand is still alive, and available on www.HQhair.com. This trio of gorgeousness contains 50 ml sizes of Ultimate Face Tan bronzer, Ultimate Fake Tan (which gives impressively natural-looking results) and Instant Shimmer Tan (completely brilliant for immediate tan-transformation if you arrive on holiday with Padstow-pale legs when all around you are Bahamian-bronzed). In other words, a head-to-toe glow, in one kit.
Dermalogica WaterBlock Solar Spray SPF 30, £22.05 for 50 ml (or £19.85 with your usual ‘insider’ discount). Dermalogica products go down a storm with our Beauty Bible testers, and we think you’ll really like this. Ideal for water sports, in particular, this alcohol-free spray absorbs super-fast, and contains no artificial fragrance or colouring (which eliminates two potential trouble-triggers, if you’re sun-sensitive). Simply spritz-and-go.
Hei Poa Monoi Nacres Or, £9. Hei Poa is a wonderful range, based on the heaven-scented monoi (frangipani/tiaré) plant from Tahiti, so you basically waft round smelling exotic as a Gauguin painting. We can’t honestly counsel using the ultra-low SPF oils (SPF 3 and SPF 6, for instance), but this is an after-sun product shot through with golden mother of pearl flecks to give you a shimmering glow. (NB The oil solidifies below 24˚C, but all you need to do to make it lusciously liquid is put it in a basin of hot water, or a bath.)
There are countless other summer discoveries on the HQhair.com site, but as we say, these are among our faves -
