Sneaky Ways To Get SPF Into Your Beauty Routine

It's almost summer, which means it's time to start thinking about the best SPF for your hair and skin. There are so many ways to get that sun protection factor up in your grill that it’s beyond silly to skip, let alone unsafe! Protecting that beautiful bod from sun damage can be as easy a quick spritz over your makeup or a thorough coating of foundation. Whether you're a simple moisturize-and-go type of gal or a full face Kimster, you can give your skin (and strands) the shield it needs to avoid cancer, wrinkles, and damage.

Though it's definitely an option, you don't have to wear makeup, foundation, or any type of BB, CC, alphabet anything to put up a defense against the dark UV rays. In fact, most doctors say that lotions, primers, creams, and emulsions are the best place to stash your SPF. A daily moisturizer with 15 SPF is a solid start to sun protection, but more than one layer of coverage is even better. More than one layer of coverage. Try to apply at least one product from each of the three major beauty categories below, and your skin and hair will have their best summer yet.

Skincare

Using a skincare potion with an SPF rating is one of the easiest ways to get your bases covered. The options are so numerous, and more and more companies are getting on the bandwagon every season. You should easily be able to swap out your daily moisturizer for something with SPF!

Emulsions (super lightweight moisturizers) are a gift from the Asian skincare industry that has been readily adopted by the best brands in the European game. They are skincare’s equivalent of taking your vitamins. Caudalie is among my top five favorite French brands, and their emulsion, Polyphenol C15 SPF20 Anti-Wrinkle Protect Fluid, bears SPF 20 as well as a potent punch of resveratrol and vitamin C. I’ve been a fan of this particular product for over a year and it’s both widely available and long lasting — well worth the 49 dollar price tag.

Heyyyy thats my sunblocka! Yeah! Yeah!

Sunday Riley is the Cadillac of American skincare, incorporating high performance ingredients to conquer real skin concerns. Their Cashmere sunscreen is a luxe and hypoallergenic option, as there are few mineral sunscreens out there that also support anti-aging with actives.

Laura Mercier Flawless Skin Mega Moisturizer is a makeup artist fave. It provides an excellent base for makeup, allowing pigment to adhere more evenly while its SPF 15 does the sun dirty. This is really great for achieving a dewy finish. It's so fast-acting, that you can feel where you have applied and where you haven’t instantly.

Primer, the last step in a good routine, is a perfect parking spot for SPF, since a thorough coating guarantees an even better makeup application. Equitance uses eastern principles to develop their products, and the Broad Spectrum SPF 36 primer locks on makeup while shielding rays, plus brightening scars and hyperpigmentation. Don’t forget to apply these types of products to your neck and décolleté!

Oof.

Makeup

Thankfully, it’s becoming a standard practice to include some SPF in complexion makeup! Here we have a few really great choices who’s radness I can attest to.

Hourglass' palette's popularity growing with all the coverage all the glossy mags have been giving it. Their Illusion Hyaluronic Skin Tint is beyond a tinted moisturizer, as I find it has very full coverage. You know you have a good foundation when people rave about how nice your skin looks, and when I feel like getting extra fancy this is the product I turn to with SPF 15 to insure that nice skin I cherish.

Oil-free complexion makeup with SPF is an excellent choice for medium coverage, and Jouer Luminizing Moisture Tint and Clinique Acne Solutions BB Cream are two great ones I’ve tried recently. With SPFs of 20 for Jouer and 40 for Clinique, you get a wide variety of coverage. I love Jouer’s light shimmer effect, plus its antioxidant powers from ginseng and ginkgo biloba. Clinique’s BB Cream is part of an entire acne banishing system, and the matte finish and buildable coverage are perf for breakout days.

The queen of the bunch is only just hitting store shelves: Sulwhasoo Perfecting Cushion is launching this April, and I expect it to be as big of a hit as sister brand Amore Pacific’s offering. With a soft focus effect and their signature Korean herbal complex, you get a makeup that feels more like skincare, and the enclosed applicator buffs skin to a perfect finish. SPF 50 and a free refill for your cute lil compact? I’m in!

The king of the bunch? A foolproof brush on mineral sunscreen by La Bella Donna. Marketed toward men but overall translucent and benign, this is an excellent choice for high and low maintenance people, as it can be worn alone or over the whole shebang.

No shame in wearing a little mineral veil, dudes.

Hair and Body

A very radical little bird who is a pro traveller told me a fantastic secret: Seal that makeup with the newfangled, aerosol-type sunscreen! Alba Botanica is a wonderful, all-natural line — their shaving cream is bomb! When they released a continuous mister sunscreen, I knew it would be a crucial summer essential. Putting this on your mug before stepping out not only keeps makeup from budging, but ensures that SPF 50 closes the door on sun damage, provided you re-apply if you’re going to be outside all day.

Phytoplage's new Sublime After Sun Oil is the modern day Bain du Soleil orange gelee in spray form. Perilla oil (the new "it" oil being stuffed into capsules and products faster than you can say Omega-3) hangs with oil of buriti, camellia, and annatto. You strands need protection from the sun too, especially if you color it. Sublime After Sun Oil treats depleted skin and hair to an epic emollient cocktail that banish any dryness a day at the beach might cause

No matter how long or short your beauty routine is, there is something for you. Working SPF into your routine is as easy as deciding where to put it.

Photos: Darnell Scott (4); Mass Appeal (1); Giphy (2)