One common theme in my life has been issues with my skin. And, believe me, opening up about struggles with my face has never been easy.

Years of pimples, zits and painful cysts left my face looking like a battlefield. Sure, I’d made a lot of progress since lying in bed as a teenager cursing God for the hand I’d been dealt, but the visible scarring was a painful reminder…

As summer is right around the corner you might be wondering about some essential products that will come in handy and help you keep your skin and hair healthy. During summer, the UV index can easily reach 10, which is extremely dangerous and risky and it can cause long-term damages. While trying to protect your skin and create a shield against sun, another important rule is hydration. To fight the heat and dryness during the warm summer season make sure to include products that moisturize and nourish specific areas of your skin and body such as lips, hair, face, eyelids as well.

All makeup should be cruelty free, but, unfortunately, this is not the case. It remains normal practice for companies, suppliers, and third parties to use animal testing on their products.

In the makeup and skincare industry, this common (but not common enough) label is both an indicator of how far we’ve come and how much farther we have to go.

In this blog I want to highlight some of the top cruelty-free makeup and skincare brands, in the hope that we can all make more conscientious decisions about what we put on our skin and face.

Growing up I had an aunt who never laughed. When she thought something was funny she would snap her fingers. I asked her one day why she did this, and her response was brief but firm: “wrinkles.” 

Wrinkles don’t just show up overnight, but it sure can feel like it. Before you know it, people are commenting on your “worry lines.” It’s not fun, but it’s not the end of the world, either. 

When it comes to choosing the right sunscreen, there is no one size fits all, but there are many factors to consider.

First and foremost, you want to pay attention to both UVA (premature aging) and UVB (burn damage) protection levels, and don’t go lower than SPF 30 if you plan on spending a day at the beach.

In addition to SPF levels, what makes a sunscreen stand out from the crowd are its ease of spray and rubbing in, level of greasiness, scent, and water resistance.

With summer right around the corner (and the trips outside that follow), there is no better time than now to dive into the best sunscreens for warm-weather fun.