Travel tips to stay glam on the go

Planes, trains and cars can wreak havoc on your skin. Winds and cold breezes leave the face dry and parched, sun adds wrinkles, humidity leads to breakouts! So what's a girl to do? Dermatologist Dr Jessica Wu provides some advice on how to stay chic while on the go and arrive at your destination on top of your glam game.


Q. What should you do during a long plane ride?

A. Drink lots of water, and avoid alcohol, caffeine and asparagus, because they are diuretics.

Q. How about makeup or creams?A Try not to apply makeup for your plane ride - and as soon as you get in your seat, apply a moisturising cream.

Two good ingredients in moisturisers are hyaluronic acid and glycerin; they don't irritate and they hydrate without making skin oily.

Reapply the cream several times if you are on a long flight.

Q. Is there a way to avoid arriving with red puffy eyes?

A. Don't eat peanuts, pretzels or chips in-flight.

No salt! And keep eye-cream samples with you ... you can even ask your flight attendant for a cup of ice to keep your eye cream chilled and just before you land, put cold eye cream under your eyes.

Look for eye cream with anti-inflammatory ingredients (such as coffee berry, licorice, soy).

The coldness of the cream will help with puffiness.

If you forget to bring your eye cream, or accidentally checked it in, ask your flight attendant for green tea bags, and put them on ice ... green tea is anti-inflammatory.

Q. Dirty skin is a huge issue during travel; is there a solution?

A. Air on aeroplanes is recirculated from the engine.

That's all the more reason to protect your skin and use a barrier, so remember to always use a moisturiser.

Pre-moistened wipes or microdermabrasion wipes are also good.

Q. What else do you recommend for combating dry plane air?

A. Mist your face with mineral water.

Water spritzers are great.

Some of them have a high concentration of selenium - it helps keep moisture in your skin.

Q. How many products should we pack on the road?

A. All you need is a cleanser, plus morning and night creams.

In the morning, think about protecting the skin, so choose a moisturiser that does triple duty.

Pick one that has SPF and also antioxidants to shield your skin from pollution, sun, smog, all those things we expose our skin to.

And at night, think about repairing your skin.

Creams that have salicylic acid are good, especially if you have problems with breakouts or acne.

If it's fine lines you are concerned about, then look for over-the-counter products with retinol.

It breaks down into retin-A, which helps build collagen while you sleep.

Q. What if we are heading to the tropics and are worried about sun damage?

A. One of my favourite ingredients is niacin, one of the B vitamins.

It helps reduce pigmentation and sun damage.

The trick is to find products that do double duty, so you don't have to put three products on in the morning and then three at night.

Q. So, the key is simplicity?

A. Exactly.

Think, protect in the morning and repair at night.

That's a simple way to streamline your routine, especially if you travel.

It's hard to carry the entire contents of your bathroom cabinet with you in your makeup bag, you can't.

It's already a lot between the blush and the foundation and the powder without having to carry all your liquids as well.

So if you can pare it down to two essential ingredients you are way ahead of the game.

 

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