From heat-defying SPF to the serum that helps you max out on your sleep, here are Sarah's wash bag essentials
1. Filorga UV-Bronze Visage Face Factor 50, £25 for 40ml
If you’re serious about looking after your skin, then you need serious sun protection for the face. The texture and feel of this cream are perfect – enough hydration to wear alone yet matte enough to use under makeup. It’s not sticky or smelly and it offers protection from even the fiercest sun for even the pastiest skin (I used it in 40-degree heat in France, and I’m pleased to say I returned home exactly the same cadaverous shade of pale I departed).
The matching body mist - UV Bronze body SPF 50 - is also sublime, a super-silky, super-fine spray that takes seconds to apply and requires almost zero effort. Again, total confidence even in the maddest midday sun.
2. Kevin Murphy Young Again, £30 for 100ml
This Australian brand has only launched relatively recently in the UK but it’s fast becoming a beauty favourite. The aptly named Young Again range is designed for dehydrated and/or coloured hair, or hair generally lacking in oomph. My hair is all of those things - or it would be without the Immortelle Treatment Oil - a leave-in, weightless serum that offers protection against heat styling and also tames flyaway, frizzy, sand-filled, beach-buffeted holiday hair in a jiffy.
3. Balance Me Gradual Tanning Drops, £30 for 30ml
I have neither the body nor the inclination for serious tanning; still, there are times when having luminous white skin isn’t always completely desirable. That’s where these tanning drops come in very handy since you can add them to any old moisturiser in whichever concentration suits you.
4. Eve Lom Radiance Face Mist, £38 for 48ml
Someone gave this to me as a present, and after I’d finished scoffing I tried it and now I’m a bit addicted. What can I say: it smells nice, it’s super refreshing - and it really does leave skin looking and feeling fabulous.
5. 320 MHZ Age-Repair Sleep Elixir Serum, £75 for 30ml
My absolute favourite thing to do on holiday is to take part in my very own sleep Olympics - and this is the perfect companion. This small but exquisitely curated range of natural skincare is of the absolute highest quality, and the Sleep Elixir is picked with restorative, regenerative ingredients - not least frankly obscene levels of rose Otto and miraculous Moringa oils.