5 BEACH BAG ESSENTIALS from Farmaline

I’ll stick my neck out safely here and say few men have tested as many skincare products as my friend grooming blogger Phil at www.mirror-reality.com (I think we might share the same virtual bathroom cabinet) and he really knows his French pharmacy brands and “modern organics”.

So when he offered to put a hand-picked goody bag together for me from Farmaline, all I could say was “OK, surprise me!”

He did.

Here are 4 new favourites, plus a Nuxe classic, each of them brilliant for beach season.

(1) URIAGE’s L’Eau Demaquillante Makeup Remover Wipes sweep off eye makeup and feel blissfully “clean” and gentle, with none of that residue film/slight stickiness other wipes seem to leave behind. It’s the first time wipes have been featured on the The Beauty Shortlist (we’re not huge fans of them in general) but we’ll be taking these on holiday with us.

Not normally  into cleansing wipes to be honest, but we loved the clean, gentle feel of these, designed for sensitive skin

(2) PHYTOPLAGE Hair & Body Hydrating Shampoo (anti-salt, anti-chlorine). Protect your hair and your skin with this summer essential by Parisian hair experts Phyto,

Anti-salt, anti-chlorine

3) Louis Widmer Extra Sun Protection SPF50 – Arguably one of the most lightweight, non-greasy, non-“white”, most comfortable, best-textured UVA/UVB SPFs we’ve come across.  A keeper.  It’s also fragrance free, water resistant and ideal for sensitive skins.

Designed for ultra-sun-sensitive skin, we also tried the All Day SPF30 and liked it

4) NUXE Huile Prodigieux Or – Collector’s Edition

97.8% of the ingredients in this dry oil are of natural origin, with 30% Precious Plant Oils and Vitamin E to nourish, repair and soften the skin on your face and body and add a subtle, luminous shimmer to your hair too – all in one single step.

5) La Roche Posay’s Posthelios After Sun Gel French pharmacy brand La Roche Posay is one of the true sun protection pioneers – in fact their SPF30 and 50 products consistently held up even in the strongest sun when we tested them.  If you’ve overdone the sun though,  try LRP’s hydrating after sun Posthelios Gel (“helios” is sun, in Greek).  Too much sun and too much smoking are the fastest skin-agers around.

For more beach bag faves, pop into

FARMALINE.CO.UK