How to get Glowing and Protected Summer-Ready Skin!

Summer is quickly approaching, and that means more sun and time spent outside! After a long winter and cold spring spent inside, my pale skin is ready for some summer glow! And if you’re like me and love the sun but don’t love the skin damage, this post is for you! I’m sharing how to get summer-ready, glowing skin while still staying protected!

How to Get Summer-Ready Skin

Products for Glowing Skin

Safe Tan with Salty Face Tanner

How do you get tan, glowing skin without being in the sun, you ask? With the Salty Face tanning products! I am PALE, like really pale, and have always felt that tanning sprays or lotions were too much and looked unnatural on me. That all changed when I tried Salty Face. Their products give the most natural, subtle tan that leaves your skin glowing and NOT orange.

I originally tried the Salty Face Tanning Foam for the body and was really impressed. I loved the subtle tan and the ease of buildability. Then Salty Face reached out to me and offered to let me try their facial Tanning Water. Honestly, I was a little scared to try tanning products on my face because if you mess up the application, it’s definitely more noticeable! But the application was SO easy (easier than the body foam) and gave me a very subtle glow!

It’s hard to capture it in pictures, but I can definitely tell that my skin is more “tan”. I was conservative with my first application, so it’s not as noticeable as it could have been. But it’s easy to build a deep tan with more applications. In the third photo below, I applied the Salty Face Tanning Water generously, and I could definitely see a difference. I don’t think my application was perfect (there were some lighter spots), but with a little practice, I think I’ll get the hang of it! There are also two shades: Light to Medium and Medium to Dark, so if you are already darker, you can choose the Medium to Dark shade.

Freckles without the Sun Damage

Believe it or not, it’s trendy to have freckles now! I think it’s kind of silly to want to add freckles to your face, BUT I have to admit, there is a certain glow to a freckled, sun-kissed face. I have natural freckles that get darker as I spend more time in the sun. I love having more visible freckles in the summer, but I don’t love having to be in the sun to get them. That’s where Freck Beauty comes in! Freck makes a freckle pen that gives you natural-looking faux freckles!

The application is pretty straightforward. Just use the pen to make freckle dots on your face, then tap them out with your finger for a more natural, blurred look. At first, I was skeptical that they would actually look natural, but they do! It takes a little practice, but now I can get the freckles just right. So whether you want to enhance your natural freckles or try the freckled-face look, Freck’s got you covered!

Glowing Skin with a Skin Tint

In my opinion, summer is for natural skin and not skin layered with tons of makeup. You want to show off those freckles, not hide them! But if you are looking to even out your skin tone and give your skin a dewy glow, then a skin tint is a great option.

I just bought the Hourglass Veil Hydrating Skin Tint, and it’s great if you have dry skin and want a little bit of coverage (which is me!). You can use this in place of a moisturizer because it is very hydrating. HOWEVER, this does not replace your facial sunscreen! So apply a generous amount of SPF first, let it absorb for a few minutes, and then apply the skin tint.

FYI – I don’t use a skin tint with SPF because I use a separate SPF moisturizer. It’s hard to get the correct SPF coverage with a tinted SPF (because you have to use A LOT), so I prefer to keep them separate.

Other skin tints without SPF are Summer Fridays, Milk Makeup, Fenty Beauty, Glossier, and more!

NUXE French Body Oil

After you’ve used the Saltyface tanning foam on your body, it’s nice to add a little extra glow. I use the NUXE Huile Prodigieuse® Or dry body oil for a luxurious shimmer. It’s really like a treat for your skin – it smells amazing, moisturizes, and gives skin a nice shimmer without being sparkly. You can also use this oil on your face as a highlighter!

Tip: If you know someone traveling to France, ask them to pick this up at a French Pharmacie! You can buy NUXE oil in the US, but it’s much cheaper in France!

Keep Your Skin Protected

Healthy skin is glowing skin, and sun damage is NOT healthy. Here’s how I keep my skin protected in the summer!

Choose the right SPF

The most important step to get summer-ready skin is choosing the right SPF. This might sound counterintuitive to getting glowing summer skin, but healthy skin is glowing skin, and sun damage is not healthy. But don’t worry – there are ways to get a “tan” without exposing your skin to the sun, which I share below!

My go-to SPF facial moisturizer is Beauty of Joseon Relief Sun: Rice + Probiotics (SPF50+ PA++++). I use the Korean version (not the one sold in US stores). I could do a whole deep dive into Korean sunscreens and why they are better, but I’ll save that for another time. I like the BOJ sunscreen because it doesn’t feel like sunscreen AT ALL and still has high protection against UVA and UVB rays. I highly, highly recommend BOJ sunscreen – it’s the best facial sunscreen I’ve ever tried. But it doesn’t matter if a certain SPF is supposed to be “the best”. If you don’t like how it feels, then you won’t wear it or apply enough of it, and that is worse. So be sure to choose an SPF that works for you!

Kin the Label Hats for Style and Protection

Wearing a hat is an easy way to protect your face from the sun. But why not make a fashion statement while doing it? Kin the Label hats have been my go-to for beautifully made hats. I bought their Visor straw hat years ago, and it’s been the hat I reach for all summer long.

Kin the Label just reached out to me and asked me to style another hat, and I chose the Bucket Straw Hat. I wanted something casual that also offered a lot of coverage, and I think it’s perfect! It naturally has a UPF of 50, and the wide brim offers coverage for the face and back of the neck. It’s also great for travel because the straw is bendable and easily packable. I’ll be wearing this at the beach and in everyday life.

The other great thing about Kin the Label hats is that they are adjustable! I have a small head, so I’m always grateful for adjustable hats!

Protect Your Hands with UV Gloves

Your hands are one of the first parts of your body to show signs of aging. And if you drive a lot, your hands are getting extra UV exposure and damage. I started using UV gloves in the car, and I love them. I do put SPF on my hands, but I also wash my hands a lot, and sometimes it’s easier to keep them covered than constantly applying hand lotion. And I actually feel like the gloves keep my hands and arms cooler in the sun. Believe it or not, I get lots of compliments on my gloves whenever I go through a drive-thru!

I hope these tips help you get summer-ready skin without the damage!