4 smart beauty ways to fight the elements

You may be well accustomed to protecting your skin from UV damage before heading outside every day, but what about the other environmental factors, like pollution, wind and rain, which can all wreak havoc on your face, hair and makeup? Read on to see which elements to look out for and ways to protect yourself from each of them.

Pollution

It’s not always obvious to see polluted air in Sydney as much as other cities like Beijing, but it doesn’t mean that it’s non-existent. In fact, it has been reported that 80 per cent of all signs of skin ageing are due to environmental aggressors such as pollution and smoke. The big culprit, however, are air pollutants called ambient particulate matter. These cause skin to generate excess free radicals, which can interfere with the skin’s ability to produce collagen and elastin, and retain moisture. Here’s how Elizabeth Arden’s new PREVAGE® City Smart can help – it almost creates a barrier to protect your skin from pollution, and contains a special antioxidant blend of Idebenone, green tea and ferulic acid to neutralise free radical damage that can cause the appearance of lines, wrinkles and hyperpigmentation from forming. To use, pop on a light layer in the morning, with or without foundation, and go about your day as you normally would.

Sun

Even when it’s cool outside, your face and lips are still susceptible to being burnt by the sun’s UV rays. To counteract this, make sure to use face and body products with an SPF, and keep a lip balm with sunscreen close by (we like Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream Lip Protectant Stick Sunscreen SPF15), and continue to reapply every few hours or so.

Wind

Imagine the horror when your fresh blow-dry is mussed up after a strong gust of wind, and even worse, when it gets stuck to your lip balm or gloss. Instead of wearing your hair down on particularly windy days, try wrapping your ponytail into a loose chignon with a snagless hair tie (try Invisibobble Original) followed by a quick mist-over with hairspray, like Matrix Style Link Style Fixer Finishing Hairspray, to tame flyaways. Or, you can try one of these easy-to-copy up-dos. 

Rain

A diagonal drizzle can ruin eye makeup in an instant, even if you’re huddled under an umbrella. So when you see those sheets of rain outside, switch to a waterproof mascara, like Revlon Super Length Waterproof Mascara, that’ll stay put when there’s just moisture in the air.