Summertime Perfume, Sheer Blush, and More for an Island Weekend

We needed an escape—from making the bed, keeping our tiny shrieking sons in line, work calls, weeknight dinners, the living room littered with one million godforsaken toy trains—so we booked a long weekend on the ultimate island in the sun.

Everything is better in Negril, Jamaica: Blossoming hibiscus perfumes the breeze. The mangoes are creamy and candy-sweet. Even wrangling an infant and a toddler is somehow less onerous when you’re doing it on powdery sand. But the best part of being there might be the heat. Once you surrender to it (there’s no other way), you really need less of everything: clothes, worry, even beauty products. The second I stepped outside, my curls bloomed into a halo of frizz and my skin became slick with perspiration.

The seven skin and hair essentials I packed (none of them mini) more than did the job—and gave me a great summertime blueprint for an easy, sweatproof, and even sexy routine for the next three months.

A little frizz is sexy, and this oil softens my curls into crinkly perfection. It smooths my coarse texture—the blend of macadamia and jojoba oils is incredible—and adds noticeable shine, and the jasmine-neroli scent is intoxicating when you’re out and about in the night air. For mussed definition: Smooth the oil (my hair requires a small puddle) through damp or dry hair and braid it—I do many braids all around my head—before bed. In the morning, undo the braids for bouncy, undone tendrils.

The gel-cream texture is delicate and cooling, and the burst of hydration (it’s clinically proven to hydrate skin for up to 72 hours*—omg) is just pure heaven on sun-drenched days. Whether I massage it on first thing in the morning under mineral sunscreen or at the end of the day, the results are the same: glass skin that makes me look rested and very much alive.

I don’t think I’ll ever not have this waiting in the wings: The 22 active organic botanicals are instantly plumping, smell incredible, and help balance my problem skin. It’s very much a treatment—though of course, by virtue of being an oil, it’s moisturizing. (Pro tip: Keep it in your bag and smooth it on midday when you—and your skin—might start to languish; it brings skin back to life in seconds.)

Spritz this onto sun-warmed skin: The way the blend of turmeric, bergamot, vetiver, and aphrodisiac cardamom melds with your own natural scent is the sexiest, coolest alchemy. With the stunning bottle, the name Sun Rae, and its purported powers to boost your mood like actual sunshine, it’s hard not to douse myself.

The sheer, next-to-nothing blush adds a warm flourish to my cheeks and lips (Afterglow, a soft berry, is my jam). On sun-burnished skin, this is the only embellishment I ever need. The balm is infused with moisturizing skin-care ingredients and melts in seamlessly, nourishing my skin and depositing the prettiest flush of color.

Instead of dithering over what to do with my frizzy, wet, or unwashed hair, I just twist up my curls and secure them with one of these glossy clips (or two—I love a messy twin-bun look). They grasp hair of any texture comfortably and are the perfect size for my voluminous cloud, and they’re as brilliant in the ocean as they are for sweeping back errant strands so that your nine-month-old can’t torture you by yanking at them.

Creamy and gorgeously moisturizing, this is the mother of all mineral sunscreens. It absorbs into a dewy sheen, is swirled with nourishing botanicals, and works beautifully for your body, too. Plus, the yellow aluminum tube is surfer-vibes fantastic.

*Clinical measurements taken after a single application on 35 subjects ages 18 to 58.