Calypso Once A Day / Holiday Essential

Like most Brits, I love the sun. Unfortunately, the sun does not love my pale skin and I burn to a crisp within five minutes without lashings of sun cream. And not the burn then tan kind of burn, the lobster red and then peel type of burn. This years summer holiday was in Mexico (amazing, but mega hot) so I needed a pretty heavy duty sun cream, and I wanted one that wasn’t too expensive. I don’t even get why it is so expensive, considering it’s such an important factor in preventing skin cancer (literally, ha).

I happened to be in Aldi and spotted this Calypso Once A Day sun cream. Aldi only stocked it in factor 10 and 20, which is lower than my usual 30 but I decided to buy it alongside the Aldi Lacura SPF 30 spray, because sometimes you can be too busy to apply sun cream and I thought this might help prevent burning in those situations.

The instructions say to apply this in the morning, preferably after a shower, and wait for 15 minutes before going in the sun. It’s said to be water resistant, and if applied properly it should last the whole day. This comes out looking like a gel and I was worried it would be greasy (like most sun creams) but actually I was completely shocked by how easily it was absorbed. I’m talking within seconds, plus it is cooling on the skin. It smells a bit alcohol-y so I didn’t use it on my face (I used my Simple Moisturising Plus). A little goes a long way as well, me and my boyfriend used it every day for a week and only used around half the bottle.

Now, I did apply factor 30 around 3pm each day because it was around 32 degrees and there’s no way I could handle the sun with just factor 20. But I do think it worked pretty well in keeping me protected as I didn’t get burnt from using just that and one application of factor 30 – normally I have to reapply sun cream every two or three hours! My only complaint is that the SPF wasn’t high enough for me. If this had been factor 30 (or maybe even 50 for the first day or two!) I wouldn’t have needed another sun cream.

I would definitely recommend this sun cream if you think factor 20 is fine for your skin. The fact you apply it once a day saves so much hassle, especially after swimming and on sandy beaches, and means you don’t need to carry around sun cream, or forget and get burnt! I also think it’s a great idea for any parents out there who have kids and want to keep them protected in British sun. No kid likes sun cream, so a once a day non greasy formula means they are safe in the sun and the parents don’t have to put up with whining! Plus, the sun cream is so cheap.

On a quick note, the Lacura sun cream from Aldi is really good as well, only around a fiver and comes in factor 15, 20 and 30 in the spray, and then up to 50 in the lotion. Considering most brands cost around a tenner minimum, the price is great and I’ve been using them for a few years and never had a problem with it. Not too greasy, absorbs quickly and has colour on application so you can see where you’ve sprayed it.

Where are you off to this summer? And how will you be prolonging your tan?