Introducing nutrient rich foods can increase the skin’s capacity to tan while also helping to retain it. A diet high in Beta-Carotene and Vitamin A and E will help to protect skin from free radical damage which can be caused by Ultraviolet rays. If you’re unsure what foods contain these key nutrients, I wasn’t joking when I mentioned Carrots. You don’t need to eat bags and bags like me or a rabbit though. They don’t just help you see in the dark, they also increase the skin’s capacity to tan and retain that golden glow, not orange hue. Seasoning foods with Olive Oil can also help the body absorb these essential nutrients.

Tomatoes, Avocados, Almonds also contain high levels of Selenium and Vitamin E which help prevent wrinkles forming after sun – a perfectly easy blend of foods to incorporate if you’re sunning off in the Mediterranean. It’s why those who live in the Mediterranean have a beautiful glow all year round. We don’t quite have the same weather in the UK, but these ingredients are easily sourced and enjoyed (hopefully). It also leaves room for some beautiful recipes to bring the Mediterranean here to your very kitchen, light up a Trudon Candle – plate these delicacies up on a light blue ceramic dish and enjoy!

It's also important to feed the skin topically too, with nourishing formulations to give back to the skin, aiding healing, and reparation. During high quantities of UVA/UVB exposure, the skin can get dehydrated and results in a tight, uncomfortable feeling. Nourishing the skin with essential hydration and/or lipids will benefit the skin greatly in both preserving a tan and reversing and healing the damage caused by UVA/UVB.

It's always so important to ensure you’re using the right cleanser both for the body and the face. A hydrating cleanser will give back from the moment you begin your routine to ensure that tanned skin won’t fade quicker due to drying out or being stripped of its essential barrier functions. Cream cleansers, milk cleansers and oil cleansers are great additions into your first step routine to ensure a gentle lifting of debris and impurities while respecting and not disrupting the barrier. There are some beautiful oil cleansers for the body which will ensure optimum nourishment, helping that golden glow to preserve for as long as possible. If on the off chance you did burn the skin being too engrossed in the beauty of clear blue waters and you forgot to reapply SPF, the skin would have started peeling. The body is trying to remove damaged cells, with first degree sunburn, the good news is that it only affects the epidermis. This means taking extra care in how you cleanse and ensuring good levels of hydration and moisture are present will allow the skin to heal faster. Hence why a nourishing cleanser from the beginning is a great step to ensuring a gentle way to protect and heal the skin. It will also allow the dead cells to fall off while repairing those ones left behind.

After this step, it is imperative to apply a cream to lock in moisture and prevent further peeling, irritation and helps to retain a beautiful glow. A fantastic body cream would be Emulsion Originelle Regenerants Corps from Biologique Recherche. It’s lightweight formula, with essential lightweight lipids will restore and soothe inflammation, all the why repairing and moisturizing the skin to ensure your tan sticks with you longer than the holiday blues will. Unless you’re as cynical as I am and the holiday blues are just part of your personality…

With lipid reconditioning agents of Brazil nut and Squalane alongside Hyaluronic Acid, Colostrum and Centella Asiatica, this emulsion protects, heals and moisturizes the top layers of the Epidermis and promotes a healthy hydrolipidic film to prevent water loss. Even in those air-conditioned days in the office, dreaming of sun, sand and sea, dreading the thought of finishing to unpack at home, skin will be soft, revitalised and glowing. There may not be much sun, but your glow will be enough to let people know there is some out there in the world.

For those particularly dryer areas, like elbows, knees, hands and feet, or for those areas you really did burn yourself, Biologique Recherche’s Dermo RL Corps is a beautiful unctuous body cream to deeply recondition and relipidate skin. If you’ve been riding through the deserts of Egypt on your adventures, don’t leave your skin feeling equally as dry when you get back. With natural botanical Polysaccharides, Rosemary Oil and Blackcurrant Butter, you can decadently wrap yourself in a layer of deep hydration to leave skin comforted and protected. A happy and hydrated skin equals a happy and hydrated tan. Preserving it can be as easy as preserving those beautiful memories of holiday.