Wear Sunscreen

MANILA, Philippines - It’s forever summer in the tropics, a luxury known all too well by those who live where most people vacation.  Could there be a better place for the world’s no.1 skin care brand (thanks, Euromonitor) to host a three-day getaway for beauty editors, bloggers, and a cool mix of personalities?  Nivea takes us on a journey across a private paradise for a memorable sun-soaked adventure to bring us closer to the brand and closer to the skin we live in.

Full disclosure: I am that horrible person who everyone is always pestering to wear more sunscreen.  Granted that I usually slap some SPF on my face, I often do about SPF 8 on my body.  I’m also that ungodly person who is often too lazy to take off my face at night, so that it frightens my friends and dermatologist to uncover the truth.  Upon taking off at the Alphaland private hangar, I knew it was time to face my skin demons – dryness and skin asthma are just a few.  What I found was that I didn’t have to be so afraid of what I was doing wrong because there really are brands out there that want to make it easier for us.  I know I am not alone in this pathetic boat.  So, friends: take heed.  Change is possible, even for the worst of us, and your skin will love you for it.

Upon descending to the delightful Mykonos village, one of the eight seaside global hotspots from which Balesin’s villages take their inspiration, more and more it feels like the perfect fit for this megabrand’s easy, breezy and timeless image.  Nivea’s famous blue logo against a clean white slate is known throughout the world as both the brand we grew up with and a long-running cult favorite among celebrities from Kate Winslet to Kate Middleton.  This year’s Philippine campaign, Come Closer, kicks off in the 500-hectare tropical paradise that is Balesin, a members only island located 21 kilometers southeast of Polillo, Quezon.

With over a century of innovation steeped in protection and care across 200 countries, the Hamburg-based Nivea continues to be at the forefront of modern skincare with nothing less than a Nobel Prize winning scientific discovery in Hydra IQ – the key ingredient that spans their entire product range.

Years of intensive research was inspired by how blue-green algae regulates moisture in extreme conditions; this eventually birthed Hydra IQ, which helps skin regulate its moisture through the formation of aquaporins (the skin’s hydration channels).  “Aquaporins are proteins in the cell membrane that form pores that allow water molecules to flow freely from cell to cell,” says Alex Schwieger, country manager of Beiersdorf Philippines. “Our skin has a deep moisture system.  Its water reservoir, which is located deep in the dermis, acquires moisture from the blood supply from deeper layers of the skin.  Aquaporins help improve this process of self-moisturization by allowing water molecules to move freely from cell to cell.”  More simply, Hydra IQ boosts aquaporins to more deeply and continuously emulsify skin.  If I were to trust my dry and sensitive skin to any advanced technology, a Nobel Prize-winning innovation would be my bet.

SKIN

A press lounge set up in a cushy Balinese sala on the water allowed us to experience Hydra IQ at work, as we interacted with products we’ve known forever and discovered a number of exciting new additions.  Beginning with the Nivea Crème, a staple that at least one ageless Manila doyenne swears by as a makeup remover and night cream, we worked our way through the myriad of products.  I already had the cream on upon my discovery of the Nivea loot in my expansive, airy villa.  My skin was extra parched from the flight over and the night before.  Mostly, the night before.  I immediately slathered this on, noting that this incarnation was less heavy and oily than the formulation from my youth.  Dane Gonzalez, creative director at online beauty hub Calyxta, shared with me that that when she was growing up in Germany, the cream was used on everything including chapped lips in the winter and burns or scrapes.  Nivea’s Créme is also the key element to Catherine Walsh’s piecey ’90s look on her signature silver fox coif.  As the communications SVP for Coty inc., one of the world’s most prestigious beauty and fragrance companies, the beauty icon even got the girls of IntoTheGloss to slather thick cream into their hair.  The result? A no-care grunge feel that I found was both very now and perfectly suitable for the beach.

LIPS

Once I was plied with cream and basked sufficiently in super supple skin, it was on to the various lippies that all smelled so utterly delicious that it’s no wonder I had in-the-know friends who were already texting me to set some aside for them.  Even Phoebe Tonkin loves Nivea Lip Care in A Kiss of Cherry so much that she reportedly gets to wear it on the set of the CW hit series The Originals. She’s that kind of Australian beautiful that all she has to do is wear lip balm and prance around with unbrushed hair.  Anyway, all the girls were crazy about the Lip Butters in Raspberry Rosé and Vanilla & Macadamia.  True to their name, they are not only buttery, but also silky, ultra-hydrating, long lasting (tried and tested at the beach as we competed against each other in an Amazing Race!), and taste delicious.  I’m officially swearing off Carmex forever — as these have not left my purse and bedside since the trip.

 FACE

The promise of smoother, suppler, and more radiant complexion comes not just with Hydra IQ, I’ve learned, but also proper care.  And that means taking your makeup off at night.  Other denizens of the night may be quite familiar with the post-wine (or tequila, let’s keep it real) stumble-stupor before collapsing into bed.  Now comes a new product from Nivea to save us from ourselves.  I have long avoided cleansing wipes because they’re usually heavily perfumed and stingy or so oily that I might as well just go and wash my face.  Nivea’s Facial Cleansing Wipes come out of the package feeling strangely dry, but once you start gently working it on to your face, it just gets everything off.  Even waterproof eye makeup.  In one step that you can expertly manage even in the dark, it cleanses, tones and hydrates with natural almond oil and that nifty Hydra IQ.  A quick rinse just after or even the next morning means you never again have an excuse not to take off your makeup.

SUN

A quick go on Nivea’s UV Sun Cam showed us both the present sun damage to our skin as well as the protection given by Nivea’s Suncare line once applied.  Having grown up on Bondi Beach, presenter and host Tricia Centenera was among the first who fearlessly stepped in front of the UV lens. Doe eyes and chiseled features stared back against patches of dark and light.  She applied Nivea’s Protect and Bronze sunscreen, leaving trails of black to show where her skin was now fully protected from the sun’s harmful rays.  While knowing your sunscreen’s scope of protection via its SPF (which most of us already know) is vital, not to be forgotten is to check for PA (which I definitely didn’t know about before).  Nivea’s Joan Grace Tan enlightened me on PA, an indicator that your sunscreen can also shield the skin against harmful UVA rays that penetrate deeper into the skin and cause skin cancer and premature ageing, among other skin problems.  They recommended checking for the label of “broad spectrum” before you snap up your next bottle.  Later, I snuck in a quick tanning sesh with Trish before the last of the afternoon rays at the Bali pool.  We didn’t skip the sunscreen and enjoyed what’s good about the sun completely (mostly) guilt-free.

In the end, Baz Luhrmann is right about wearing sunscreen.  It might have taken three days of whirlwind events on an exclusive island and one brutally honest UV camera, but the message has finally hit home thanks to the good folks at Nivea:  Ladies and gentlemen of the class of ’99 — wear sunscreen.