Sunscreen is for life, not just for summer.

Last week I took a little trip along to a riverside park in London with Alice from Bright Town Girl to find out more about SPFs and sun protection from the team at La Roche Posay.

It was actually a perfect day for it as the sun was beaming down, so a good SPF was more important than ever!

This was the first day of a summer tour taking a sun awareness tent around the UK to parts of London and later on this summer to some of the major festivals.

The team were on hand giving out samples of La Roche Posay spf for the face, body and for children, and you could also see a dermatologist if you had any questions about moles or wanted to get one checked out.

I've had a mole in between the little and ring fingers of my left hand for as long as I can remember so decided to get it looked at quickly. I hadn't noticed any changes, but better safe than sorry! The fab dermatologist I saw confirmed it looked healthy and then followed up by telling me a little about the types of signs to look out for if it did start changing later on.

As part of the awareness event, 3 models had been made up with half of their face normal and the other half showing signs of sun related skin damage and also types of skin cancers. These had all been based on real examples and it was quite scary to see. I shall be slapping the factor 50 on my face religiously from now on, let me tell you!

The models with their faces made up. 

Alice and I also had our faces analysed by a Wood's lamp which uses UV light to spot any underlying sun damage on your skin that might not be evident on the surface yet. You can see how my face looked in this below:

Apparently the purple means that my skin is dehydrated, but other than that, I wasn't showing any obvious signs of sun damage which is a relief given my pale skin tone and how easily I burn.

After attending the event, I've realised that we all need to be more sun aware. Just because the sun isn't out, or you're in the UK, it doesn't mean that it's not there! Not only will a good SPF for your face and body help to prevent you burning and raising your risk of skin cancer, but it will also help slow down the effects of ageing on your skin. Sun damage is one of the greatest things that can age your skin, so looking after it with a good SPF will really help.

A tan might look nice, but from now on: fake it, don't bake it!