I've Perfected the Art of Packing a Beach Bag—These 12 Beauty Products Are Essential

The lips are an often-overlooked area when it comes to sun protection, but they're just as vulnerable to UV damage as the skin on other areas of the body. Personally, I don't want to contend with thin, dry, flaky, or sunburnt lips (or worse), so I always pack an SPF lip balm (or two) in my beach bag. The first is Supergoop's Lipscreen Shine SPF 40. It's an invisible, non-sticky lip gloss that adds shine and sun protection in one swipe. Unlike other SPF lip products, it doesn't feel drying or make my lips look ghostly pale. Plus, the shiny formula looks so plump and juicy in the sun.

The other SPF lip product that lives in my beach bag is Ultra Violette's Sheen Screen SPF 50 Lip Balm. It's non-sticky and super hydrating and gives the lips a hint of shine and color. There are two shades. I prefer the shade Dusk, which is a neutral, rosy-beige color, but there's also Bejewelled, which is a glistening pinky-gold color.

When it comes to face sunscreen, I need SPF to check off a few boxes before I commit to using it. I need it to 1) offer broad-spectrum UVA and UVB protection, 2) not pill or leave a white cast, and 3) keep my pores clear and unclogged.

Innisfree's Daily UV Defense Invisible Broad Spectrum SPF 36 Sunscreen hits every benchmark. It offers broad-spectrum SPF 36 with a lightweight, milky texture that looks nearly invisible on my skin, save for a nice, dewy finish. It never clogs my pores or worsens my texture. Plus, it layers well for reapplication purposes; there's no pilling or thick, goopy feeling that I often get from other face sunscreens.

Speaking of reapplication, a sunscreen stick is an easy way to do it when you're on the go (or you have sandy hands and you don't want to smear fresh SPF all over your skin). This Korean sunscreen stick offers broad-spectrum SPF 40 with a matte finish.

When I'm on the beach, I like that the matte finish takes away excess shine from sweat, oil, and my aforementioned dewy sunscreen. Honestly, though, it's less about the finish and more about how it smoothly and seamlessly pulls across the skin, depositing just the right amount of lightweight sun protection. When I'm off the beach, though, I really appreciate how that matte finish blurs my skin and makes my pores look smaller, especially when I use it on top of dewy makeup products.

This is one of my favorite beachgoing hacks. If you spritz a cooling mist on your skin every now and then, you'll A) feel comfortable and refreshed, even in scorching temperatures, and B) have much more hydrated skin than if you didn't. This one, from Peter Thomas Roth, is my favorite. It contains hyaluronic acid and green, white, and red tea extracts to hydrate the skin and calm redness, while IceAwake technology immediately decreases skin temperature.

You can't go wrong with the cult-classic French pharmacy product, either. It contains a single ingredient—thermal spring water bottled directly from the source—that cools, refreshes, hydrates, and soothes the skin in a single spritz.

Here's another hack. Pack a travel-size body mist in your bag to ensure you smell nice upon leaving the beach. Often, I head straight to dinner or drinks after leaving the beach, and I don't necessarily want to smell like sweat, salt, and sunscreen. I'd rather smell elegant and refined, which is where Ouai's St. Barts Hair & Body Mist comes into play. With notes of dragon fruit, orange blossom, and musk, it's basically like if you could bottle a luxurious tropical vacation.

Here's another body mist I pack in my beach bag. Sol de Janeiro's Cheirosa 39 Hair & Body Mist is a perfect gourmand scent for summer. Think of notes like coconut cream, warm vanilla, tropical orchid, creamy sandalwood, and toasted praline.

This raffia bucket hat has been my summer hyperfixation.

I love Madewell's sunglasses. They're chic and high-quality, yet they don't exactly qualify as an investment purchase. (I, for one, lose too many sunglasses to spend $300+ on a single pair.) The slight cat-eye effect on this square pair is so cool.