As one heatwave follows the next in quick succession, it looks like ‘moderate’ (read: mostly dreary and nippy) British summers may be a thing of the past. You’ve probably already snapped up a hand-held-fan and may be considering installing very un-British air conditioning, but there are plenty of other ways to punctuate your day with moments of icy-cool relief. Beauty and health journalist of 30 years Ingeborg Van Lotringen reviews the most innovative cooling and body temperature-regulating wellness and beauty buys.
The cool firming serum: Dr.Reju-All Advanced PDRN Copper Peptide Serum, £22.90
This new serum’s party trick is that it reduces skin surface temperature by up to -5°C upon application, powered as it is by skin-firming, barrier-strengthening copper peptides plus a phalanx of other peptides, hydrating and calming agents. It’s not just a pleasant sensation when you’re boiling (I can indeed feel my skin getting cooler and remaining so), but keeping skin temperature (and therefore skin stress) down also contributes (in a small way, but still) to preventing visible skin ageing.
The icy DIY mask: Dr Jart+ Cryo Sorbet Icy Facial Mask, £20 for 4
Designed to lower skin temperature by -6°C (the Koreans seem to have carved themselves a niche for newfangled cooling technology), you have to mix up these masks like an Angel Delight dessert (surprisingly for something so pink, the goo is unscented, which is a bonus for skin) and (preferably) pop them in the fridge for ten minutes before painting them on your face. The cooling effect is real thanks to magical sugar-derived chemistry, and Id eventually remove it from my fresh-feeling face I had a glow thanks to the hydrating ingredients and gently peeling salicylic acid.
The self-cooling bed: Eight Sleep Pod 5, from £2598
With a price point that puts it in the ‘lottery winners’ category, this is nonetheless a genius heatwave investment, and equally one that can make a real difference to insomniacs: should know, because I’ve been one for 18 years. It’s a mattress topper fitted with water channels that cool and heat it via a ‘pod’ linked to an app. Its software tracks your temperature, sleep patterns, heart rate and more, and adjusts the topper’s temperature constantly, ensuring your body stays at sleep-optimising cool temperatures throughout the night. As a result, no heatwave reaches your bed: it has allowed me to sleep right through the most sweltering nights in chilled comfort. For those suffering from night sweats and insomniacs woken by temperature-spiking cortisol surges, the heat regulation actually improves your sleep significantly.
The freshening fragrance: Olfactive O New Earth Eau de Parfum, £65
Scents packed with notes that put you in mind of cool things have the power to actually make you feel less overheated. This earthy-green-floral perfume is designed specifically to make you feel grounded and calm, with evergreen fir balsam and damp oakmoss in the base and spearmint, clary sage, sappy leaves, geranium and blue chamomile on top. To me, breathing it in is like digging in the cool earth of the garden and smelling flowers barely in bloom – definitely a cooling experience.
The cryo eye depuffer: Nivea Cellular Epigenetics Age Rewind Eye Serum, £22.76
Boasting ‘cryo technology’ that will cool the eye area by -3°C and help depuff it, this also features a patented ingredient said to “wake up inactive longevity genes”, promising to “reverse fine lines and undereye sagging in two weeks.” That’s too much of a claim to make (you can’t reverse signs of ageing in two weeks), but the clear, unscented serum does leave skin feel slightly tauter and cool. This is an instant effect it achieves with menthol extract alongside alcohol. A few uses have not upset my skin at all, but with those two ingredients having the potential to irritate when used long-term, do approach with some caution if your skin is sensitive.
The chill pyjamas: Dagsmejan Stay Cool Sleepshirt, £124.90
Moisture management (as in drying fast) and temperature regulation (as in breathability to release body heat) are what makes a fabric ‘cooling’. These soft, eucalyptus fibre ‘Nattcool Sleep Tech’ pyjamas are eight times more breathable than cotton and dry in a third of the time, should they get clammy from, for example, night sweats. That means less waking from feeling stuffy or suddenly cold while looking stylish in the process (there’s a whole range of sleepwear and colours to choose from). A clever buy if, like me, you’re experiencing the ‘joys’ of perimenopause or menopause.
The quick-fix frosty stick: Elf Stay Cool Primer Stick, £8
No real magic here – the cocktail of water-rich (sea water, coconut water) and water-attracting (glycerin, aloe) ingredients packed with foundation-anchoring silicones in a clear stick feels satisfyingly (though very temporarily) cool when you swipe it all over your face to hydrate and keep your makeup in place. Cooling jelly blushers (which I like to take on holiday) work in the same way.
The chilly microbubbles: Curél Regenerative Micro Mousse Treatment, £25
The fresh way to look after your skin barrier, this delivers soothing, hydrating and ceramide-mimicking ingredients in an airy, carbonated bubble-mousse. As the bubbles evaporate rapidly on the skin surface, they draw heat away from it for a nice chilly sensation that leaves skin feeling comfortable while also pushing active ingredients under the skin surface. I’m already a fan of cleansing mousses because they break up make-up so gently and effectively, and this mousse moisturiser is making me appreciate the magic of bubbles even more.
The body mist-on-ice: Akt The Haze Deodorising Body Mist in After Thunder, £35
An alcohol-free, hydrating and cooling super-fine all-over mist whose scent description says it all: “a walk through the woods after a thunderstorm. Damp cedar. Fresh leaves. Citrus rays of morning light slice through the canopy.” Every cool-feeling spritz feels just like that, while it’s good to know, in the sweaty heat, that it works as an all-over body deodorant.
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