I don’t know about you guys but I freakin’ love the beach, man. It was one of my favorite places growing up and things haven’t changes much in adulthood. There is something about just sitting on the beach that doesn’t seem useless, ya know? Like if I was sitting on a lawn with friends for four hours intermittently chatting and sleeping it might seem boring or like a wasted day, but on the beach that’s not only fine, it’s actually awesome.

A lot of times when I tell people from elsewhere that I go to the beach a lot in the summer they seem shocked that New York has such outdoor summer oasis’s available, but Long Island is just a short car ride away, and it has more beaches than you can shake a stick at. So naturally we all flock there as often as possible to get some sun.

Over the years I have learned a few things about what a girl needs at the beach. I’ll try not to bore you with the obvious, because I think we all know to bring sunglasses and a towel. What I want to do is share with you the things I often forgot or didn’t know about, and now see as essential.

I mean, as great as a day at the beach is, I think we can all agree that we usually leave there feeling less than cute. So why not pack a few things to counteract that?

1. Spray on sunblock: Ok I admit that sunblock is very obvious, but it’s the specific TYPE of sunblock that I’m currently in love with. Right when beach weather started hitting us this year, I happened to be in Ulta and I decided on a whim to grab a can of spray on sunblock. I picked up Australian Gold Continuous Spray Sunblock with Bronzer and it was like “Where have you been all of my life?”

First of all, it sprays perfectly, even upside down so you can get every part of your body. It absorbs in quickly and doesn’t leave your skin sticky AT ALL. It smells like tropical sunshine and golden beachy glory. Oh and best best of all, it gives you an instant golden bronze glow, which shockingly lasts for like an entire week. I want to marry it and have its sunblock babies.

2. Makeup wipes: Getting back to that “less than cute” feeling when you leave the beach, the of grains of sand stuck in the sunblock on your face and sweat and grime and shiny skin which seems inevitable can really be the basis of the issue, but are actually easily fixed.

Seriously nobody wants to wash their face in the public restrooms at the beach, if there even IS a public restroom at the beach, so makeup wipes are the perfect solution.

Pro tip: I like to keep them in the cooler and then when I’m leaving and it’s time to wipe down my face it’s like a cold refreshing treat. Honestly, this is a game changer if you intend to go get some food or a few drinks after sunbathing for a few hours.

3. Lip balm with SPF: Holy crap you guys this one is SO important yet for some reason really easy to forget about. I made a post a few weeks back about how to heal sunburned lips, and let me just say that I only needed to re-learn that lesson once. my lip-healing methods are helpful but it is super unpleasant either way. So this time around I made damn sure that I had some SPF on my lips.

Now, if you asked me what my favorite lip balm that contained SPF is I would say hands down it’s the Original Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment but I have had too many lip balms melt in the heat to risk that. It’s like 22 bucks. If I accidentally let that melt I would kick myself. So I just picked up a CVS brand chapstick with SPF 30. Was it luxurious? Nope! But it got the job done.

Oh and if you are still concerned about it melting, because let’s be honest even wasting two bucks still sucks, try keeping this in the cooler too! I guess you could keep your luxurious lip balm in the cooler, but personally I’m just not going to risk it. Fool me once…

4. Baby powder: Ok now this is the one that people always think is weird but I SWEAR by it. I have to give credit to Momma Quinnface, because she taught me this one years and years ago, before it was easy to learn things on the internet, and it is such a good trick. So… well done, Mom!

You know when you go to leave the beach and you feel like every inch of you is a sticky, gritty mess? Just bring some baby powder with you and once you have left the sand sprinkle it all over your body. The powder instantly absorbs the stickiness and the sand brushes right off. Then you can just wipe off the powder with a towel and boom you are at least 85% sand free, and 100% sticky free. And surprisingly, as long as you wipe down with the towel pretty thoroughly you won’t look white and weird from the powder.

So those are my essentials for not feeling gross at the beach. If you have any beach beauty tricks or favorites let me know in the comments!