Caring for my soon-to-be 40 skin with Wooden Spoon sun cream

“Nature gives you the face you have at 20; it is up to you to merit the face you have at 50.”

So said Coco Chanel, and they’re wise words when you think about it.

I’ve only started really thinking about my skin, by which I mean the condition of it, since realising what a toll all the lost sleep of motherhood has had on it – and it’s served as a bit of a wake up call on the skincare front.

So, when I was asked to try out organic skincare brand Wooden Spoon’s sun cream offering ahead of our trip to Morocco this spring, where Misery Guts ran the Marathon des Sables in the Sahara Desert, I jumped at the chance.

Caring for my soon-to-be 40 skin with Wooden Spoon sun cream

In my early 20s it’s fair to say I was a sun worshipper, and although I didn’t go as far as using oil as a sunscreen, I did used to opt for the lowest SPF factor I could get my hands on. Fast forward 15 years, and with the big 4-0 on the horizon, I’ll now search out the highest SPF I can get my hands on.

As well as being organically certified and vegan, Wooden Spoon’s sun cream (£19.95 for 50ml) boasts a reassuring SPF35+ with raspberry, cucumber and baobab to protect the skin from ageing.

Zinc oxide sits on top of the skin to scatter, block and reflect UVA and UVB rays so they don’t penetrate the skin – just the job when I went into the Sahara Desert, the largest hot desert in the world, to see Misery Guts cross the Marathon des Sables finish line.

With daytime temperatures in the 30s even in spring it’s fair to say it was hot, and the cucumber in the cream gave a cooling effect I haven’t found in a sun cream before. I also liked the fact it looks – and smells – more like a high-end face cream than a greasy sun cream, and rather than sitting on the surface of my skin with a white sheen like some creams it absorbed into my skin really easily.

Admittedly it’s not the cheapest option on the market, but as with most things in life you get what you pay for, and at what price beauty? It’s also worth mentioning that you can get Wooden Spoon’s range through not-for-profit natural and organic lifestyle shop GreenUs, who I first came across when I visited Hotpod Yoga in Worthing, and all their profits go to charitable projects tackling isolation and loneliness and supporting people with long term health conditions.

So, if you’re looking for a sunscreen to protect your skin this summer I can highly recommend this one – it fits in your handbag, or in my case nappy bag, alongside the kids’ cream and is really lovely to use, whether you’re make-upped and out and about or just relaxing on a beach make-up free.

I was gifted Wooden Spoon’s sunscreen in exchange for this post. As always, all opinions are my own and based on my own honest experience.