The beauty essentials to pack this festival season

Travel light, keep makeup simple and hey, it’s a festival, so ramp up the glitter

You might not feel amazing by day three, but you can still look the part (Getty/iStock)

With Coachella underway our attention has turned to those few days of festival fun that await us, whether it’s a weekend at Wilderness, Glastonbury or further afield.

But thanks to late nights, copious amounts of booze and nowhere to shower, festivals don’t always lend themselves to the bouncy hair and glowing skin that Kate Moss would have you believe they do. Instead, slumming it is all part of the experience and as such your beauty bag is bound to take a hit. The key here is to pack lightly and keep your look simple with long-wearing products that can take you from day to night.

Here is our list of must-have beauty buys that you’ll actually need this festival season.

Dry Shampoo

Hair by Sam McKnight, Lazy girl, £19, Liberty London

With nowhere to wash your locks, beat the grease and cheat your way to achieving salon-worthy hair with the help of a dry shampoo.

A product which has earned a bad reputation over the years for leaving your tresses coated in a chalky, flaky residue, luckily a new generation of products has pretty much changed the hair game. Case in point: Sam McKnight’s Lazy Girl.

This dry shampoo, while pricier than some, is perfect for making your ’do last longer as it absorbs excess oil while simultaneously creating volume, texture and hold. It also smells heavenly, with notes of green leaf, watery flowers, cedar, frankincense and juniper wood.

Face Wipes

Take The Day Off Face and Eye Cleansing Towelettes , £16, Clinique

Very rarely will we advocate using face wipes but festivals are one of those occasions when the need for convenience dominates. That being said, it’s important to remember that not all wipes are created equal.

One of our favourites is Clinique’s Take The Day Off Face and Eye Cleansing Towelettes, which are saturated with gentle micellar liquid that promises to instantly refresh your complexion. So whether you’re dancing the night away or getting stuck in the mud you can rely on these handy towels to get rid of any festival-related grub in one quick sweep.

Waterproof Mascara

Too Faced, Better Than Sex Waterproof Mascara, £19, Cult Beauty

From unexpected downpours to getting emotional mid-ballad as you watch the main stage, your eye makeup needs to ward off the panda effect. As such, only a waterproof formula will do.

For full, fluttery lashes that promise to stay put all day and night we recommend investing in Too Faced’s Better Than Sex Waterproof Mascara, which uses a peptide-enriched formula to thicken, lengthen and curl. In just a few coats, your eyes will look bigger, brighter and more defined than ever before.

CC Cream

It Cosmetics, Your Skin But Better CC Cream SPF 50, £30, Selfridges

Wearing a full face of makeup is a no-go as festivals call for a pared-back beauty routine. The answer? A CC cream that evens out your complexion and feels super-light on the skin.

Our favourite is It Cosmetics’ Your Skin But Better CC Cream, which brightens, hydrates, protects, evens skin tone, fights wrinkles and instantly diffuses the appearance of fine lines, all without being too heavy. It’s also SPF 50, so you can be safe in the knowledge that on the off-chance there happens to be glorious weather, your skin will be protected.

Glitter

NYX Professional Makeup, Face & Body Glitter, £6, Cult Beauty

There are very few occasions when, as a grown-up, it’s acceptable to wear glitter, and one of those is at festivals. Perfect for wearing on your cheekbones, eyelids or even to sprinkle onto your roots to disguise greasy hair, we love NYX’s Face & Body Glitter which comes in a spectrum of 12 dazzling shades.