Passport and boarding pass? Check. But have you packed your flight skincare essentials? The right skincare routine before, during and after your flight – whether it’s one hour or 10 – will help you arrive refreshed at your destination. 

Before: flight skincare essentials 

Yes, you can nourish and nurture your skin before you take off. In fact, what you eat and drink before your flight matters as much as it does while you’re in the air. Be sure to drink a lot of water and avoid salty, heavy foods before you fly.  

To prepare for your in-flight skincare routine, remove your makeup before you fly. While oil or cream-based makeup sounds like it will keep your skin moisturized, it’s best to remove makeup entirely. A heavy made-up face will clog your pores. So, do a double cleanse by using a cleansing balm to remove your makeup followed by a gentle cleanser. If you choose to remove your makeup on the plane, use TSA-approved makeup remover wipes.  

During: flight skincare essentials   

Once you’re settled into your seat, begin your skincare routine. First, remember that even though you’re snug in your seat, the sun’s rays can still reach you, especially if you’re in the window seat. In fact, UV rays are more intense at higher altitudes and twice as high at 30,000 feet. So, take a moment to apply your favorite sunscreen. 

Why moisturize? 

Because cabin air is pressurized and has less humidity than outside, your skin will dry out faster. Without moisture, your skin may be dry and irritated even after you land. As a result, your skin may respond by producing more oil. The best way to combat dryness and oiliness is to apply serum and moisturizer. 

Serum and moisturizer 

Applying a serum skincare product after cleansing and before moisturizing will nourish your skin with a high concentration of powerful ingredients. Choose a serum with a high concentration of hyaluronic acid, an ingredient that helps to retain moisture. This will draw water from the air and lock in moisture before you apply your moisturizer. Applying a serum layer before an additional moisturizing layer will give you extra hydration, especially for those long-haul flights to dream destinations. When you select your moisturizer, you’ll also want to look for one that contains hyaluronic acid. 

Face masks 

A sheet mask or a clear, hydrating gel mask is the next best step to seal in your serum and moisturizer. If you choose a gel mask, apply it in layers to minimize any gloopiness. Look for bio-cellulose masks that can replenish your skin with nourishing ingredients. Once you’ve applied the mask of your choice, this is a great time to sleep and let those powerful ingredients work their magic. Make your skincare extra indulgent by applying a heavy-duty lip mask as a lip balm.  

Face oil 

If you opt not to use a gel mask, or feel self-conscious about wearing a sheet mask on your flight, use a nourishing face oil to moisturize your face, neck and lips. Oils including geranium, jojoba, or frankincense, contain omega fatty acids and vitamins that protect your skin from dehydration. Then, enhance the effects and give yourself a bit of self-care with a muscle-awakening facial massage. Use small circular movements and gently massage upwards. 

Extra flight skincare essentials 

Skin care doesn’t stop with what moisturizers you apply to your face. What you rest your head upon for a long, in-flight nap is just as important. Instead of leaning your head against the window or headrest (which can acquire bacteria), bring your own pillow. Airport gift shops usually carry U-shaped pillows in case you forget yours.  

Food and drink 

What you eat and drink is also just as important for your skin as what you put on it. Continue to hydrate with water and skip the alcohol to combat the dry cabin air. Plane food can be laden with salt and preservatives so you’re best to pack your own replenishing snacks. 

After you land: flight skincare essentials 

Keep up your excellent skin care after your flight to feel extra refreshed for your travels. When you arrive, wash your face and shower with lukewarm water, not hot water that can further dry out the skin. Then, apply moisturizer packed with hydrating ingredients like shea or cocoa butter on your face and body. 

Extra skincare and self-care 

Your skin care need not stop once you arrive at your destination. While you’ve surely packed your favorite products, Many Luxury Gold accommodations include an onsite spa for decadent and replenishing treatments. For example, Kallpa Spa at Tambo Del Inka in the Sacred Valley of Peru offers massages and facials based on traditional, healing Inca ingredients. Or, enjoy their heated indoor and outdoor pool or hydromassage pools.  Check out our six favorite spas around the world and where you can unwind with Luxury Gold. 

Where will you pamper yourself with Luxury Gold? 

Esteemed Peruvian artist Victor Delfin has been inspired by the unique heritage and people of his native Peru. From large scale sculptures to graphic, vibrant paintings, Delfin captures the events and emotions of Peruvians. We are fortunate that he opens his home and workshop to Luxury Gold guests as one of our VIP Experiences on our Grand South America and Treasures of the Incas tours.  

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Victor Delfin’s house 

You’ll find Delfin’s Tudor-style home perched on a cliff above the Pacific Ocean. Here, giant waves add a dramatic background to the setting. While Delfin maintains residency, his home is also a contemporary art museum, artist studio and bed and breakfast called Second Home Peru. 

@victordelfin92

Inside Delfin’s home

Approaching the home, gardens dotted with sculptures of angels, a bull, a horse tossing its mane and a lion creating a sense of wild movement and energy will impress you. Inside, Delfin’s home welcomes with warm wood trim, colorful stained glass and curio cabinets filled with sculptures. The second floor was once family rooms and galleries. Up one more level, a hidden spiral staircase leads to a tower studio overlooking the ocean where Delfin used to work. 

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Delfin’s presence 

Delfin’s touch is everywhere. For example, you can view the wrought-iron wood burning stove, hand-shaped light fixtures, leather chairs and even chess pieces he designed as well as the numerus boldly colored paintings that adorn the walls. 

@victordelfin92

Over the years Delfin has expanded his property to include a new studio, cave gallery and a large swimming pool with a fountain shaped like a puma head. Before Delfin’s daughter converted the family rooms, gallery space, dark room and her father’s former studio into guest rooms in 2004, it was once a meeting place for Lima’s artists and activists.  

@victordelfin92

Community and legacy 

Victor Delfin’s house is in the Barranco neighborhood known for its cafes and murals. The neighborhood is also a hub of creativity among the local writers, poets, musicians, photographers and other artists. In addition, politically, Delfin’s house was also a gathering space for dissidents from “La Resistencia Democrática,” a group who opposed then-president Alberto Fujimori in the late 1990s. Delfin played a role in organizing the marches and protests. As a result, his involvement in political causes is just as strong a contribution to Peru as his art.  

Victor Delfin’s art 

However, Victor Delfin’s art is his legacy. The pre-Inca Paracas culture inspired Delfin. Thus, his art has a boldly colorful yet mysterious and magical quality reminiscent of this disappeared nation. He works with a range of materials including wood, metal, canvas, polychrome acrylics and aluminum. But, many know Delfin for his large metal sculptures of birds, horses and other animals. For example, Delfin’s famed “El Beso” (The Kiss) sculpture sits in Lima’s Parque del Amor (Love Park). It has become a popular spot for couples to pose with the sculpture on romantic occasions.  

We connected with Delfin to learn more about his artwork and influences in his own words.  

@victordelfin92

In Delfin’s words

Peru has certainly influenced my artwork. With roots as old as the Greek, Egyptian and African cultures, Peru has an exciting amount of history to discover and display. 

From its unique, pre-Columbian architecture to its music and folk crafts, it is full of surprises. Its natural beauty and heritage is inspirational, with the splendor of the Amazon, the powerful snow-capped mountains and, of course, the welcoming nature of its people. 

All my work is somehow based on my country, and I like to show this to Luxury Gold guests when they visit my workshop. My passion for creativity is kindled by my love for home. There’s little surprise that the place I feel most comfortable is right here (in a studio I designed, “my way,” to quote Sinatra). 

When Luxury Gold guests visit, they ask me about my favorite piece of artwork, and are surprised when I explain there is no favorite. As artists, everything we make, we make with a lot of enthusiasm and passion. We give the best of ourselves in the art that we create. 

Delfin’s passion

For artists, our creations are like our children, and we care for them with the same passion, whether one makes a painting, a sculpture or a jewel. 

I hope to pass along this passion for creativity, which nature gave me as a child and which was guided by the immense love of my parents, friends and mentors, and inspires me to take care of others. I feel obligated to be an activist for human rights, for the struggles of citizens to improve their quality of life. 

It’s my way of giving back to the people. After all, my inspiration is in the streets, in the towns, in the customs of the people and their ways of expressing themselves. 

What will you be inspired by in Peru?

Explore dining in Peru and our tours: Treasures of the Incas and Grand South America. 

Determining the best Australian grape is a quest many wine lovers are eager to embark on. Our Inspiring Australia journey will find you savoring every sip and acquaint you with different varietals within the Hunter Valley and beyond. After talking with Nick Williams, Cellar Door Manager of Hungerford Hill winery in the Hunter Valley, we’ve learned that the beauty of Australian wine is so much more than one perfect grape.    

Related Content: What to look for in a top-quality Pinot Noir, by wine expert Courtney Kingston 

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The Hunter Valley’s Australian grape 

The Hunter Valley, just a few hours’ drive from Sydney, is the oldest wine region in Australia. For almost 200 hundred years this warm climate wine region has been producing top Shiraz and Semillon enjoyed all over the world. In particular, the Hunter Valley boasts an aged Semillon and a medium bodied, earthy Australian Shiraz. What makes the Hunter so special? Nick explains, “You’ve got multiple generations working across multiple wineries over the years, sharing their knowledge travelling around the country and the world and then bringing that knowledge, that skill and those initiatives back into a wine region.”   

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The future of the Hunter Valley 

With such a rich history, wine enthusiasts can’t help but wonder what’s next for the Hunter. “The Hunter Valley really is a region that is caught between traditional values and constantly innovating and redeveloping itself, Nick comments. “Everyone’s ready to give something a go in the Hunter but you always have to look at where you’ve come from.” From where and how vines are planted—such as planting vines higher off the ground—to new techniques to increase yield, there’s no shortage of experimentation.   

Climate change also requires adaptation. “The rise of alternative varietals and seeing different growers trying to push what they can grow…We need to look at what we can swap around, taking out some clones of Shiraz and putting in Tempranillo,” Nicks says. “Everyone’s doing something a little bit different. We currently have on tasting two different sorts of the same fruit from the same block. One is very sweet and the other is quite dry. It’s almost bone dry. They were only picked a few hours apart but it’s the natural residual sugar in them just makes them pop.” In fact, Hungerford Hill has something for everyone. 

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Hungerford Hill 

This Australian winery is in a unique position to offer a breadth of varietals while embracing the grapes that the Hunter Valley is known for. “What we do at Hungerford Hill and what a lot of other but not all wineries in the Hunter are doing now is giving you a sample of what Australian wine can be…We are very fortunate in the Hunter Valley, where we are at Hungerford, to have a lot of different varietals but also to have a fairly broad wine philosophy: We make wine for people.” This philosophy embraces the ideology that wine is meant to be drunk. “It’s not to hide away it’s not to just give us a gift. It’s to crack open to pour a glass and to share with your friends your family your loved ones.”   

Most of Hungerford Hill’s wines are from the Hunter Valley, but they also bring in fruit from Tumbarumba, the snowy mountain region in the south of New South Wales, and the hilltops region in the middle of New South Wales. Bringing in grapes from wine regions differing in climate and soil offers guests the opportunity to find the best Australian grapes that they like. 

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Food and wine tasting 

During your visit to Hungerford Hill you’ll enjoy an Epic Tasting Experience. You’ll explore how food and wine interact as you try six different wines paired with small plates from their onsite Muse Restaurant. While these specifically tailored pairings change seasonally, Nick shares a few favorites. You might try the classic pairing of the lemony notes of Semillon with seafood or Sangiovese and duck. Or, enjoy the winery’s full-bodied EPIC Shiraz paired with a sausage roll made with Wagyu Beef. With Hungerford Hill’s focus on the guests, your tasting will find you sampling some of the 40 wines that are open each day.  

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Try something new 

Nick recognizes that wine drinkers have different tastes, and not just in varietals. “Sometimes you just need your security blanket of wine and then sometimes you might want to try and have a compromise wine with a friend.” He’s eager to give you freedom to stick with your favorite Australian grape as well as explore what Hungerford Hill has to offer on your tasting journey, from the Hunter Valley and beyond. 

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The perfect Australian grape 

In short, what makes the perfect Australian grape? “The perfect Australian grape makes a wine that someone wants to drink.” Nick says. “It’s not something that you look at. It’s something which is fit for purpose, something which calls out to you, or calls out to the winemaker, which then transcends into the bottle.” 

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Discover your favorite Australian wine with us.