Beauty Report: Fasten your seatbelts, mind your skin

Flying puts the skin under tremendous stress. Recirculated air and bacteria cause dryness, dehydration and breakouts. Everyone gets off a long-haul flight looking as though they’ve been dredged from a river, but there are a few practical steps that you can take to minimise the damage.

Remove your make-up. Left on, make-up will retreat further and further into your skin, and take a week or more of loving care to set right. Unfortunately, alcohol is a bad idea too. You will already be dehydrated by the time you reach the other side. If you must imbibe, have two glasses of water between each drink.

Leaving your skin to its own devices during a long-haul flight will ensure a puffy, greyish pallor when you land, but clever skincare choices will mitigate a lot of damage.

This Works In Transit Spray on Moisture (€23) is designed specifically for long-haul flights to keep your stressed skin calm and hydrated. At exactly 100ml, this is the perfect size for flying. Spritz onto the face after cleansing and before the rest of your skincare products to prime the skin. You can add another spray whenever you feel like it to refresh the skin and keep yourself awake.

On a long-haul flight, a good face mask will make all the difference. The Body Shop Drops of Youth Bouncy Sleeping Mask (€30) has a fascinatingly thick gelatinous texture, and this mallowy cream-gel hybrid will nourish and hydrate the skin. Worn overnight, it guarantees soft skin in the morning. On a flight, it protects skin from that unpleasantly tight, dehydrated sensation.

Flying affects some people more in the eye area than anywhere else. If you're prone to puffiness, a cooling roller ball eye cream is very comforting . Trilogy Age Proof Co Q10 Eye Recovery Concentrate (€28.95) has a light, quickly absorbed serum texture, but the roller ball massages and cools the eye area while eliminating the need to touch your eyes. You can substitute any roller ball eye product that you like.

To counteract the tight, dirty feeling that flying gives skin, nothing beats a good facial oil. Apply this last and leave it on while you sleep, or fret about your inability to sleep.

While decanting into little bottles is a good idea (Muji offer a great selection) , tiny individual vials of product are perfect for travelling.

L’Occitane 28 Day Divine Renewal Skin Programme

(€102) contains a regimented routine of oils designed to treat your skin over a month-long period. They are also incredibly convenient for travel, take up no space in your carry-on bag, and each vial contains enough oil for two applications. You can of course use any soothing oil you have – if it’s over 100ml, decant it into a travel bottle.

When you land, you might be be tired, disoriented and scruffy, but your skin won’t have taken any hits.