A leaking tent without mirrors and nowhere to plug your hair straighteners sounds like a beauty nightmare but, with Glastonbury approaching, we look at how to stay gorgeous throughout the festival season.
Beauty Basics
The first beauty dilemma springing to the minds of most women is hair styling. But being stripped of dryers and straighteners is not as scary as you may think.
Embrace the festival vibe with natural hair. Simply scrunch and twist damp long hair for a great wavy gypsy girl look. Try Kevin Murphy Hair:Resort (£11.95 from salons nationwide) for a surfer girl beach look to bring a bit of sunshine to your weekend. You just scrunch it through wet or dry hair to reduce the frizz and bushiness of going natural.
Pretty clips and funky head bands are great for taming bed-head hair at any length. Accesorize 's misted flower grips (£6) are perfect for pin back unruly fringes.
Also messy buns are big this summer so just put some grips in your back pack and you can't go wrong.
If you don't fancy braving the freezing cold Glastonbury showers but your hair smells like stale cider and cigarettes then hair perfume is the answer. Love Hair Fragrance (£12) by B Never Too Bust To Be Beautiful is a light mist of jasmine and lemon grass which you spray on your hair brush then brush through hair to leave your locks smelling heavenly again.
Complexion is the next festival beauty nightmare. For those of us whose morning routine takes up most of the day a portaloo isn't the ideal place for pampering. The key is to keep it basic. Leave the foundation at home and try a light tinted moisturiser instead for two in one results. Este Lauder Day Wear Plus Multi Protection Tinted Moisturiser is really rich and soft and also has SPF 15 to help prevent those premature wrinkles while you enjoy the festival sun.
If you like to pile on the mascara why not get a long-lasting eyelash tint at a beauty salon before hand. This way you don't have to worry about panda eyes when you're up to the neck in mud bopping away to Razorlight.
Make-up remover wipes are also a festival essential. Make sure you grab some which remove eye make up for a quick fix at the end of a mad day.
Fashionably Functional
Festival fashion is all about being practical and easy to wear but still being able to give Kate Moss and Sienna Miller a run for their money on a muddy field.
Flowery smock tops are definitely the way to go this year. They look great with skinny jeans and boots (or wellies) or with shorts and flip flops if things heat up.
Primark always have a great range of dresses in loads of bright summery colours and for a bargain price, like this one for just £12. They take up minimal room in your festival backpack so why not buy a few different colours and you'll be sorted for the whole weekend.
Denim shorts are another festival must have. They can be worn with just a t-shirt for casual campsite cool or dressed up with a gypsy top and lots of beads for the boho queen look. This pair from Red Herring at Debenhams (£25) are plain dark denim and will go with almost anything.
Another great festival essential is a funky hat- perfect for preventing sun stroke or more likely keeping the rain off. A favourite this year is the straw cowboy hat. This great stetson also by Red Herring is only £12.
Wellies are another requirement for festival survival. But gone are the days when all you could get was khaki green farmer style. There are loads of great funky designs out there now. Funky Wellington Boots.co.uk have hundreds of different designs and you can even get a trendy bag especially for carrying them in.
The Best of the Rest.......
So now you're looking gorgeous and feeling fab there's just time to squeeze a few more essential festival items into your rucksack.
If the weather is nice the only way to eat is off a bbq. Nothing makes the festival spirit come alive more than the smell of burning sausages wafting across the camp site. However it's not exactly practical to hump your dad's gas-fired super family sized Aussie cooker across a muddy field. This bucket bbq is ideal for light festival travelling. Available from Debenhams for just £10 it's mega compact and everything fits into the bucket base. Very handy!
Don't forget there's no taps in a tent so you'll need something to carry water back after you've fought the other hundred people queuing for the communal tap. The best type are collapsible containers as they can be rolled up and packed in your bag. Most outdoor shops will sell them and they start from around £4 each so well worth investing in- after all you can't survive off drinking only lager for a whole 3 days.
Finally you need somewhere to sleep- if you get much time for that. For those who are not used to the outdoors putting up a tent can be a bit of a struggle so the easier the better. There are loads of great 'throw up' tents around which can be pitched in minutes. Gelert Quick Pitch tents (from £29.99, call 01766 510300 for stockists) are great for festivals and they come in a great range of designs and colours including camouflage and baby pink. Ideal for spotting on a busy campsite.
So there you have it- everything you need to be the perfect chilled out festival goddess. All that's left now is to enjoy the music- and don't forget to watch out for cow pats!
Caz Moss