On 19 June DH and I went to a ODI cricket match at the Oval. It was, amazingly enough, a sunny day. (Remember those?!) Despite wearing sun cream, I caught the sun a little. A day or so later, I had a rash on my neck, which I reasoned must be a reaction to the sun/sunburn, and was probably prickly heat.
After Googling, I treated it with hydrocortisone cream and it seemed to help a little - but it didn't go away completely. I therefore decided that it must be some kind of other allergic reaction, so switched to some antihistamine cream. This didn't help either. I also felt it start to spread up my neck and round my jawline. (I can't remember if this was before or after I used the antihistamine cream).
During this time I continued to cleanse/tone/moisturise as usual.
Then last weekend DH and I went to Lille for the weekend, and on Saturday night the whole thing really flared up, and spread all over my face. It was really red, swollen and itchy.
On our return the next day I went straight to the pharmacy at St Pancras and bought some calamine lotion, to cool/calm it down. The pharmacist advised me to take antihistamine tablets and use an antihistamine cream - on my neck only. She also asked if I'd been bitten. At that point I said no, but realised later that actually I did have a large bite on my shoulder.
I haven't suffered from eczema before, although I have had a bit of contact dermatitis - rivets on jeans have caused a reaction and the metal piece on the side of my nose from sunglasses - but earlier this year and once last year I was bitten by some sort of insect and had a definite reaction. Very red, hot and swollen area around the bites and had to take antihistamines/use antihistamine creams.
I went to my GP on Tuesday who said it was an allergic reaction and that from now on I would have to be very careful in the sun. (Bit of a bugger this one, as we're off to Barbados for a fortnight soon 
). She said to continue with antihistamines and also use Epaderm for my face/to moisturise the dry skin.
It has cleared up reasonably quickly.
Since Thursday I resumed my skin cleansing (a 'Blemish + Age' product that I paid a huge amount of money for, following some microdermabrasion treatment, about 6 weeks ago), and last night I used my moisturiser for the first time - Garnier UltraLift (part of the MN product testing - which I've been using for about 3-4 weeks now).
During the night, my face and neck have flared up again. Not quite as badly, but I've had to take more antihistamines (having stopped since Wednesday) and put more antihistamine cream on my neck - as well as gallons of calamine. It's red, raised and stinging more than itchy, although it does itch as well. I even have it on the creases of my eyelids (obviously where more of the moisturiser 'sits')
So - after that long essay - I'm wondering now what this is. It's obviously an allergic reaction, but to what?! Is it to the sun, the insect bite or my moisturiser - or all three? And what do I do from here on? And especially, what should I do about Barbados? Obviously I will have to be very careful about sun exposure - although being fair-skinned I am always vigilant about it, and use a good sun screen. Should I/can I take antihistamines prophylactically?
If anyone has any good ideas, I'd be very grateful.