REALLY bad sunburn on face, advice please!!

[BethanRebecca]

I've been in the sun all day today, and despite continually putting on sun cream, my face is absolutely bright red!! I'm supposed to be going out tonight, but am absolutely mortified!! Can i cover it up/make it look any better!?!? I have 2 hours! :(

I don't think there's much you can do. I read once that this is the one thing even professional make up artists can't hide. A hat with a veil?

Stick a wet teatowel in the freezer and then as soon as its cold (should take only a few minutes) lay it over your face. The colder you can make it the less red it'll be... Good luck.

Is your sunscreen out of date? You might need a higher factor for your face in the future.

Probably a bit late for you now but if you have any Vitamin E capsules, snip them, squeeze out the contents and put the oil on the sunburn. Soothing and stops you peeling. :)

Fantastic, thanks for all your advice! I will see what i can do, and will definitely be using a higher factor suncream in future!

Have you got any cream that is specifically for burns rather than sunburn? I was once told by a dr I should use a burn cream such as acriflex to help it.

You also need to do as much as you can to cool it down - difficult to stick in tepid water but can you spray it on regularly or keep a clean damp t towel or pillow case etc on it like a compress preferably something not fluffy. in the past I've even used the base of a couple of cold saucepans using one to roll around the burnt bit and then switch when it warms up giving it a chance to cool down over and over to take the heat out of your burnt bits. Apparently the heat that's in it can carry on getting worse for several hours if you don't try to take the heat out of it (disclaimer: not sure if this last bit or just what my mum told me but seems to be true)

I'd definitely also try to avoid putting make up on it...

Just realised I started typing this ages ago but got interrupted so hope the burn is going down and you have a good night out.

I'd also try to

too late to help now but if anyone finds herself in the same boat take Ibuprofen (for the inflammation, which you want to get down asap), and also wrap a bag of ice in a tea towel and hold it on your face for a few minutes til it cools down. Put ice back in freezer, repeat in half an hour or so, and keep doing it.

I also find constant moisturising helps in this situation