Afternoon is a natural skincare brand offering high-quality, nourishing formulas that protect the skin with gentle, effective insect-repelling properties.
The repellent in most travel bags is built on chemistry developed by the US military in the 1940s. DEET — the active ingredient in the majority of household sprays — was patented in 1946 and approved for civilian use in 1957. It works. It also dissolves plastics, eats into watch straps and synthetic fabrics, and carries the heavy, medicinal smell most of us hold our breath through.
For sensitive skin, it can mean irritation, dryness, and the occasional rash. For families, paediatric guidelines recommend lower concentrations on young children and avoiding it on infants altogether. For the planet, residues from DEET-based products have been found in rivers and waterways, where it's toxic to aquatic life. For the rest of us, it's simply not something we want to wear all day, every day on holiday.
Skincare moved on. Repellent didn't.
Clean beauty became the rule on the bathroom shelf — plant-based ingredients, transparent labels, scents you'd actively choose. Travel skincare followed: SPF reformulated, body oils given a second life, balms and serums that feel like a ritual rather than a chore. Repellent stayed exactly where it was: a separate bottle, a separate aisle, a separate moment of grimacing before you spray.
We didn't want a second product. We wanted one cream that did both — properly.
Afternoon was founded by Christie and Sam — a couple brought together by a shared love of travel, slow living and sun-soaked destinations. We kept reaching for the same kind of product on holiday: a body cream that hydrated like a proper moisturiser, smelled like something we'd happily wear, and quietly handled the mosquitoes, midges and gnats we kept meeting in equal measure on Mediterranean coves and Scottish hills.
It didn't exist. So we made it.
Every Afternoon formula is built on plant-based ingredients and essential oils. Sweet orange and clary sage in our first release, alongside a blend of botanicals chosen for their gentle insect-repelling properties. No DEET. No parabens. No synthetic fragrance. No mosquito imagery on the box.
The result is a product that performs like skincare, looks like skincare, and earns its place on the bathroom shelf as well as in the wash bag.
Drawing inspiration from Mediterranean summers, natural botanicals and modern skincare rituals — the brand is named for the slow, golden hours when the day softens. The hour you reach for something that feels good on the skin, smells like a memory of somewhere warmer, and lets you stay outside a little longer.