Okay, it is terribly hot. We sit on the tarmac of the Huiqong Airport in Guangzhou in Southern China for 3 lousy hours. I have a flashback to the tarmac of PHL and an even more dreadful US Airways flight. The airline stewardesses quickly try to placate us with an early airplane meal (which US Airways would never do). It is shockingly tasty. The hot meal, however, makes me sweat even more.

These stewardesses looks enviably cool, calm and collected: no sweaty brows and gloppy make-up. They glow, while I just sweat. What is their beauty secret? This Philly girl vows to investigate.

After I get off the plane ride from hellacious, I stop by a modern, all-white, corner Chinese drug store, which would be the equivalent of a Rite Aid in the US.  I delve into the cosmetic section, which takes up three-quarters of the store. It is packed with young women all chatting noisily about the different attributes of each product. Surprisingly, most of the beauty area is filled with skin care products and not cosmetics, which is the opposite of most American drug stores. Here masques, skin care lotions, zit zappers and whitening tonics take center stage. Mascaras, foundations and blush are relegated to the corner area. In fact, one Chinese beauty tells me,  ”You can’t make up for bad skin.”

Indeed, I do notice that most Chinese women here wear little foundation or eye liner. When it is so hot, foundation just melts on your face, cover-up stick congeals and eyeliner gets splotchy.

So, when it is so hot that you can fry an egg on the sidewalk, it's best to go as bare as possible. Invest in great skin care and your skin will look flawless, even under the glare of the scorching South China sun.