After years of relying on my foundation and SPF15 moisturiser for SPF factor the freckles on my face have told me I need to get way more serious unless I want to look like a leathery old crone in a decade or so. Here are my two top weapons on my arsenal at present. Make no mistake, this isn't a review... that will come after a month of diligent, daily use. This is just a first-impressions post.
Bare Minerals SPF30 Natural Sunscreen
The long struggle for a facial sunscreen that won't break me out led me to this powdered sunscreen's doorstep. Hellishly expensive, I'm using it because well... I really have no other alternatives.
Bought off Strawberrynet.com for HKD290, at least I recouped something via the loyalty discount.
This completely sheer powder (despite being Titanium Dioxide, it has no whitish cast) has so far not caused breakouts and I do believe the number of freckles WAS going down until I went on an extended hike and sweated the stuff off. Of course, being completely sheer, the only clue you have that the powder's on your face is the tell-tale sheen that Bare Minerals products tends to have.
I also back this up with ZA's 2-Way foundation that comes with SPF20.
Is it good? I still don't know. But it's not breaking me out and at least I feel like I"m doing something!
Color Combos Aloe Vera Body Sunscreen SPF30
The glory of this product is that it's light, moisturising and smells deliciously fresh. The problem is I've never heard of the brand and can find no mention of it online. It claims to be manufactured in Oz though... I suspect it's a Sasa house brand - which is where I bought it for HKD78.
So far it's proving to be a fairly decent daily moisturiser as well as sunblock. It's efficacy is yet to be determined and I still don't know the active ingredient that grants it its SPF. I bought it on impulse, out of desperation because the Vaseline Healthy White SPF24 lotion I was using had a sickly smell that was driving me bats. I love the smell and texture so much I'm really hoping it works. Will update you on its performance.
Now, anyone know of a great cheap body sunblock to use and, more importantly, an affordable powder sunblock?
7 comments:
For body (in order of preference):
1. banana boat SPORT performance, the one that has a hand-grip packaging and says "active dry protect" on it (feels dryer than the original SPORT).
2. coppertone SPORT (blue hand-grip packaging).
3. neutrogena ultra sheer.
For face:
I dunno of powder sunblock but La Roche Posay works pretty well for me. It is.. somewhat affordable during sales.
8 hours cream sunscreen just won the award of best sunscreen in France... For a powder...Have you tried Shiseido's???? I love it too!
I am using MUJI's sunblock for face, SPF 40 PA++. Like you, anything containing silicone breaks me out very badly. So when I stumbled upon this, I bought 6 to last me till my next trip to HK :P It's cheap AND good!!
Foong Jin: It doesn't break you out? It doesn't have silicone? EEEEK!!
Foong Jin: Alas it does and now I"m too scared to try. But great that it works for you!
Kahani: Thanks for letting me know! The whole bottle is in Japanese, so I didn't know. Ignorance is certainly bliss in this aspect. Just give it a try? cos I am very sensitive to silicone. My H20+ Face Oasis is 99% full due to the fact the silicone in it breaks me out like mad!
It's really cheap (~HKD 40) :) If it doesn't work out, you can use it on your neck/body.
I like micronised 5% zinc oxide sunblocks because they block full spectrum of UV rays. I've tried Citrix, it is good. But you have to get it through international shipping.
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