Suncreen Showdown

I think the first fancy facial sunscreen I ever tried was La Roche Posay Anthelios. It was nice, and it’s still featured in magazines pretty frequently, but last summer I went with Elta MD UV Clear, which is thicker and creamier, and doesn’t run down your hand when you squeeze it onto your fingers. It was great, though it doesn’t vanish into your skin as quickly. It has zinc oxide, which makes a physical barrier instead of a chemical one, which means… it’s going to take a minute.

I wasn't sure what kind to go with this year. Last February, before all the magazines started talking about the newest kinds of sunscreen, I bought a bottle of Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Liquid SPF 70 to wear while I was on vacation in St. Lucia. I’d heard good things about it, and since it was about $15 cheaper than La Roche Posay or Elta MD, I figured it was worth a shot.

It was fine, it seemed like it did the job as well as La Roche Posay, even if it took a little while to absorb. I figured that small inconvenience was worth saving fifteen bucks.

Then, this summer, right before I left for (slightly less glamorous) Ocean City, New Jersey, I read about a new sunscreen from L’Oreal. Well, new to the U.S. anyway. It was one of those products beauty editors allegedly stock up on when they are in Europe or whatever. L’Oreal Sublime Sun SPF 50 “Liquid Silk Sunshield for Face.” It sounded much nicer than the Neutrogena stuff I had.

The day before I left for my trip, I stopped by Duane Reade to see if they had the new L’Oreal sunscreen line. I feel like 95% of the time, when I read about something, it’s months before I can find it in a store. But I found one bottle! On the wrong shelf, turned sideways. For some reason, that made it even more exciting.

Now that I’ve tried both, for a week each, I feel like I can give you an accurate comparison.

Headline

As I mentioned yesterday, I’m vigilant about protecting my face from the sun. But what’s holding my face on my body? Is that important too? Well, it's my head, and most of the time I consider it to be important and useful. Let's put it this way: I certainly wouldn’t want to be without it! Here are the things I use to protect my head, and it’s parts, on the beach.

Sunscreen Powder is, Presumably, Better Than Nothing

Everyone knows you need to reapply sunscreen every few hours or after swimming. But it recently came to my attention that that goes for non-beach/pool related activities as well, such as walking around town on a sunny day. EEK! That’s my favorite kind of day to walk around town! I sort of just figured my SPF20 daily face lotion would take care of that, but really, that protection is gone after a few hours, just like regular sunscreen! Because it IS.

Sunblocky When Wet

As I mentioned yesterday, I am just dying for summer to get here. I mean, I love spring and all, and if spring wanted to go ahead and be springy one day soon, that would be awesome. But it seems like what spring really loves to do is toy with our emotions by being warm/freezing sunny/hideous. (Spring, stop being such a JERK!) So I’m looking beyond spring, to a hot and sunny summer.