Tag: best sunscreen 2020

Supergoop! Unseen Sunscreen

thealtruisticface

The skin on my face does not like American-made sunscreens, chemical or physical, for some reason. I’ve had much greater success using Asian beauty branded sunscreens like Rohto and It’s Skin. So I was initially pretty pleased that I had received this in a sample-sized bottle only at first, because I was convinced I was going to intensely dislike this product the same as my other US made sunscreens. But it turns out… that… I’m in love… and that I’d happily buy a few full-sized containers to last the summer ❤

First off, the ingredient listing: love it. No drying alcohols, and nothing else that you don’t usually see in other sunscreens, except Diatomaceous Earth. Maybe I just haven’t been paying attention, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen DE in any of my beauty products. Normally this ingredient is used in gardens as a pesticide! A couple Google searches informed me that this is apparently safe for human use, and actually helps to shed dead skin cells. Weird.

The product itself is a lightweight, odorless clear gel. And just as the name claims, this sunscreen really is unseen once you apply it. In fact, you can’t even really feel it after two minutes of drying time! There’s absolutely no whitecast on this, not even in areas where the product might spread unevenly, and pool up. That said, it’s ridiculously easy to smoothly apply, and a little goes a long way.

Quarantine has me in the habit of not wearing foundation, so I’ve only had a chance to try layering makeup over this product once or twice. But I had no issue applying makeup over this as long as I had waited the fully time to let the sunscreen dry down. By the end of the day, there was a little bit of increased pilling, but it’s nothing that’s unmanageable, and won’t cause any patchiness as a result of fusing with your makeup.

This sunscreen is phenomenal for anyone with sensitive skin. I didn’t experience the avobenozene-burning-sensation or any subsequent redness after applying. And, this product has not caused any breakouts for me!

The only thing on my wishlist for this product is that the SPF was 50, and not 40. I can definitely see a little bit of redness if I’m outside for too long, and/or forget to reapply. Supergoop has a 50 spf sunscreen, but a few reviews are telling me it’s heavy and oily, which I’m not a huge fan of.

But I’m still really pleased with Unseen, and I plan to tote this around with me everywhere I go this summer. The full sized product is a bit pricy for $30 and only 1.7oz, but again, you don’t need very much product to cover your whole face. This sunscreen is a definite buy, for me! ~A

Perceived efficacy: 3.8/5

Longevity: 4/5

How much I actually like this product: 4.7/5

Recommended for sensitive skin: Yes

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Canmake Mermaid Skin Gel UV SPF 50+ PA++++

thealtruisticface2 Comments

After trying an unsuccessful string of physical and chemical American sunscreens, I decided to start looking for sunscreens featured on the AsianBeauty subreddit, particularly those that did not contain benzoyl or isopropyl alcohol. It turns out, a ton of chemical sunscreens have those ingredients… but Canmake Mermaid’s Skin Gel did not, so I went ahead and made the $10 purchase to try it.

To start, 10/10 on the packaging, with the silvery blue beach decals scattered throughout and the pink label. So cute! The sunscreen itself is quite thin, and comes out of the bottle easily. So, despite the bottle’s small size, a little of this product goes a long way. The white coloration of the sunscreen will sink in pretty quickly. Despite the easy absorption, it does leave a little white cast, and might lighten your foundation shade half a step. This occurs even with the “clear” version, and the effect of this is intensified in the white version of Mermaid Gel. Fortunately, the product spreads consistently over the skin, so it’s easy to blend in with makeup.

Speaking of makeup, this plays very well with other products. For me, personally, this is imperative. The drawback to this product is that it does cause a little bit of skin irritation. It doesn’t make me itchy or break-out, necessarily, but any redness that may have been leftover from old acne scars will be noticeably more pronounced.

Besides the redness, there’s really no additional “side effects” with this sunscreens that many others tend to exhibit. This won’t dry out your skin over time, or have the whitecast become worse over the course over the day. The sunscreen is odorless. It also doesn’t pill. You can safely wear a layer of foundation over this for a full day with no issues. Oh, and, the important stuff: this has an extremely high SPF rating (50 spf, PA++++), so this is great to wear all year round.

If you are a sensitive skin user and you’ve been around the block with sunscreens, I would recommend you give Mermaid Gel a try (as well as Rohto Moisture Milk, which has relatively similar properties to this sunscreen). Finding a HG sunscreen is a difficult task for even clear skin users, since the sunscreen ingredients themselves, like zinc oxide, can be known irritants. But I think some trial and error for the sake of sun protection is worth it! ~A

Perceived efficacy: 5/5

Longevity: 5/5

How much I actually like this product: 3.75/5

Recommended for sensitive skin: Maybe