Today, I am reviewing Bioderma’s tinted sunscreen for those with SENSITIVE SKIN. It is a dry touch formulation…so let’s see.
Damage caused by UVA radiation
A brief reminder of how important UVA filters are in a sunscreen, because the culprit for damages such as tanning, hyper-pigmentation, photoaging etc is UVA radiation.
Happy Skin Days’ sunscreen test
The product passes my basic test. Note that a detailed discussion on filters is at the end of the blog under **Official Geek Alert**
Look and feel of sunscreen
- Does not sting eyes, so easily applies to eye area
- Formulation is hydrating and moisturizing (so no need for additional moisturizer)
- Blends in extremely well leaving no whitecast
- The tint gives slight coverage, so it feels like a primer
- Finish is very slightly shiny and not 100% matte
- I don’t wear make-up and it was easy to reapply this product
- No noticeable smell
Would I buy this again?
I like the formula and the look and the feel of the sunscreen – so yes, I’d buy it.
BUT
If you are looking for a strongly tinted sunscreen then this is not for you. At best this sunscreen acts as a primer and is not to be confused with a substitute for real make-up
Where can I buy this?
This product is not readily available everywhere – you will still see the “yellow” tubes of Bioderma everywhere, which is just as good in terms of UV filter protection – the look and feel of this new version is better
Purchase price is GBP 15. To purchase in UK + Europe: click here
Currently not available in India or the US (good luck with later)
***Geek details***
The harmful chemicals I look for are BHT, Oxybenzone, Formaldehyde releasing preservatives and these are absent.
The Filters present and their position in the Ingredient list are as follows:
- Octocrylene (3rd ingredient)
- Methylene Bis-Benzotriazolyl Tetramethylbutylphenol [Nano] (“MBBT”) (4th ingredient)
- Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane (“Avobenzone”) (5th ingredient)
- Bis-Ethylhexyloxyphenol Methoxyphenyl Triazine (“BEMT”) (10th ingredient)
Octocrylene is a UVB filter that is great choice because it provides strong UVB absorbance. Its also relatively photostable (ie does not breakdown as soon as it comes out of the tube).
UVA protection comes from MBBT, Avobenzone and BEMT.
Avobenzone, which is a gold standard albeit photo-unstable filter UVA filter. Available evidence shows Avobenzone degrades quickly upon exposure to sunlight, reducing its efficacy by as much as 50 and 90 per cent after 60 minutes of exposure. This product relies on other filters especially Octocrylene to stabilise the Avobenzone
BEMT is an excellent broadspectrum filter and has the following characteristics:
- provides superior UVB as well as UVA protection. The UVAI protection it offers begins to taper off at about 360nm, indicating it provides inferior protection to Avobenzone. Nevertheless, it’s still an excellent UVA filter.
- Photostable
- Large molecular size, so no skin absorption
- Doesn’t need to be present in high amounts to give significant UVA protection.
MBBT like BEMT is a new style filter, and therefore is photostable, provides superior protection against UVA.