This sunscreen is the first mineral sunscreen that (I believe) Bioderma have produced and in today’s blog I will be reviewing this sunscreen.
What damage are we trying to protect against when we use sunscreen?
Filters should protect against the deleterious effects of both UVA and UVB radiation:
Its a tinted sunscreen, that uses 2 mineral UV filters (Zinc Oxide and Titanium Dioxide).
Happy Skin Days’ sunscreen test
I apply this very basic test to all sunscreens that I test on this blog.
Note: the harmful chemicals that I look for are specifically BHT, Oxybenzone, Formaldehyde releasing preservatives and parabens (and none of these are present in this product.
It passes all conditions (1) to (3), but reasons that will become apparent, I would rather chew a rubber slipper than use this sunscreen again.
3) What UVA and UVB sunscreen filters are present?
Both Zinc Oxide and Titanium Dioxide have a long track record of safe use when topically applied. Both are photostable (do not breakdown in UV radiation) and are not absorbed into the skin. Even if de minimis penetration of (e.g.) Zinc Oxide occurs, there are no adverse health effects, given the high levels of endogenous Zinc already present in the body.
While both Zinc Oxide and Titanium Dioxide are broadspectrum filters, Titanium Dioxide is the better UVB filter and Zinc Oxide is the better UVA filter.
The nano-form of Zinc Oxide in an emulsion (as here) is also safe to use.
This sunscreen is European and to carry an SPF 50+ label requires inter alia that the product is at least an SPF 60 and that 1/3 of the SPF contributes to UVA protection. (These are not the only conditions that need to be satisfied, but I am pretty O.K. with the protection this product provides against UVA radiation). But note that mineral sunscreens in general provide inferior protection against UVA than chemical sunscreens. That’s just the nature of Zinc Oxide and Titanium Dioxide.
If you’d like more information or a more detailed explanation, leave a comment and I’ll respond.
4) Why will I not be buying this sunscreen again?
This mineral sunscreen is tinted and comes in two shades: light and golden. I received a “light” shade in the post and while the colour is unusable for me, it also demonstrates difficulties in this sunscreen
- The amount I actually applied
- The sunscreen as spread out across my arm – for the right complexion this would work as a matte, full coverage foundation!
- After using innisfree greentea facewash once, this is the amount of sunscreen left
- After using the same facewash twice, this is the amount of sunscreen remaining
- Finally, I used Yo Glow Enzyme Scrub to remove the sunscreen, but still missed a spot.
It is unthinkable that I would ever scrub my face this much to remove a sunscreen. On a daily basis, I cannot even begin to articulate the skin barrier damage this would cause. Clearly this product has bigger issues than just being the wrong shade for me.
If you do have a better experience of using this sunscreen, please do let me know!
See also My Top 5 sunscreen recommendations
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