Apologies for the absence. I am going to pick up where I left off. I reviewed the formulations of Sephora USA’s bestselling sunscreens (17 Jan 24 data) and I went well over 25 sunscreens. I did a similar exercise in 2020 and the market has dramatically shifted. This was pre-pandemic era and my main observations from 2020 are:
- About 11% of the sunscreens were mineral, by which I mean, predominantly a combination of Zinc Oxide AND Titanium Dioxide
- Reliance on protection against UVB radiation came from primarily Octocrylene + Oxybenzone. Use of Octinoxate was more common.
- SPF in make-up products was an unknown quantity and some moisturisers, but not many, carried SPF
- Sunscreens used less nano ingredients than they do now AND as a result, they lacked the finesse. Whitecast, thick and heavy were apt descriptions for sunscreens.
- Brandwise, the US list was absolutely dominated by Made in America sunscreens. South Korean, Japanese and European sunscreens were nowhere to be seen.
In Jan 24, all of the above has changed. My main observations are:
1️⃣ Out of 33 sunscreens, c40% were mineral sunscreens. When I checked this in 2019/20, the number of mineral sunscreens as c11%.
🔸 Out of these 40% sunscreens, only one in five sunscreens had a mix of Titanium Dioxide + Zinc Oxide. That means 80% of mineral sunscreens were just Zinc Oxide only
🔸 With the Zinc Oxide sunscreens, the range of Zinc Oxide % was from 9.40% to 22%. The average % was 15.8%
🔸 The majority of Zinc Oxide only sunscreens are not using nano-particles. I’ll go back and count the number and update this post
2️⃣ That leaves about 60% of the sunscreens were chemical sunscreens. A chemical sunscreen is essentially something that does not use Zinc Oxide or Titanium Dioxide as a filter against UV radiation
🔸 All 60% sunscreens relied on Avobenzone to provide protection against UVA radiation
🔸 The average % of Avobenzone used is 2.77% (and the maximum permitted in the USA is 3%)
🔸 The really interesting aspect (for me) is the PHOTOSTABILISER used to prevent Avobenzone completely breaking down as soon as it comes out of the tube.
🔹 🔹 Two sunscreens choose to use other photostabilisers – namely Fenty Skin Moisturizer SPF 35 and Glossier Invisible Shield SPF 36
3️⃣ Out of the 60% of the sunscreens, the UVB protection is super interesting as follows:
🔸 Only 3% of sunscreens used Octinoxate – which was unthinkable about 3-4 years ago
🔸 NO sunscreens used Oxybenzone to provide UVB protection
🔸 Sunscreens are using Homosalate and Octisalate to provide UVB proteaction. Out of all the chemical sunscreens, over 90% used either Homosalate or Octisalate as a UVB sunscreen filter
4️⃣ One sunscreen used Ensulizole as a filter in the mix.