I’ll digress (only for today!) from the Sephora list because I have received requests for my top sunscreens. I intend to update this list because it involves reviewing hundreds of sunscreens available in the EU, UK, USA and India.
My principal criterion for sunscreen selection is as follows:
1) The product must be at least an SPF 30
(Statistically, consumers are less likely than not to apply 2mg/cm2 every time they apply sunscreen. The drop in expected coverage is exponentially lower if you use less sunscreen (and I’ve written about this – link in comments) here https://happyskindays.com/difference-between-spf-15-and-spf-50/
2) The product must contain BOTH effective UVA and UVB filters.
(As regulation of sunscreens varies by country, it is not a given that ALL will contain effective UVA filters. Clinique produced a Titanium Dioxide sunscreen (which will offer broad spectrum protection), which is pretty rubbish at providing adequate UVA protection. (It has since been reformulated).
This logic steers me towards EU sunscreens over American or Indian sunscreens, simply because at least 1/3 of the SPF protection must be from UVA filters. As SPF measures protection from UVB radiation, this is an additional protection for consumers.
3) The sunscreen does not contain my subjective definition of harmful chemicals, namely BHT, Oxybenzone, Parabens, and formaldehyde-releasing preservatives.
Based on the above, my favourite sunscreen brands are:
1) Ultrasun (a Swiss brand with different technology for the delivery of UV filters) (https://happyskindays.com/ultrasun-face-fluid-spf-50-pa/)
2) French pharmacy brand sunscreens and in descending order of preference
a) All things Bioderma – there is without doubt an existing issue with some sunscreens, but Bioderma make affordable sunscreens for acne-prone skin, melasma, etc https://happyskindays.com/bioderma-photoderm-spotage-spf50/
b) La Roche Posay – introducing new UV filters on the market gets my admiration. I’m not too fond of the high alcohol content, but that’s a personal preference
c) VICHY produce a couple of good sunscreens; if I am desperate, then Avene is the last French pharmacy brand I go to (https://happyskindays.com/vichy_sunscreen_product_review/)
d) From India, Lakme make a good sunscreen that is extremely affordable as does La Shield. La Shield produce a sunscreen that is of the exact same consistency, transparency as supergoop!’s unseen seen sunscreen but smells horrendously.
No American sunscreens make this list because the US FDA continues to permit ONLY a very select number of UV filters – and there is no regulation around the % of UVA filters.
Finally, I am not South Korean, Japanese or Australian – if it’s a sunscreen that’s not readily available to my readers of my blog + regular customers – I am just not going to review it. Plus I cannot read Japanese.
See my blog https://happyskindays.com/top-5-sunscreen-recommendations/