La Shield Matte Sunscreen Gel SPF 50+ PA+++ product review

Introduction

There has been an absolute flurry of new sunscreens in India and my impression is that the sunscreens are much improved from previous years. La Shield’s FISICO matte formulation is one such example….

What damage are we trying to protect against?

UV filters contained in sunscreens should protect against the damaging effects of both UVA and UVB radiation:

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). The product is at least an SPF 30 and it does provide UVA protection.

3) What UVA and UVB filters are present in the sunscreen?

This sunscreen only has one filter: 25% Zinc Oxide in a micronized form, which essentially means nano-Zinc Oxide.

Zinc Oxide has a long track record of safe use when topically applied: it is photostable (does not breakdown as soon as it comes out of the tube) and essentially “sits” on the skin (not absorbed by 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.

Zinc Oxide is a broadspectrum filter, providing protection against both UVA and UVB radiation (over 290nm-400nm), but it is without doubt a UVA filter.

This is the protection against UV radiation that 25% Zinc Oxide provides

Aesthetics of the sunscreen

My immediate impression of this sunscreen is that it is very much like supergoop in consistency but a lighter texture.

There is absolutely no whitecast – I have deliberately left some sunscreen on the side so that you can see that.

This does smell like chalk but at 25% Zinc Oxide, you should not be expecting it to smell of something else.

Would I use this sunscreen again?

I don’t like Zinc Oxide sunscreens because of the chalky smell. But if I could make my peace with that, then there is no reason for me not to use this sunscreen.

Of course, I don’t think an SPF 50 is possible with Zinc Oxide, but that is my personal opinion based on reviewing hundreds of sunscreens as well as having a healthy dose of scepticism about published SPF values vs. what they are in reality.

However, there is no reason for me not to treat this as an SPF 30 with slightly lower UVA protection than as advertised and use this product!

Available for sale at Nykaa. MRP is INR 630 for 50g.