No 16 on the Sephora bestselling sunscreen list is a Supergoop! SPF Bestseller kit, and I have done supergoop! sunscreens to death on my blog.
Next up is Shiseido Urban Environment Fresh Moisture-Sunscreen SPF 42 – I have already reviewed 2 other Shiseido formulas, and I feel as I am writing under protest.
What I notice immediately is the price tag – US$50, which indicates to me that this is more of a moisturiser with sunscreen AND not a sunscreen with moisturising elements.
1) Ingredient list
1a) UVB filters
Like every single non-mineral sunscreen in the USA, the UV filter combination is as follows:
- UVA filter: Avobenzone (at 2.3%)
- UVB filters: Homosalate (at 10%), Octisalate (at 5%) and Octocrylene (at 5%). Out of these, Octocrylene is the stronger UVB filter.
1b) Type of product?
To be a moisturiser, you would immediately think that the product has a strong emulsifier system.
And so my initial hypothesis was that this product had traditional emulsifiers, emollients + preservatives as a water-in-oil emulsion.
I was wrong.
This is a moisturiser that relies on rheology modifiers – so thickeners, gelling agents and agents that help with spreadability – to give structure and stability to product. The emulsifier system is minimal.
What does that mean?
Obviously the cost structure is different because not all rheology modifiers are cheap. BUT also, the skin-feel probably needs less work in terms of formulation because you don’t have to deal with the “tackiness” that comes through emulsification.
Also, this allows one to reduce the % of emollients in the product b/c the thickeners work on the aqueous element. (There are no identifiable oil gelling agents)
2) Ingredient breakdown
- Actives: Ascorbyl Tetraisopalmitate,Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate,Sodium Hyaluronate,Sanguisorba Officinalis Root Extract,Camellia Sinensis
- Leaf Extract,Garcinia Mangostana Bark Extract,Perilla Ocymoides Leaf Extract,Spirulina Platensis Extract
- Skin moisturising: Trehalose (polysaccharide)
- Humectant: Sodium Hyaluronate
- Emollients/Humectant/ Solvent dispersion: Butylene Glycol, Caprylyl Methicone, Dipropylene Glycol, Glyceryl Diisostearate,
- Gelling agent: Ammonium Acryloyldimethyltaurate/Beheneth-25 Methacrylate Crosspolymer, Behenyl Alcohol, Carbomer, Xanthan Gum
- Emulsifier systems: Stearyl Alcohol (co-emulsifier)
- Improves spreadability of product: Synthetic Fluorphlogopite,
- Preservative: BHT, Disodium EDTA (chelating agent), Tocopherol (prevent rancidity of oils), Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Metabisulfite
- Colorants: Mica, Titanium Dioxide
- Silicone: Bis-Peg-18 Methyl Ether Dimethyl Silane, C30-45 Alkyl Methicone (and) C30-45 Olefin (silicone wax), Caprylyl Methicone (also good at dispersion of pigment)