I am finally updating my daily face sunscreen recommendation list Here we go again again it's Michelle of Lab Muffin Beauty Science chemistry PhD cosmetic chemist and sunscreen connoisseur I know it's been a while since my last video but the sunscreens that I'm adding this time aren't like a massive step over the ones I recommended last time but I do like giving more options in case you can't get them where you live or you're allergic to a particular ingredient or they get discontinued that is the bane of my existence a few sunscreens that were on my
list were discontinued before I got around to filming this important background info these are daily face sunscreens most of these are not going to hold up to eating really spicy laksa doing burpees in the park rapping really angrily it's also best to layer your protection more slices means a smaller chance of holes lining up sunscreen is one of the more error-prone forms of sun protection so relying just on sunscreen probably isn't the best idea this diagram is from my book The Science of Beauty this list is subjective it is my opinion my skin is not
your skin my likes are not your likes everyone is unique your best bet is probably to go with recommendations from people with similar skin to you my skin is oily to normal it's prone to clogged pores especially with sunscreens it is also pretty easily dehydrated and I get hyperpigmentation pretty easily genetics plays a big part in this this is what my dad's pigment looks like Dad if you're watching I'm sorry I keep showing this photo of you but people need to understand the level of pigment that nature has intended for me in general these are
my likes for sunscreens I like lightweight my skin is oily I live in a place that is generally hot and humid and I walk really fast so I get sweaty I also like my sunscreens to be nice under makeup so no peeling or bunching and not too much movement over time I usually use a translucent powder over my makeup this one is from Jurlique and that sort of soaks up the oil and shine a bit so shine and stickiness is not automatically a deal breaker for me I also do not like eye sting but eye
sting is pretty personal so what does and doesn't cause eye sting for me is not necessarily the case for you this year I'm saving mineral and hybrid sunscreens for a later separate video for me they just haven't really been on the same level as these organic slash chemical sunscreens but I have tried some recently that are getting close of the gap is narrowing plus I didn't have time to film that many tryouts my face hurts from trying all the ones in this video already this video also doesn't have sticks and sprays they are really more
like secondary sunscreens it is hard to get enough of those on your face and a disclaimer the vast majority of my audience are not in Australia most of the sunscreens I'm going to talk about are not approved for sale in Australia there's going to be a separate section for Australian sunscreens I'll have more disclaimers when I get there a lot of these products were free PR samples or they were from a sponsorship but only about 5% of the sunscreens that I've been given or even tried made it onto this list so there is a strict
selection process here let me know if you've tried these sunscreens in the comments what you thought also give me suggestions for your favorite sunscreens that I need to try let's start with new entries to the recommended list the Nivea UV Deep Protect and Care Essence my husband brought this back from Japan it has a gel texture it's got a really light and floral fresh sort of fragrance it has a light cooling sort of sensation as you apply it there is alcohol high on the ingredient list but I couldn't really smell much of the alcohol when
I was applying it and I didn't feel any burning on my skin this time I've decided to show myself putting on each of the sunscreens I've weighed out 0.8 grams for these which is the amount I need for my face size and like one finger this spreads really nicely it dries down quickly but the flip side of that is that it does get a little bit tacky and hard to spread a bit faster if you go back and try to apply more on areas you've already covered after it's dried down it's clear and a little
bit glossy but it is a really thin comfortable layer there's not like a greasy shine and that shine is easily covered up by a tiny any amount of powder there is a bit of a pore filling effect and it feels really lightweight even though it is water resistant standardized water resistance labeling has been coming in for Japanese and Korean sunscreens and the standard is the same as for Europe the SPF is allowed to drop by up to half after the immersion time so in theory the SPF could be as low as 25 after 80 minutes
the packaging does say that this is recommended for sports the pool and the beach I assume it is for Japanese levels of sun this is very very similar to the next sunscreen which is the Biore Aqua Rich Watery Essence this is the 2023 version it is another Japanese sunscreen my best friend brought it back to me when she went to Japan both of these have the same parent company Kao they have the same ratings for everything and they have very similar filters and just like every other version of this that I've reviewed for the last
decade which is like I think four of them now it is fantastic it is very affordable and very wearable it is an excellent introduction to Asian sunscreens it has a gel cream texture and again it has a light cooling sensation when you're applying it it also has a really light fragrance maybe like a sort of baby powder fragrance and when it's dried it has that lovely pore filling effect both of these seem to have very similar film forming technology so I guess more importantly what are the differences? I found that the Biore has slightly more
of an alcohol smell when I was applying it but it didn't really bother me and the alcohol itself didn't really irritate my skin or anything the Biore is a bit oilier it doesn't dry down quite as quickly as the Nivea the Nivea is more matte my skin is oily so I personally prefer the Nivea if I try extremely hard and massage my face a whole bunch after the sunscreens have dried down I can get the Biore to pill a little bit the Nivea doesn't I have never had an issue with either one of these pilling
under makeup so this is probably only an issue if everything pills on you the Biore comes in a larger pack size it's 70 grams versus 50 and it has a flip top lid next we have the Eucerin oil control dry touch gel cream this is the European version this was one of the sunscreens I bought when I was in Italy a while back it was the one that I used the most while I was on holiday I really like this because it isn't too glidey when I'm applying it it is fragrance-free with very minimal smell
there is alcohol in it but to me it isn't really that obvious the finish is satiny it isn't as matte as I really expected for an oil control product but honestly I don't think any chemical sunscreens go really super matte but it does stay the same level of satiny for a really long time so I found that really impressive in summer it is heavier than Asian sunscreens which is not really that surprising it's a European sunscreen but it is still really lightweight compared to most other European sunscreens I found it really comfortable especially given that
this is water resistant I really enjoyed wearing this it felt like it stayed in place really well despite all the oil and sweat and heat another European sunscreen the Garnier anti-UV dark spots and anti-pollution super UV I bought this at Boots in Heathrow airport and it is really similar to the old La Roche-Posay invisible fluid I talked about that in my last recommendations video it is still available in some places but not the UK this has an almost identical ingredient list it is definitely meant to be a dupe but they are manufactured in different countries
this is manufactured in Germany so I would guess that they probably use some different ingredient suppliers so they are not going to be completely identical but if you miss the old invisible fluid this is probably the next closest thing it's fragrance-free it's lightweight it's non-greasy it is just really lovely and smooth to apply it says it's anti-eye stinging which was true in my experience I found this a bit more matte and less oily than I expected which was a really pleasant surprise the downsides which honestly aren't really much of a downside there's a slight sunscreen
smell and it is pretty runny it is a fluid but it's not ridiculous it is still pretty manageable and doesn't make a massive mess also the packaging is pretty neat it is Omar approved my husband Omar hates sunscreens that can explode in his bag it's a very specific want but the nozzle is really impressive compared to a whole bunch of sunscreens that are similar with similar nozzles this nozzle just doesn't seem to be very messy like there is no sunscreen on the threads next we have the La Roche-Posay UV Mune 400 sunscreens so many of
you have asked me what I think of the UV Mune 400 range from La Roche-Posay this has been really hyped up because it contains a brand new UV filter that is exclusive to L'Oreal it was developed with BASF the full name is a mouthful it is methoxypropylamino cyclohexenylidene ethoxyethylcyanoacetate let's not try that again it's MCE or Mexoryl 400 I've mentioned before that I don't think this is as much of a massive game changer "must have" that some people have been making it out to be some people have asked me to elaborate on this so here
is like the extended version I think it is super cool to have a new filter and I am really impressed by the innovation behind it it is really good at absorbing UV for the percentage included in a sunscreen it is even higher than avobenzone which I have said before is pretty hectic here are some other UV filters this would be roughly how MCE looks you can see that it covers longer UVA wavelengths from 370 to 400 nanometres and other filters don't really cover that area that well I am also really impressed by how the absorption
sort of plummets close to the visible region that is about 400 nanometres that means that you get minimal visibility on skin the sunscreens with it do seem to be a little bit on the yellow side so it does seem to absorb a bit of violet light but this probably isn't a big problem unless your skin is very pale and cool toned I'm also pretty impressed by the clinical trials on it it seems like they are actually really trying to challenge it and put it through its paces I was especially impressed by this one which was
published recently they compared SPF50 sunscreen with and without MCE the people had 2 hours of sun exposure for 8 weeks on the face and arms and the absorption spectra of the two sunscreens look like this the fact that they measured any difference when the two absorbance spectra aren't wildly different was really impressive to me but the differences weren't like really massive it seems to be mostly differences in pigmented spots in more pigment prone skin types all of the studies I've come across use people with phototypes three and four skin that's like darker more pigment prone
skin Asian and darker except for the newest one which had some people with phototype 2 so it is clearly an impressive technological Improvement but in terms of practical implications for people I don't think it will be that big for most people there is already some uva1 coverage with products on the market so avobenzone does creep into that range not shown here is the iron oxides which are in tinted products and of course there's also shade and hats and sunglasses as well as window tints we do have info on how shorter wavelength UVA and blue violet
light both impact skin so it seems like the people who would benefit the most from filling in that longer UVA1 gap people who have very pigment prone skin they are probably layering a lot of these things already plus they are probably using pigment fading products and they are very likely not getting 2 hours of direct sun a day so I would expect that in real life the difference might not be as noticeable as in the studies but I do think the UV Mune products do fill a few important niches the biggest benefit I think is
for people who might not be using the other options so for example people who work outdoors or people who don't want to wear makeup or broad brimmed hats there are also some places on your face where some of these things don't really work so things like hats and sunglasses they don't protect the lower part of your face very well and of course if you are using these things and you're not seeing your pigment fade as much as you want then you are going to get even higher protection with this layered with with everything else but
whether these sunscreens are a "must-have" to get I think it is very subjective especially because they are pretty pricey to get if you are outside of Europe on top of that there are some cosmetic downsides that people have noticed so things like the texture the scent there does seem to be more alcohol in these products compared to previous formulas my full reviews of the range are on my blog but out of the ones that I've tried my recommendation for oily skin is the oil control gel cream my friend Hannah English grabbed a sample of this
for me from a La Roche-Posay event that she went to in Singapore this does contain mattifying microparticles that help to absorb excess oil and those were in the other oil control products from La Roche-Posay as well which I have also really enjoyed there are a few tinted versions in general I have found that European tinted sunscreens firstly only come in one or two different colors and they are usually more pink toned than my skin is okay with and they're also a bit too pigmented to really get away with unless your skin is a really good
color match more difficult to get European sunscreens the Evy technology mousses these were sent to me by Evy who are a Swedish brand it was a massive pain because of the aerosol format the SPF 30 version of the face mousse was in my honorable mentions last time but it has moved up because first off it is SPF50 secondly even though they are a bit heavier and stickier for my skin and climate than I generally like for everyday wear although it isn't really noticeable under makeup I did start doing very sweaty exercise outside in the sun
I know who even am I it turns out that the mousse format is fantastic for reapplying quickly and easily it's like it's already spread out a whole bunch so you can just slap it on really quickly you don't need to rub it in much and it is really good if you are unco you're not like flinging sunscreen fluid everywhere and getting lotion all over your stuff it is also really easy to apply lots of these sunscreens in one go you don't have to like apply in two layers and wait in between Evy recommend applying a
golf ball sized amount to your face and I found that that is pretty accurate by weight the downside if it's windy then it can fly away if you're not careful that happened to me the first time at the beach and I was not prepared Evy also do a lot of extra testing on their sunscreen products which I find really impressive I have a video on some of that plus they also did a sponsored talk at the sunscreen e-summit that I co-hosted in 2023 the face version isn't water resistant but the body ones are I've been
using the kids one I don't really know why the biggest difference is that the water resistant ones are a lot stickier than the face ones but honestly I haven't really noticed a huge difference when it's on my skin and I'm not touching it onto some sunscreens that I've reviewed before I will run through these really quickly so you can look at my older videos on these for more details first we have the round lab birch juice moisturizing sunscreen which I reviewed for a sponsored Stylekorean video there's a sort of family of Korean sunscreens which have
the same core formula they have the same filters and they are all made by Kolmar they are a big Korean sunscreen manufacturer but all of these have like very slightly different finishes and bonus ingredients round lab is the version that's super popular in Korea it's covered in Korean writing so it is like kind of like the hipster version it's very very similar to the beauty of Joseon sunscreen which has been my longtime favorite I wore that one at my wedding and I gave out little tubes as wedding favors they feel almost the same on my
skin I would say that this is like a touch more moisturizing it's glidey and moisturizing without being like sticky or greasy now in terms of white cast if I apply this unevenly and let it dry then and sometimes I will get a bit of a white streak but it blends out really easily on some people with darker skin there is a slight white cast though that doesn't go away so for example my friend Esther who is themelaninchemist on Instagram her skin tone is nw45 there's no alcohol in the sunscreens from this family and most of
these also don't have fragrance the Skin1004 Hyalu Water Fit Sun Serum is another one from the same family but this is probably the lightest version there is it's really popular with people in more humid countries I reviewed this for a skin1004 sponsored video this dries down to feel like almost nothing but it is still hydrating it is really great if you hate the feel of sunscreen on your face I also really like this flat pump tube it is really good for tucking into your handbag and it's really easy to measure out the right amount of
product I'm also adding the Haruharu Wonder black rice moisture air fit daily sunscreen this is one of the very few Korean chemical sunscreens that has a different formula from all those Kolmar ones that I've tried so far that I would still give top marks to for my my skin I reviewed this for a HaruHaru sponsored video and the biggest upside is that it has no white cast if you have darker skin I would say that this is slightly more moisturizing than the round lab all right Australian sunscreens honestly one of the main reasons I have
taken so long to do a new recommendations video is the regulation surrounding how influencers slash content creators (if you like to use the fancy name) are allowed to talk about sunscreens that are available in Australia the regulations allow me to recommend sunscreens sold in Australia but I can't talk about my personal experience with them if I've been sent a free sample or potentially if I've ever worked with the brand on sunscreen or they've given me any other free samples or potentially if I want to work with the brand in the future the regulations are not
very clear on this these regulations are meant to be for any therapeutic products which are essentially drugs in Australia and it makes sense to an extent you don't want influencers to get paid by brands to say their brand of antibiotic worked better for them than this other brand or this SPF 50 sunscreen protected me better from burning than this other SPF 50 sunscreen anecdotes are really persuasive so you wouldn't want brands to use an influencer's experience to try to like sway people over standardized regulated tests but for sunscreens there is so much evidence showing that
the main reasons that people don't use sunscreens it isn't effectiveness or any of the other regulated aspects it is cosmetic aspects like a lot of sunscreens are heavy and greasy they sting your eyes they clog your pores they make you look white and shiny and oily and influencers talking about their personal experience with sunscreens online I think that's gone a really long way towards making people realize that a lot of sunscreens are not like this and just kind of making sunscreens cool again and just giving sunscreens the same sort of attention as let's say tanning
oils which aren't regulated the same way so influencers can still go wild talking about how much they love those some influencers are turning down sunscreen samples and buying the themselves to review to get the info out there which I think is fantastic but I've been around for a really long time I have pretty big numbers so most brands have sent me free samples at some point and I have worked with a whole bunch in a paid capacity most of my audience isn't Australian so really it would probably make sense for me to just never talk
about Australian sunscreens but I want to because I think we do have some of the best sunscreens and sunscreen regulations in the world I think it makes sense for Australians to use sunscreens regulated according to Australian standards if Australian content creators like me with big platforms didn't talk about them then Australians would be mostly hearing about overseas sunscreens from overseas influencers and that's already happening to some extent I've had someone in Australia ask me how to import Supergoop from the US because that is the sunscreen that they have heard the most good things about that
just should not be happening so I'm going to be showing you what the sunscreen looks like and talking about it in general terms I will refer to the product description and what other people are saying about them that's what I did in my old recommendations video and I think I managed to do it without sounding too weird but that one took a really long time to write so I thought I would just explain it up front this time I'm also bringing on Omar my husband to talk about his experience with them first we have the
Cancer Council active sunscreen they are a cancer charity here they do a lot of good work with sun safety awareness they have physical stores where you can buy sun protective clothing and of course their sunscreens they have a whole bunch of sunscreens I had two in my honorable mentions last time one of the issues that a lot of people complain about with some of their sunscreens is eye sting and this one gets recommended a lot on skincare forums instead I didn't buy and try this until late last year and it is now on my recommended
list it is 4 hours water resistant and it also comes in a big 200 mL pump so twice the size for under $20 and now we can have my husband Omar's reviews [Omar insisted on this corny click :')] O: all right smells neutral even slightly pleasant plastic feels exceptionally light a big achievement for an Australian sunscreen with water resistance it's smooth and glides well no piling up and it doesn't feel like it's going to rub off either no shine or whiteness no stinging which is the eye stinging or irritation lightly oily feel but doesn't feel
enough to clog pores packaging is a flip top with a squeezeable container which means that it could explode in your bag M: what do you mean by pleasant plastic? O: it smells like plastic M: but you like it O: but it's okay you know when electronics burn and you get a plastic smell that comes out of it that's unpleasant this is pleasant Hamilton everyday face this is another sunscreen I bought after seeing it recommended over and over again in tons of skincare forums fun history fact Hamilton was the lab set up by Milton Blake who
was an Australian chemist he was one of the inventors of sunscreen back in the 1930s he called himself H A Milton in his notes I haven't really worked out why but I do feel an affinity for people with really hard to explain usernames Hamilton was actually the first sunscreen brand I ever used back when I was like six and my dad was teaching me how to swim in the backyard this was reformulated recently you can see it says like new formula the main change is the addition of bemotrizinol which is a newer UVA filter M:
before we keep going can can you show the class which sunscreens you approve of O: yeah look at this right [buzzer noise] O: I could probably do it with my little finger [emphatic pop] O: [uncertain noises] M: okay O: did you see M: what about this O (indignant): did you see how little - this is really O: why? M: because not everyone needs to have violence inside their backpacks O (not believing anyone would have different priorities): it's so bad though M: how's this one O: oh it's twist yes [ding] um this is good [ding] O:
this is good (it's the one he bought) I feel like it's unlikely to explode in either direction O: if I was to just squeeze it like this M: don't O: which direction do you think it would explode in M: don't O: cos it won't go like that it'll go this way or that way O: the container is nice but it should be a twist [buzzer] O: this is good [ding] I like this one I want to talk about why I like this one especially out of all the others O: it's got a firm case in
all directions except for the one direction that you want to squeeze in it's not going to explode in any other direction uh it can only go in this direction and you have to twist out off the the top now if you're going to be using this on a daily basis twisting it off it's not that big of a deal except for the fact that you can lose the cap M: get back to get back to work O: all right M: um O (obediently): Yes dear O: Hamilton initially I was concerned about Hamilton because uh it
comes out of the bottle looking brown uh and I'm not a fan of putting on foundation but weow weow but it doesn't show up at all on my skin uh scent is natural or neutral uh the cream is super light and glides on very well it sinks in great uh there's no piling and no tackiness it's not noticeable at all and not that much shine the product description says it's matte finish I'd agree with that it's not white so it's not white casting uh there's no stinging or irritation and it is lightly moisturizing as well
packaging again is a flip top with a squeezable container which means that it can still explode in your bag this should change clear skincare hydrating sunscreen lotion this is another recently launched reformulation this was sent to me as a PR sample it has a really similar ingredient list to the Hamilton sunscreen all right clear skincare smells lightly nice very light and glides really well sinks in great you have to rub it in a little but it's not tacky at all it comes out lightly white on my skin but disappears after 30 seconds and leaves behind
a very nice little bit of a shine it is shinier than Hamilton but there's no stinging there's no irritation and wow weow super hydrating too I can actually feel it no seriously I uh I tried on all five of these sunscreens thanks to Michelle uh and this one was the most hydrating out of them all doesn't feel like it will clog up my pores either again packaging is a fliptop with a squeezable container potential for bag explosions this isn't where's the twisty tops M: you can check out my old video for my top sunscreens from
last time I feel like they all still hold up but the Biore has been replaced by the new version onto my honorable mentions the Bondi Sands Hydra sunscreen the fragrance free lotion also from Bondi Sands was in my honorable mentions last year it was an Australian sunscreen that is also available in tons of other countries and went viral in so many places because like I said before Australian sunscreens are great O: all right Bondi Sands Hydra appears lightly oily on my skin but disappears very quickly it smells okay kind of plastic smooth to apply easy
to work with sinks in quickly and also doesn't pile up doesn't leave any white on my face it feels oily but light with a very light shine no stinging on the skin but lightly irritating I might have had dry skin at the time not really sure about the hydrating part of this but um doesn't feel like it's going to clog up my skin packaging is a flip top again with a squeezable container potential for bag explosions it's lighter and less greasy than the other Bondi Sands sunscreen M: the Naked Sundays Cabana Clear Water gel serum
the only reason this isn't in the top for me is because it only has older filters but the upside is it is available in the US it's formulated to be lightweight hydrating and it's clear as you can tell from the name it has zero silicone though unlike a lot of clear sunscreens there is a photo on the website of someone with very dark skin using it and it doesn't show up it has a gel cream formula it has a similar sort of formula build to a lot of overseas sunscreens O: all right Naked Sundays I
don't like the smell personally but others might be okay with it it feels smooth light and glides on well but it takes a while to sink in and it still feels oily about 10 minutes later doesn't pile up has a noticeable shine and stays white for a short while after applying I think it was white for me for a good minute afterwards uh there's no stinging or irritation but it doesn't feel hydrating at all also feels a bit heavy hate the packaging that cap is going to pop off just by looking at it also why
is it only 30 mL feels like you're going to apply to your face once and that's it you throw it away don't listen to me I'm not an expert M: I also wanted to add like a wish list of things that I think are missing from sunscreens please let me know what your wish list is first I really want more tinted sunscreen options so just more shades really I also want more innovations around how sunscreens are used so things like testing the impact of different application methods like what happens when you put sunscreen under makeup
what happens with setting sprays if you're applying with brushes or sponges I'd also like to see innovations around things that make sunscreen easier to use so things like longer wear and easier re-application I also want to see more mineral sunscreens that actually feel nice and look nice I obviously don't really mind what sort of sunscreen I use but there are lots of people with allergies who do need these sunscreens I also wanted to add a note I think a lot of people tend to get too deep into sunscreen and they end up obsessing a bit
over finding the perfect sunscreen and using it perfectly I think it's helpful to remember that the Nambour trial which was the largest clinical trial on sunscreen use they saw a whole bunch of great effects with daily sunscreen squamous cell carcinoma was reduced by 40% the skin of daily sunscreen users had no detectable increase in aging and they were 24% less likely to show increased signs of aging and that was with an SPF 16 sunscreen that was in the '90s now three decades later our sunscreens are leaps and bounds better and I think that just really
shows that consistency is much more important than perfection so find a sunscreen that you can wear every day that you enjoy wearing that is within your budget and you are already doing so much for your skin so more important than the sunscreen you use is how you use it I talk about that in this video if you like nerding out about beauty check out my book The Science of Beauty it has lots of really nice illustrations and useful information all about beauty with a more sort of technical bent I also have a massive collection of
sunscreen videos for your binging pleasure I hope you enjoyed this video see you next time
