Author: Rusty
Of all the areas of my life in which I must battle my own nature in order to maintain the illusion that I’m a well functioning and responsible individual, the one which has the most potential for long term damage is the fact that I hate sunblock. I hate the way it feels, even those ‘dry’ sunblocks that people recommend to me because they’re TOO dry and still don’t feel any better on my skin or hands than the regular kind. Some sunblocks even give me strange reactions that seem to cause me to burn WORSE so I also have to be super picky when it comes to sunblock brands. I’d rather just not wear the stuff, but since my dominant genes seem to come from the side of the family that is Irish and descended from Vikings, my skin is basically see through and burns if I stand too close to a light bulb. Going without sun protection in the summer months is not an option.
In my quest to find sun protection that I don’t loathe, I bought Clinique’s Sun SPF 30 Face Cream. I wanted SPF 30 because living in Miami meant that the usual SPF 15 moisturizers just weren’t cutting it for day to day outings. If I had a particularly long walk back to my car I’d end up with a pink nose. My experience with the Clinique is that it went on smoothly and blended into my skin well without giving it a strange bluish tint that I’ve gotten with some sunscreens. I didn’t have any reactions to it which means its pretty gentle because I will have skin reactions to things as innocuous as band-aids. It can also be worn under makeup, though doing so always made me very aware that I had layers of stuff on my face but see above re: finickiness about sensations. The bottle claims that it has anti-aging properties but I can’t speak to those because I’m a 25 year old who’s still routinely mistaken for someone who only just earned the right to purchase alcohol. BUT, I do know that sun damage can prematurely age your skin pretty badly even if you don’t burn so I can say that this will help with that.
On the downside, the face cream isn’t a moisturizer so you’d have to have a separate moisturizer that you put on before you put on the sunblock. Also, while the cream smooths into the skin well it is thick coming out of the tube which may put some people off a bit. It also has that habit of leaving weird little dried rings of itself around the opening of the tube that you have to pick off before you use it again but I think that’s pretty common for sunscreen products.
Overall I’d rate Clinique’s Sun SPF 30 Face Cream a 6 our of 8 tentacles. It works the way it’s supposed to and it’s less annoying than other products of it’s ilk (to me, anyway) but I’m not raving about it. It's also a little on the pricey side if your skin can tolerate other options.
Rating: 6/8 tentacles
The only sunscreens I've ever been able to use that didn't make me break out have come from my salon; EXPENSIVE. Do you think this is something I could trust to not do that, based on your experience?
ReplyDeleteI'm a bad test for that because I'm not prone to breakouts, but the cream doesn't feel oily at all on the skin and Clinique's website says it's oil free so I think it's less pore clogging than most sunscreens. I'd recommend stop by Sephora or a Clinique counter to try some on to take it on a test drive before you buy to be on the safe side.
ReplyDeleteI'm intrigued because I'm religious about sunscreen/SPF but the face ones I've found are all heavy, like you said.
ReplyDeleteBut I have one question: why is it not also a moisturizer? Seems like a face cream WOULD be a moisturizer, but I admit to being a bit ignorant about these things.
Great review, this is a product area I needed advice on!