My perfect sunscreen La Roche-Posay Anthelios 60 Melt-In Susncreen Milk SPF 60: A review
I have found the one!!!! My long long long quest to find the perfect sunscreen has ended :D
A little history of my skin, I already had a very sun-sensitive skin and never went out anywhere without a sunscreen. If I didn't put one, I could totally feel my skin burning and it will get kind of red which would later followed by flaking from sun damage.
But I also have really really oily skin and sunscreen would always make it worse. I mean forget mattifying effects of contorting oil, most will release oil and make my skin more oily. Also a lot of them broke me out really bad, including the highly raved Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch Sunblock (read review here)
And now that I am using retin-a, AHA and different kind of peels, my skin is even more raw. So I had keep looking. And I have tried everything! Like sunscreen made for oily skin (Neutrogena Ultra Sheer), gel sunscreen ( Bull frog water armor quick gel), highly reviewed sunscreen from makeupalley (Biore UV face milk) etc etc and each of them had one problem or another. Neutrogena (spf 45) broke me out, Bull frog (spf 50)is really good in terms of protection, I used it during my visit of Rajasthan, India hours after hours outdoor and it never let me burn, but its just too oily and sticky. Biore(SPF 50) is too thin, hard to apply, and the container is so small it wont last even a month.
Only an India-made locally available sunscreen called Lotus Herbal 3-1Matte look sunblock which was mattifying enough but it is only spf 40 which would not work with my raw skin
Finally went over my budget and tried one of the most famous sunscreen brands, La Roche-Posay . It is kind expensive about $36 now in drugstore, although I bought during a sale so mine cost about $28 but it is so worth it.
Now I wasn't sure which La Roche-Posay to buy, they have a lot of variations but went for this Melt-In Susncreen Milk one because it is 5oz/150 ml as opposed to thier other products that are about less than 50 ml each. If I am going to spend a fortune (about 4000 in local curency) for a sunscreen, the least I can do is make sure that it will last me a while right? Also it had me at "melt in milk"!
So this sunscreen by La Roche-Posay has their famous Anthelios protection. According to their website
Direction and other information is also given on the back of the product incase you loose the packaging (that would be me). Just your regular apply 15 minutes earlier before going out, apply generously and reply every 2 hour stuff. I have a detailed post on how to use sunscreen correctly, you can check that out for further explanation.
Active ingredients include Avobenzone (3%, Sunscreen), Homosalate (15%, Sunscreen), Octisalate (5%, Sunscreen), Octocrylene (5%, Sunscreen), Oxybenzone (6%, Sunscreen). It is also complete parabane free.
Another pro of this sunscreen is its mild scent. Most of the sunscreen I have used smells so bad, the bull frog one makes me literally nauseated its that strong and that bad. La Roche-Posay Anthelios 60 Melt-In Susncreen Milk has a really mild pleasant scent which goes away after 10-15 minutes maybe...
The best thing about this sunscreen is how fast it absorbs. Just take the recommended amount, apply on skin and masage lightly and gone. No oily/sticky residue, no shine whatsoever. Also notice there is no white cast as well.
I must must talk about the finish. Velvetty finish. It feel like some rich primer, soft and smooth. Seriously, I feel like making everyone test some of this product on their hands or whatever just too make them see how amazingly smooth and rich the finishing feels. I would totally do this, if it didn't cost so much. But seriously, if you can go to a shop where you can test this product, just feel it on your skin, you wont be able to resist buying it.
So I have been applying this sunscreen for four days to write a review. It still too early I know, but I am so impressed with the product that I just have to do it now. So far I have tested it in both AC and non-ac environment, both humid and rainy climate, twice with only compact powder (Maybelline fit me), once with a bb-cream(Garnier) and compact and once with very light foundation (Revlon Colorstay) and compact and had no problem at all. It didn't make my face sticky. Didn't load it with oil. Didn't make me sweat from the product at all. Even if I did sweat a bit due to the humidity later, the sunscreen didn't buzz, it wasn't sticky or anything.
Even after 2 hours didn't get oily at all. And I have tried it each time without Milk of Magnesia ( Milk of magnesia can control oil more than anything else IMO, read here) so that I can test how this sunscreen does alone.
I have also compared La Roche-Posay Anthelios 60 Melt-In Susncreen Milk SPF 60 with my other sunscreen ( ie. Bullfrog and Biore). For the easy of exaplantion, lets number them like this
1. La Roche-Posay Anthelios 60 Melt-In Susncreen Milk SPF 60
2. Bull Frog Water Armor Sport Quik Gel Sunblock UVA/UVB SPF 50
3. Biore uv moist face milk spf 50
I have used a blotting paper from E.l.F to test the oiliness of each sunscreen.
Immediately after applying them on face (or in this case, on a paper) you can see that La Roche-Posay (1) accompanied no oil residue, Biore (2) had some residue and bull-frog(3) accompanied a lot of oil with each squeeze.
After 1 and half hour, La Roche-Posay (1) still didn't release oil while Biore(3) released some more oil and bull-frog(2) had an oil-spill-incident.
After 4 hours, Bullfrong (2) continued to release oil while La Roche-Posay (1) and Biore (3) has mattified. Of course, you need to keep replying every 2 hours if you're in the sun so would remove it and apply more, but most of the times we apply sunscreen while we go out, and then stay indoor (with sunscreen on) for hours in that case something that doesn't get oily after hours can make a lot of different.
So holy grail for oily skin or what? The only negetive side I can think of is probably the price, it is a lot. Also some reviewer said it transfers to their dress and stuff but it never did for me, even didn't transfer to tissue paper.
So if you have oily skin and looking for a high spf sunscreen, give this a try and let me know how it goes.
A little history of my skin, I already had a very sun-sensitive skin and never went out anywhere without a sunscreen. If I didn't put one, I could totally feel my skin burning and it will get kind of red which would later followed by flaking from sun damage.
But I also have really really oily skin and sunscreen would always make it worse. I mean forget mattifying effects of contorting oil, most will release oil and make my skin more oily. Also a lot of them broke me out really bad, including the highly raved Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch Sunblock (read review here)
And now that I am using retin-a, AHA and different kind of peels, my skin is even more raw. So I had keep looking. And I have tried everything! Like sunscreen made for oily skin (Neutrogena Ultra Sheer), gel sunscreen ( Bull frog water armor quick gel), highly reviewed sunscreen from makeupalley (Biore UV face milk) etc etc and each of them had one problem or another. Neutrogena (spf 45) broke me out, Bull frog (spf 50)is really good in terms of protection, I used it during my visit of Rajasthan, India hours after hours outdoor and it never let me burn, but its just too oily and sticky. Biore(SPF 50) is too thin, hard to apply, and the container is so small it wont last even a month.
Only an India-made locally available sunscreen called Lotus Herbal 3-1Matte look sunblock which was mattifying enough but it is only spf 40 which would not work with my raw skin
Finally went over my budget and tried one of the most famous sunscreen brands, La Roche-Posay . It is kind expensive about $36 now in drugstore, although I bought during a sale so mine cost about $28 but it is so worth it.
Now I wasn't sure which La Roche-Posay to buy, they have a lot of variations but went for this Melt-In Susncreen Milk one because it is 5oz/150 ml as opposed to thier other products that are about less than 50 ml each. If I am going to spend a fortune (about 4000 in local curency) for a sunscreen, the least I can do is make sure that it will last me a while right? Also it had me at "melt in milk"!
Advanced patented sunscreen technologies in revolutionary textures. For over 15 years, La Roche-Posay has been at the forefront in advanced UV protection research. Anthelios, the La Roche-Posay suncare brand, is trusted and recognized by dermatologists worldwide, for providing advanced formulations in UVA & UVB protection.More information is given in the packaging, so just open in a new tab to view the image larger.
Active ingredients include Avobenzone (3%, Sunscreen), Homosalate (15%, Sunscreen), Octisalate (5%, Sunscreen), Octocrylene (5%, Sunscreen), Oxybenzone (6%, Sunscreen). It is also complete parabane free.
Another pro of this sunscreen is its mild scent. Most of the sunscreen I have used smells so bad, the bull frog one makes me literally nauseated its that strong and that bad. La Roche-Posay Anthelios 60 Melt-In Susncreen Milk has a really mild pleasant scent which goes away after 10-15 minutes maybe...
The best thing about this sunscreen is how fast it absorbs. Just take the recommended amount, apply on skin and masage lightly and gone. No oily/sticky residue, no shine whatsoever. Also notice there is no white cast as well.
I must must talk about the finish. Velvetty finish. It feel like some rich primer, soft and smooth. Seriously, I feel like making everyone test some of this product on their hands or whatever just too make them see how amazingly smooth and rich the finishing feels. I would totally do this, if it didn't cost so much. But seriously, if you can go to a shop where you can test this product, just feel it on your skin, you wont be able to resist buying it.
So I have been applying this sunscreen for four days to write a review. It still too early I know, but I am so impressed with the product that I just have to do it now. So far I have tested it in both AC and non-ac environment, both humid and rainy climate, twice with only compact powder (Maybelline fit me), once with a bb-cream(Garnier) and compact and once with very light foundation (Revlon Colorstay) and compact and had no problem at all. It didn't make my face sticky. Didn't load it with oil. Didn't make me sweat from the product at all. Even if I did sweat a bit due to the humidity later, the sunscreen didn't buzz, it wasn't sticky or anything.
Even after 2 hours didn't get oily at all. And I have tried it each time without Milk of Magnesia ( Milk of magnesia can control oil more than anything else IMO, read here) so that I can test how this sunscreen does alone.
I have also compared La Roche-Posay Anthelios 60 Melt-In Susncreen Milk SPF 60 with my other sunscreen ( ie. Bullfrog and Biore). For the easy of exaplantion, lets number them like this
1. La Roche-Posay Anthelios 60 Melt-In Susncreen Milk SPF 60
2. Bull Frog Water Armor Sport Quik Gel Sunblock UVA/UVB SPF 50
3. Biore uv moist face milk spf 50
I have used a blotting paper from E.l.F to test the oiliness of each sunscreen.
After 4 hours, Bullfrong (2) continued to release oil while La Roche-Posay (1) and Biore (3) has mattified. Of course, you need to keep replying every 2 hours if you're in the sun so would remove it and apply more, but most of the times we apply sunscreen while we go out, and then stay indoor (with sunscreen on) for hours in that case something that doesn't get oily after hours can make a lot of different.
So holy grail for oily skin or what? The only negetive side I can think of is probably the price, it is a lot. Also some reviewer said it transfers to their dress and stuff but it never did for me, even didn't transfer to tissue paper.
So if you have oily skin and looking for a high spf sunscreen, give this a try and let me know how it goes.
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I have my eyes on this baby for so long and you just gave it a push!
ReplyDeleteYep get it its the best I am never changing my sunscreen again...also very generous amount compared to other La roche posay or other high-end sunscreens :D
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