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Coles and Woolworths Supermarket Sunscreen Review

September 10, 2018 By Michelle 6 Comments

Affiliate Disclosure: I receive a small commission for purchases made via affiliate links.

Australia has two major supermarket chains, Coles and Woolworths. They’re a duopoly, since they’re really convenient and have low prices, as well as the budget to develop their own sunscreens.

I’ve had a lot of requests to review these supermarket sunscreens, especially since the Coles Face Sunscreen has gotten top marks in a blinded consumer test by Choice. So to keep everyone happy I slapped Coles Face Sunscreen and Woolworths Clear Zinc on my face.

Coles and Woolworths Supermarket Sunscreen Review

Coles Face Sunscreen

Coles Face Sunscreen SPF 30 ($6 for 100 mL) is the sunscreen from the Choice test. Ever since the hype, it looks like they’ve halved the size of the tube but upgraded the SPF rating: Coles Facial Sunscreen SPF 50+ ($6 for 50 mL). It means it’s twice the price, but it’s still one of the cheapest sunscreens in my sunscreen spreadsheet, only beaten by Woolworths and Sunsense Sport.

The actives have also changed:

Old active ingredients: Octocrylene 3%, Avobenzone 3%, Uvinul T 150 2%, Enzacamene 2%

New active ingredients: Homosalate 10%, Octocrylene 8%, Octisalate 4%, Avobenzone 4%, Uvinul T 150 3%

Both sunscreens have similar textures. They feel like moisturiser and dry down to nothing, and are super comfortable to wear all day and work great under make-up. The sunscreens go on really smoothly and honestly feel like they could be luxury products. The scent is minimal and just smells a little “like sunscreen”.

Both sunscreens come in ugly tubes that scream “budget”. I don’t know how they managed to make the second tube so different and yet even uglier – well done to their team.

Woolworths Clear Zinc

Woolworths Clear Zinc SPF 30 ($9.50 for 100 g) is a white sunscreen that’s designed for the body. It’s a little confusing because there’s also Woolworths Clear Zinc SPF 30+ ($9.50 for 100 g), which is the only version listed online, even though it seems to be an older formula.

The first one (SPF 30) is the one I’ve tried. From the name you’d think that it’s a zinc oxide-only sunscreen, but it actually has a combination of organic and inorganic filters, including zinc oxide (of course), and my favourite newer photostable UVA filter Tinosorb S, as well as Uvinul A Plus. There’s also enzacamene and octinoxate. The second version (SPF 30+) only contains zinc oxide at 22%, and since I have a terrible track record with zinc sunscreens I didn’t bother trying it.

Active ingredients: Enzacamene 4%, Octinoxate 8%, Tinosorb S 2%, Zinc Oxide 6%, Uvinul A Plus 2.5%

Although I prefer organic (“chemical”) sunscreens for lots of reasons, I think the name of the sunscreen is a bit misleading, and they’re underselling the fact it has Tinosorb S and Uvinul A Plus instead of  avobenzone. A lot of people are sensitive to avobenzone, so it’s good to have this as an option (although Sunsense also have a bunch of budget-friendly sunscreens without avobenzone as well – we’re very lucky in Australia!).

The most annoying this about the Woolworths sunscreen is the texture, It’s a bit sticky and paste-like, but once the sunscreen’s been spread out, it dries down to a slightly greasy moisturiser-like texture. I’m not too upset by the texture since it’s a necessary trade-off for 4 hours water resistance, and it’s fine under foundation or powder. It’s fragrance-free.

Have you tried any supermarket sunscreens before? What did you think?


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Filed Under: Review, Skincare Tagged With: Coles, review, skincare, sun protection, Woolworths

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Comments

  1. Olivia says

    September 11, 2018 at 1:55 am

    Do you think the Coles sunscreen is good enough to replace your Ultraceuticals SPF 30+? I remember you mentioning you were trying to find a cheaper dupe!

    Reply
  2. msd says

    October 9, 2018 at 9:55 pm

    I don’t know how they managed to make the second tube so different and yet even uglier – well done to their team.

    LOL.

    I’m so cheap I buy Aldi sunscreen but I only use it on my body. For my face I love Natio’s spf50. Might try Coles as it’s so inexpensive.

    Reply
  3. Aimee says

    October 31, 2018 at 12:23 pm

    Hi Michelle,

    Thank you for your post & absolutely, well done to Coles, LOL.

    Hope you’re having a wonderful day eating too many potatoes 🙂

    Reply
    • Michelle says

      November 3, 2018 at 11:53 pm

      Potatoes are the freaking best honestly!

      Reply
  4. Rose says

    November 22, 2018 at 10:21 pm

    Hi Michelle
    I’ve just bought the Coles 50+ facial sunscreen in the extremely ugly 50 ml purple and yellow tube 🙂
    It’s active ingredients seem a little different to those listed on the spreadsheet (although I know nothing about chemistry …so I might be wrong):
    -homosalate 100mg/g
    -octocrylene 80mg/g
    -octal salicylate 40mg/g
    -butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane 40mg/g
    -ethylhexyl triazone 30mg/g

    Have Coles reformulated yet again … or am I just misreading the chemical names…?
    Thank you for your wonderful blog!!

    Reply
    • Michelle says

      November 26, 2018 at 10:31 am

      Each sunscreen ingredient has a bunch of different synonyms – I used the shortest version for the spreadsheet, these are the same 🙂

      There’s also a list of sunscreen synonyms in the free sample of my eBook if you’re interested!

      Reply

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Michelle
Hi! I'm Michelle, chemistry PhD and science educator, and I'm here to help you figure out which beauty products are worth buying, and which ones aren't using science!

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