Top Sunscreen Recommendations 2022

Fave Sunscreens 2022 thumbnail

It’s time for an updated sunscreen recommendations list! This is also available as a video here – the video also shows the texture and packaging of each sunscreen, but if you prefer reading the text version keep scrolling. Preamble First a bunch of disclaimers, because I do not have the self confidence to give my opinion without them. (I am …

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Korean Sunscreen Reviews: Beauty of Joseon, Isntree, Innisfree, Mary & May

Korean sunscreen thumbnail

I recently review a bunch of popular Korean sunscreens for a sponsored video, because most of you are heading into summer in the northern hemisphere. Conveniently I’m heading out of summer, so I’ve actually been trying out tons of sunscreens, and there are some really nice ones in this batch – including a few you’ve probably seen hyped up a …

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Cheap Australian SPF Reviews: Coles, Woolworths, Aldi

Coles Woolworths sunscreen review

A lot of my favourite sunscreens aren’t the most budget-friendly. Unfortunately sunscreen testing and development is pretty expensive, and if you want to formulate an SPF product that’s really pleasant to use as well as being effective, it can be a long expensive process of trial and error. Enter: economy of scale. We have two major supermarkets in Australia: Coles …

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You can mix foundation with sunscreen… sometimes

This is a sponsored post. If you’re a skincare nerd, you’ll know that mixing foundation with sunscreen is a Bad Thing, even though a lot of people do it, and some brands even recommend it. While mixing a couple of drops of foundation in with your sunscreen solves a lot of problems (takes the edge off any white cast, removes …

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Do zinc sunscreens stop working and go toxic after 2 hours?

Chemical vs Physical Sunscreens: The Science (with video)

There’s a new paper on zinc oxide sunscreens not working and becoming toxic after 2 hours of UV exposure. A lot of people have sent me this paper, so here’s my analysis of it. In short, the researchers found that sunscreen ingredients broke down when mixed with zinc oxide and exposed to UV light, and the degraded mixtures had lower …

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My Favourite Sunscreens: 2021 Update

sunscreen connoisseur

As a sunscreen connoisseur who tries out a lot of sunscreens, it always feel premature to make a list of my favourites. I try a lot of sunscreens but I feel like I can never get through as many as I’d like, because unfortunately I have just the one face. I did a list of my favourites at the end …

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How much UV does a REAL mineral sunscreen absorb and scatter?

sunscreen center mount

Warning: Very nerdy content ahead! If you’ve been following sunscreen discourse (apparently this is a thing now) you’ll know that mineral sunscreens mostly work by absorbing UV and only scattering a small amount, in the region of 4-5% across the range of UV. This was quantified in a pretty commonly cited 2016 paper by Curtis Cole, Thomas Shyr and Hao Ou-Yang, “Metal …

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Zinc Sunscreens Don’t Work Better: Every Myth Busted

Chemical vs Physical Sunscreens: The Science (with video)

There are so many myths around mineral or physical sunscreens – the ones with zinc oxide and titanium dioxide – and how they’re supposedly better than chemical sunscreens with scarier names like oxybenzone and octocrylene. And it’s usually zinc oxide that gets all the hype. Some of these advantages are true… but so many are just myths. And a lot …

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