Facial SPF gets a bad press. It’s known for making your skin greasy, breaking you out and leaving a ‘white cast’ tint to your skin. But things have moved on significantly in the world of facial suns creams and these, at the time well founded concerns, have been left well and truly in the past.
These days you are spoilt for choice when it comes to facial SPF whatever your skin type or skin concerns. The problem now however is knowing how to narrow it down to one that will offer enough protection, whilst also delivering on the skin care front. You don’t need to compromise on either option these days with hybrid SPF facial moisturisers being more than enough to cover you on the SPF front for your face.
Word of warning however – what isn’t enough is to rely on a foundation that says it includes SPF. Whilst this may be the case chances are that no one applies enough foundation in one go to actually get the true benefits of the sun protection. If you are anything like me I tend to go lighter on the make up front in the summer and therefore might only use a couple of drops of foundation blended into my skin which is not going to offer anywhere near the level of sun protection it claims on the bottle.
The answer is to find a moisturiser which sits well under make, i.e not do that annoying ‘balling up’ that some silicone heavy primers and moisturisers do, and which offers a decent base for any products you put on top – which you don’t need to then worry about SPF inclusion.
Here’s where La Roche Posay, who have been a front runner in the formulation of decent facial (and body) SPF’s for the past few years, have an absolute all rounder of a facial moisturiser with SPF 50+ in. Anthelios XL suits all skin types, due to its non perfumed, light weight texture and provides a seamless base for products on top . It’s worth saying that this is not sexy skincare. The packaging is utilitarian and isn’t going to win any bathroom Instagram awards but sometimes you just need practicality, especially when the health of your skin is at stake. It’s a very fluid texture that sinks in quickly which means you can get enough on your face to actually deliver the 50+ SPF protection the bottle claims. It has oil absorbing properties which means that even on combination/greasy skin it leaves a matte finish without ever feeling drying or chalky. I’ve even got Mr B using it!
La Roche Posay also do a tinted version of this which delivers the same level of sun protection with a small amount of colour which is perfect for days in the sun when you don’t want to layer up products. Word of warning – the packaging for the tinted and the non tinted is extremely similar and I’ve picked up the wrong one before so double check before purchasing.
Gone are the days of slapping on a bit of SPF 15 tinted moisturiser and thinking that’s good enough to protect my skin – this is serious sun care protection delivered in a moisteriser that performs as well as any other. There’s really no excuse not to look after your skin and this product is well and truly on my repurchase list.
Jess X
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