This item is labeled as 100% mineral sunscreen hence its main ingredients are Titanium Dioxide and Zinc Oxide.
As per COSDA, certain ingredients may trigger acne:
Stearic Acid (2)
Squalene (1)
Zinc Oxide (1)
The ratings are low however, if you are known to have issues with any of these, use it with caution.
Trial Period: 1 week
Skin Condition: Currently purging due to Glycolic Acid
Environment: Humid, tropical summer
Packaging:
Price: 19.99 CAD Amazon Prime Canada / around 14 USD – 89 ml
Review:
This is a mineral sunscreen. It contains both Zinc Oxide and Titanium Dioxide. This is a good choice if you’re after something that will rather sit on top of your skin rather than absorbed, a concept which is better if you have sensitive or acne prone skin.
This product does not contain fragrance at all which is perfect if you have a sensitive skin.
The product itself is somewhat a heavy cream with less oil in touch. It is soft and glides smoothly in the skin. This sunscreen is not sticky but can be a little tacky in touch – a common property of a mineral sunscreen. If you’re on the normal to dry skin, I suggest that you top your skin with something moisturizing before applying this to avoid it from getting too dry.
This tinted sunscreen has no coverage but to be fair, it claimed nothing of such. Do note though that this might tone you up in a pinkish way. I’m on the mid-fair tone and this specific sunscreen made by face and neck differs a little bit. It is not very huge difference at least from my skin but for those with darker complexion, this might be a little bit tricky to play around. They don’t look like they sell different shades (I may be wrong) so please do ask their customer support to verify.
This is not a replacement for your foundation especially if your goal is to cover up some blemishes. It will help though even out some minor skin discoloration but not to the level of hyperpigmentation.
Another thing I noticed about this mineral sunscreen is that it has a minor flashback. I don’t go out taking pictures all the time so it is not an issue but if you’re planning to get a picture, this can be a bad thing.
Without Flash:
With Flash:
Good news about this though is that it has very little transfer. Once settled, I don’t worry about it getting into my headphones or likes. It will not compound much as well on your eyeglasses’ nose pad – perfect for those who wears them a lot.
This product is also advertised to be water resistant up to 80 minutes. I personally did not try this, but I noticed though that even I sweat mildly, I did not see the need to reapply. This product has some clinging power to my skin – which probably explains my narration above.
Lastly, despite me currently purging from Glycolic Acid, no apparent additions came into my inventory of blemish.
Final Thoughts:
This is a mineral sunscreen, a better option for those with sensitive or acne prone skin.
Contain no fragrance
Can even out skin tone but not cover blemishes or hyperpigmentation
Has a pink undertone
Might be a little tricky to use if you have darker skin tone
There isn’t much ingredients highlighted to cause acne or irritation. Do note though that this product contains Dimethicone. I don’t consider this an issue, but I understand that some people are highly concerned about this.
Trial Period: 4 months
Skin Condition: Acne prone, occasionally dry and combination
Environment: Tropical – warm with little humidity
Packaging:
Price: 499 PHP Watson, Lazada, BeautyMNL / around 10 USD – 125 ml
Review:
It wasn’t my first go-to moisturizer. Ever since I started doing Tretinoin, the importance of clean and fragrance-free moisturizer has always been my goal. I started using Cerave PM during those days (which I hoarded when I visited our relatives in Canada last year). Let me tell you this – it is perfect. Cerave PM is the moisturizer that I have been looking for all my life. Unfortunately, due to baggage limitation I was only able to hoard 4 months supplies of these lotions. Hence, the search for next best locally available lotion went into picture…then I got this.
This moisturizer is literarily simple when it comes to its claim. Let’s discuss each:
Hydrating Light Moisturizer
True – it is light. It never feels heavy during and after application. It is perfect with or without makeup. However, do know that it isn’t the lightest moisturizer I have tried. I have no problems with its weight in the skin but it I wouldn’t say it is an upgrade (weight – wise). The difference, if I will compare it with Cerave PM, is not even huge so it will definitely not bother you at all.
Texture: Light white cream which becomes invisible after application
Immediately After Application:
After around one min:
12 Hours Hydration
Hydrating and Moisturizing for 12+ hours – checked!
There isn’t much to discuss about this topic though. It does what it claims perfectly. If there’s one thing that this moisturizer do best amongst those that I tried – this is that. However, if you have extra dry skin, you might want to add something like Hyaluronic Acids before using this. On regular days, this can stand alone. However, there are days when I tend to use more active ingredients that sometimes makes my skin dry. As a result, my skin compensates the issue with oiliness. The trick that I learned from my fellow skin care lovers is to add HA (through Hada Labo or Neutrogena Clear Lotion). Voila!
Fragrance – Free
Yep! No fragrance even for masking purposes only. You will not get any irritation due to fragrance.
Others worth mentioning….
If I’m not using Hyaluronic Acid Lotion, I use this immediately after washing my face (when my skin is still moist but not dripping). A small pea-size will do. I use it this way to prevent water lose (which often happens when your skin made contact with water). You may use more if you wish but this procedure works perfect for me.
If I intend to sequence this with my go-to HA lotion, I will use HA lotion first when my face is still moist. Then when my face is already sticky, I will follow it with this moisturizer. When in HA though, I tend to put more of this as HA requires tons of moist. Your face might get dry if you don’t supply it with more moisturizer (unless your place is very humid). Three pea size seems to work well for me.
Also take note that there’s really not much promises this lotion claims. It is perfect to partner with active ingredients like BHA, Retinoids, AHA, Azelaic etc. I have no issues with them when I use this products because to begin with, there’s nothing in this lotion’s recipe that it known to counteract or cancel any of the actives I mentioned.
Precaution though, for some reason this product has been giving me a slight “sting” whenever I applied it. I’m not sure what specific ingredient this contains that could possibly give me such reaction. I have been using this product for months now and it is only recent that I felt this mild sting. To be fair though, I started feeling this when I added AHA and BHA (couples of times per week as cleanser) to my routine. There’s a possibility that my face is still too sensitive for these additions (since I also use Tretinoin at night). If you’re not using any actives but your face stings, please discontinue use.
Takeaways:
It does hydrate and moisturize for 12+ hours
Fast absorbing
No fragrance (both artificial and natural)
Best used after face wash (when skin is still moist)
No known ingredients to cancel out popular active ingredients
There is a possibility that you might feel mild sting especially if your skin is sensitive
As per COSDNA, there are four ingredients worth nothing that may trigger acne or irritation:
Cetyl Alcohol (2)
Cetearyl Alcohol (2)
Glyceryl Stearate SE (3)
Dimethicone (1)
They are relatively low in rating but still good to know in case you have a very sensitive skin.
Trial: 3 days
Current Skin Condition: Combination
Environment: Tropical – warm with little humidity
Packaging:
Packaging:
Price: 359 PHP Lazada (Lazmall) / around 8 USD –50 ml
Review:
Personally, I’m not concerned about the whole PA Metric System as this is hard to standardized and results tends to vary. Anyway, if this is something that you consider vital, this specific sunscreen only has two plus – not the highest measure out there. However, NIVEA is a very well-known institution already. I hate to sound brand-biased but there’s confidence in time and experience.
Let’s start with the immediately obvious – this contains fragrance. The fragrance is not light which I think is very common to any Nivea products (correct me if I’m wrong though). The smell tends to go away anyway but this is worth noting as some people might get irritation from it. I didn’t though which I think is a little surprising.
The product itself comes in a thin, opaque white cream. It can be spread easily into your skin due to its light consistency. However, as time pass by you will start to notice that it becomes sticky and hard to move around so don’t wait too long in spreading this.
The finish of this product is sticky and shiny. In my experience under tropical weather, this did not disappear even after long hours. Also, this sunscreen has a tendency to transfer some tackiness into your hand when touched.
What I liked about it though is that I did not experience this product staining my clothes. Also, it is true to its claim that it is water resistant. As a matter of fact, I hard a hard time washing this product off my hand after application.
This sunscreen is perfect for more extreme days with swimming, gym, jogging and likes. Though it is important to know that re-application is still needed as indicated in the packaging.
Since I mentioned about swimming and surely a lot of people will consider this product for a swim in the beach, do remember that this sunscreen has Octocrylene. Octocrylene is one of the many known sunscreen ingredients that contributes to coral reefs’ death. Surely, it comes with big amount for this to see immediately but I suggest not to contribute to this known issue already by not using this product for a swim in the beach. There are still plenty of sunscreen you could choose from when dipping in the sea.
Another thing, this sunscreen is not drying. It is a visible truth that it has moisturizing feature. Though, to be fair, I won’t rely on this just for moisturizing purposes especially if you have a very dry skin. Do consider using your go-to moisturizer still when using this to avoid dryness especially when planning to go outside.
There is no recorded flashback when I was taking pictures. However, if you have medium to dark skin tone like mine, expect that your skin will tone up. Therefore, it is preferable to use this exact sunscreen to your neck as well to avoid huge indifference in tone.
Lastly, I had a hard time using this under makeup due to its tackiness. I tried to use pressed foundation on top of this and after a while, I can see that this sunscreen is absorbing it and empowering it with shine. I just didn’t bother trying this further on other makeups as this sunscreen, from my opinion, is designed mostly for extreme exposure / activities rather than something to hold and played with makeup. Perhaps this part is more subjective to my available tools and collections so feel free to test it on yours.
Will I recommend this? Yes. Despite its texture and smell, this sunscreen is perfect for sweaty activities!
Takeaways:
Very tacky on skin
Has strong fragrance but I did not get any irritation
Water resistant – perfect for extreme activities like playing, swimming, gym and etc.
Contains Octocrylene, which is not good to our coral reefs
Moisturizing but still consider using your go-to moisturizer
Current Skin Condition: Combination, with small dry patches in the chin
For the non-makeup review of this product, you may click here. This will show you how I used this sunscreen as it is, without makeup.
For the 2 days trials I took for this product, I always use a
gentle cleanser (Simple Moisturizing Facial Wash), basic moisturizer (Simple
Hydrating Light Moisturizer) and a small amount of eye cream (QuickFx
Eye Lift Cream) beforehand. There are no known strong ingredients on these
items. Once the moisturizer and eye cream have settled (after 10 minutes), that’s
the time I started using this product.
For this, I was able to put around 1/2 teaspoon of this
sunscreen to my face. After it settled for like 10 minutes, I started putting my
liquid foundation (L’Oréal Infallible Fresh Wear 24HR Foundation) and
concealer (Maybelline Instant Age Rewind) on top of it.
*** it doesn’t look like 1/2 teaspoon in the image as I
added more after I blended it.
What I noticed about this base product is that it is not sticky. Hence, it did not require me to add more foundation which is just a pump usually. For some reason, I even had a small excess that I managed to put on my neck. The reason for it is because the finish of this items is very velvety (like I mentioned this is post). The finish is close to a rose petal which is very smooth and very soft – making it easy for makeup to cover my face thinly.
I personally enjoyed applying my foundation with either a
brush or fingers when I tested this sunscreen. Both of which makes the
application even so easily. I just think that I managed to save a small part of
my foundation when I’m using a brush as I tend to have more control on it.
I felt really nice wearing this beneath my foundation. It
has a hold to my makeup at the same time it felt very light and smooth to touch.
To be honest, I did not feel any stickiness or too much shine hence I tried to
skip putting light powder on it. However, to make it standard with the other
review I had, I still did use Clean & Clear Essentials Face Powder (small
taps). Regardless, the final output is very clean and light.
Another thing that I like about this product is that it did
hide my pores. During the time it was starting to degrade (around 8 hours), it
did not push the makeup to my pores or lines. I hardly see my makeup
compounding on my pores and noes. Instead, it only disappeared slowly.
During the stress test, I noticed that regardless of my
environment (room temperature, humid or air-conditioned room), both acted almost
the same way. Though being in cooler environment makes it last longer. This
sunscreen managed to hold my makeup longer by helping my face not to produce
too much oil. However, for the record, this is not the best primer for this
criteria. There are still better primers and sunscreen that can hold my makeup
longer and control oil at the same time.
So you might be asking why I like this one then? The answer for that is simple. From the previous test with the other sunscreens and primers I had, this is very light and did not break me out. It still lives to its claim that it does control oil and be use to hold makeup. Also, because I can use the same amount of this sunscreen as my regular go-to sun protection (and considering that it has high protection against UVA and UVB), I’m confident enough that I can use this as my only sunscreen for that day.
Take note that there is no claim in the packaging that it is
waterproof or sweat resistant. I personally do not reapply on regular (non-vigorous)
days. However, if you will be sweating, reapplication is highly recommended to
prevent sun damage.
Lastly, (though there is no direct claim for this) this product did not hold my dry patches together. I wouldn’t expect it from a regular sunscreen, but I do think that it should as a primer. But then again, I’m not seeing any claim for dry skin issues. So, I can’t hold this against this product.
Takeaways:
It is true that it controls oil and hold makeup
longer however it is not the best primer in the market for that criteria
You can adequately protect your skin from the
sun using only this (amount should be 1/2 to 1/3 teaspoon at least for the face).
No claims for being sweat resistant
Not the best product if you’re trying to hide
your dry patches
Textbook-wise — if you will check COSDNA, take note that
Isopropyl Palmitate has a comedogenic rate of 4 and is also tagged as possible
irritant. Isostearic Acid, Glyceryl Oleate and Isopropyl Palmitate as per
Skincarisma are known to trigger fungal acne.
Trial Duration: 3 days
Price: 349 PHP (BeautyMNL) / around 7 USD – 150 ml
*** The price I indicated above is the regular tag of this
item. I did not buy this personally but rather got it as a freebie when I bought Biore UV Covering Base – Oil Control
Packaging:
Non-Sampler should look like below (not my picture):
What I got:
Current SkinCondition: Combination with
random peeling
Review:
For the record, I have always been a Micellar Water person. I
use Micellar Water to remove my sunscreens and makeups on a daily basis then
follow it with a gentle cleanser. But because I got this for free and I can see
a lot of people liking this product, I thought of giving this one a try. I have
always been too scared of pure oils when it comes to cleansing or even leave-on’s.
I think if you’re the type of person who struggles with acne for a very long
time, you would understand where this fear is coming from.
Personally, I’m surprised with how this item functioned.
First, it removed my sunscreen and makeup so easily. Second, it didn’t break me
out.
The way I used this product is that I massage it to my face
for at least 30 seconds, aiming to make the oil contact all the makeups and
agitate it a little bit, nothing harsh. Afterwards,
I wash my face with regular water, not too cold and not too warm. Lastly, I
followed it with my favorite cleanser which is Simple Moisturizing Facial Wash.
The feel of this cleansing oil when removed by water will give you a smooth and squeaky kind of clean. I did not feel any oil leftover in my face which I do expected because after all, this is oil. This oil when you massage it into your skin will turn murky – this is the oil doing some action.
For this test, I took some commonly used cosmetics (sunscreen
included) into my arm:
*** the order is described as the first picture.
*** this includes tinted sunscreen, eye shadows (liquid),
foundation, lipstick, crayon eye liner, liquid eye liner (waterproof), eye
shadow (powder), mascara (waterproof), eye brow wax with colored powder, eyebrow pencil and concealer
In this example I used roughly 1/3 teaspoon of Biore
Cleansing Oil. Massage it for 30 seconds, let is sit there for couple more
seconds (for pictures) and rinse it with water.
I’m not sure how this picture was taken but my arm looks longer? Meh.
In the picture above, you will see that the oil went murky
due to the dissolved makeup. If you will look closer you will see that the
liquid eyeliner is still visible. After I took some pictures (which took like
15 seconds), I immediately rinsed the oil with water and tap my skin with towel
(just tap and not rub).
This is what it looks like now:
nothing left
In the picture above, you will see that nothing was left
even the liquid eye liner we spotted before we rinsed it. I haven’t followed
this with any cleanser for the record, so the removal was only done by the
cleansing oil itself.
In addition to its cleaning power, this cleansing oil did not break me out. However, do note that this contain fragrance. The smell is very light and I personally did not notice it right away. I only went to smell the bottle itself hence I realized that it does have scent after all. I would imagine that they added this very faint smell to mask the original smell of oils. It didn’t bother me at all and it is very easy to miss unless you’re looking for it.
I’m glad that the original container of this item comes with
a pump. It will definitely make the dispensing a lot easier and less messy
which I think is valuable when dealing with liquid oils. I also like the fact
that it did not left my face feeling greasy or oily, giving me the impression
that you can end the cleaning from this point. However, oil is a very tricky
substance to play with your skin. Despite having a squeaky feel of your skin, I
would suggest to follow it with your favorite mild cleanser. There’s no need to
use heavy duty soaps or cleansers for this. This cleansing oil already attracted
the junks out of your skin. The goal of you second cleanser is just to remove
any residue of this cleansing oil.
Takeaways:
This cleansing oil can be used every day for
mild to waterproof makeups.
Some ingredients may trigger acne (esp. fungal) hence every once in a while (not
necessarily everyday), use a cleanser that prevent acne of such
Make sure to cleanse with water thoroughly and
follow it with your mild cleanser (Simple Moisturizing Facial Wash is a personal
recommendation)
This can be use regardless of your skin condition
Would I buy this again? Yes.
I highly recommend this product to everyone. However, please
review the ingredients listed and make sure that you are compatible with them.
Some people have reported breaking out after using this product. I would assume
that they are not compatible with some ingredients in this item or they did not
use it properly. Regardless, I personally like this product and will use it
further.
As per COSDNA, there are 3 ingredients that may cause acne:
Butylene Glycol (1)
Stearic Acid (2)
Zinc Oxide (1)
Other than those, everything seems ok for use. Of course, these are textbook facts. I will discuss further how my skin reacted to these ingredients.
Trial Duration: 2 days
Price: 569 PHP (Shopee Mall — SOME BY MI) / around 10 USD — 50 ml
Packaging:
Current Skin Condition: Acne prone with dry patches
Review:
Protects your skin from “Photoaging”
Truecica Mineral 100 Calming Sunscreen boast to have PA++++. The metric indicates that this provides extreme UVA protection. So far, this is the highest point in our metric system and only few have this much “+” already in their label. I can’t tell you though that this is working or subpar as the metric itself is a little questionable to be honest. I tried going out every once in a while wearing this and no browning / tanning were observed. Also, this might be too advance to tell but for the record, no additional wrinkles were added in my inventory while using this product.
Whitening
Hmmm, whitening.
This term gets to be thrown out so easily and quite interchangeably with “brightening” and “lightening” when it comes to Asian skin care. I checked the ingredient list and can’t see anything that that has somewhat bleaching properties. I do noticed though that there is Niacinamide. This ingredient is known to minimize the size of the pores, brighten skin tone, treats hyperpigmentation and anti-wrinkles to name some. Based from my personal experience, I did notice that my face is a little brighter than the usual. So if we are going to use the term “brightening”, then I would say yes. Yes, it did brighten my face. However, with very short time I had with this product I can’t tell you though if it helped me in the hyperpigmentation due to acne. So for this aspect – no comment.
Wrinkle
Improvement
Like in the “brightening” claim of
this product, the key ingredients for this is Niacinamide. However, same with
above, it will take a lot of time to see if my wrinkles are actually less. I’m
only my early 30’s and to be honest, I don’t have much yet. Hence, I can’t
comment on this claim. Do note though that it claims to have one of strongest
rating when it comes to UVA protection (PA ++++), together with Niacinamide,
this make sense.
Sunscreen for
sensitive skin
This though I can answer more. This
product claims to have non-nano factors that will not be absorbed by the skin
which is ideal for people with acne prone skin.
However –
This does not work as beautiful as it meant to be…at least for me. I saw a lot of people praising this in the internet and online shops saying that it works like wonder for them and this is the only sunscreen that really did not cause them issues. Unfortunately, I’m not part of that statistic.
Just to give you an idea on how my skin was when I started using this – basically I have some dry patches due to my Tretinoin and Azelaic routine. I do have some inactive clogged pores that are hard to see even upfront…but it is there when you touch them. I do have a lot of acne hyperpigmentation too due to my recent reaction to Tretinoin but there’s really nothing active other that the one below my chin (aspiring) and one near the scalp.
Going back, after two days of trying this product, my quiet clogged pores in my chin became more apparent and two became pimples. In my left eyelid, I managed to catch what appears to be two “ripe” clogged pores. Between my eyebrows, few clogged pores appeared. They were not there when I started this trial so I can’t blame this on my current routine. Also, to be fair, I only put a light and unscented moisturizer before using this sunscreen so I can’t blame my Tretinoin or Azelaic for it.
Other than the eyelid and new entries
between my eyebrows, no other clogged pores are worth noting after this. It
appears that an ingredient (or probably more) caused my clogged pores to wake
up and advance. I don’t know what these ingredients could be as the listing has
no apparent culprit other that the three I mentioned earlier. There is a
possibility that this is more of a personal reaction and other may not
experience it.
Below are some of the pictures of my
screen before and after:
Before applying sunscreen (with moisturizer
absorbed already):
Aftermath (2 days after):
Note: Those items in red circle are
there before the trial however, they are very small and less noticeable when I
started. The one in orange is the aspiring I mentioned earlier. It is its first
day before I took the sunscreen. The one below the orange circle and the reds
in left “ripen” after the sunscreen.
These are new as there are no clogged pores on those areas when I started using this sunscreen
These are new to me as well.
85% moisture essence, lotion-like texture with no white cast finish
This
sunscreen is not sticky considering that it is mineral. The texture of the
lotion itself is not dry and true to its claim that it is lotion like. It
glides smoothly in my face and does spread quite nicely. I did not have any issues
about this getting stuck in my lines, nose and other corners. From my
experience with other sunscreens I would say that when you put it, it is light
but not the lightest out there. However,
when it dries, it is hard to tell that it is there.
It
did not dry my skin. However it did not contribute any moisturizing effect on
my skin despite its claim that it has 85% moisture essence. My skin still has
the initial dryness issue I mentioned earlier…just not worse.
I
also did not notice any white cast afterwards. It went almost invisible to my
skin after few minutes.
Spread:
Without
flash, natural light
With
flash
A little shiny at first
After 30 mins:
Natural light
With flash
Smell
Reading the product listing, it is true that they don’t have any artificial scents, but it still has fragrance. There are oils worth noting that contributes to its lemon to green tea like scent, almost similar to Biore Watery Essence Sunscreen but lighter. These are Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Peel Oil, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Oil and Asiaticoside. They are known as natural fragrance. Some people tends to have irritations on these items especially when used in larger amount.
Though I can live with the scent that this sunscreen has, for
me though, I would prefer not to have it no matter how “natural” or light they
are. I’m a huge believer that not all-natural products are good for your skin. Our
skin has no need for fragrance and these ingredients might only cause
irritation.
Final thoughts:
I’m a little skeptic recommending this
one despite all the good points I mentioned (lightness, texture, no-white cast
etc). The thing is, if the reaction might be a conflict related to my routine (which
contains Azelaic and Tretinoin), it’s no good for acne prone then. Let’s be
real here. People with acne prone skin may be already be involved in medical
grade routine. Their routine tends to have strong ingredients perhaps due to
prescription or over the counter items such AHA, BHA, Retinol / Retinoid and Azelaic
to name some. If this is the cause of my inactive clogged pores getting triggered
then we maybe be we should be more specific with the claims.
For now, it’s a take-at-your-own-risk kind of recommendation. A lot of people are praising it but unfortunately for me, I fell on that smaller statistic that did not have good reaction in this sunscreen.
Would I try it again? Yes. I’m planning to consume the whole tube and make a new review again. I will not erase this but I would like to give this a second chance. The reason for it is because this sunscreen feels a lot better than those that I tried. It is very light and it works very well on my makeup (I have a separate review for it). For the record, I will not pull out my routine (which contains Tretinoin and Azelaic) just to give way to this sunscreen. I will consume them as is and this sunscreen as how it is meant to be.
I’ll keep this posted once the new
review is ready.
If you want to see my under the makeup review of this product, check out this link.
![[Under Makeup Review] : Biore UV Covering Base – Oil Control](https://roiskicom.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/main.jpg?w=638)
Roiski 