Sunscreen Review: No Ad Baby Sunscreen Stick SPF 50
Claims: Paraben free, water-resistant for up to 80 minutes, appropriate for children.
Ingredients (Good): Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Coco Seed Butter and Organic Beeswax.
Ratings: Broad Spectrum SPF 50
Cost/Value: $2-9 (18 grams) / if you get it between $2-6 it is a cheap sunscreen.
It is a Chemical Sunscreen. Its active ingredients are 3% Avobenzone, 10% Homosalate, 7.5% Octinoxate, 5% Octisalate and 5% Octocrylene.
It did NOT gather in my under eye wrinkles.
It did NOT leave a white cast in my skin. It is completely sheer even upon initial application.
It did NOT dry down in 20 minutes or less. It stays thick, sticky and slightly shiny from the moment you apply to the moment you take it off. It doesn't change at all during the day.
It did NOT sting my eyes. Normally my eyes can get pretty sensitive with Avobenzone and Homosalate; with this sunscreen stick it did not happen. I suspect that's because the sunscreen filters are suspended in this thick solid beeswax stick base, it doesn’t migrate to the eyes, unlike other lotion or gel chemical sunscreen.
It DOES smell. It has a slight chemical odour but it doesn’t linger.
It really looks lousy under make-up. I tried it with every single brush type. Flat paddle foundation brush, synthetic airbrush foundation, natural goat hair blending brush, I tried it with every type of foundation from tinted moisturiser to super dry matte to powder and mineral foundations. It is completely unwearable with anything other than a powder or mineral foundation. It's too thick, too sticky it will make whatever you trying to put on top of it; it's incredibly shiny, oily, wet look, streaky, impossible to correct.
This is not intended to be worn with make-up. If you are desperate, you can put a powder or mineral foundation over it, as long as you really stamp it on with a flat type brush and don’t blend it too much. That will both maintain the sunscreen film and give you the coverage that you're looking for. When I say the coverage you are looking for, I mean 20 times the coverage. We are talking about wax combined with mineral powders, that's like full coverage is understatement for the finish you end up with.
It DOES stay throughout the day. It is really water-resistant. I wore this on a rainy day, it did not affect the sunscreen film. Water pretty much beaded off of my face.
It is fine for anybody who doesn't intend to wear make-up and doesn't mind a super shiny and oily looking finish. It is best for people with super dry and super dehydrated skin, because it doesn’t highlight any sort of texture on the skin and it is completely sheer. In fact, you can sort of moisturise any dry scaly or patches that you might have. It serves as an incredible occlusive. This is beeswax, if you are spending lots of time every morning trying to moisturise your skin and seal that moisture, this sunscreen will do all the sealing in for you. Anything you put under this, will be completely occluded from the environment. So it will either be absorbed into your skin or sit on top of it. But it won’t evaporate or degrade in any way.
Texture and consistency: After its application, it is completely sheer. It is shiny but it is not as shiny as most chemical liquid sunscreen I've encountered which tend to have a very oily, shiny finish. Beeswax based has a relatively more natural finish to it. Although on the face, it does look super dewy.
I highly recommend this sunscreen, because this is one of the few chemical sunscreens I've encountered that doesn't bother my eyes. Stays in place throughout the day amazingly. It's perfect for outdoor activities, it reapplies on top of itself very sheerly. You can layer this on 2 or 3 times during the day without looking the worse for wear. It is very reasonably priced.