Claims: Absorbs oil, softens the complexion and blurs imperfections, serves as a light weight make-up primer.
Ingredients (Good): Glycerine and Vitamin E.
Ingredients (Bad): Synthetic fragrance, Phenoxyethanol, Benzyl Alcohol, Limonene and Linalool.
Ratings: Broad Spectrum SPF 50
Cost /Value: $64 (1 fl oz) / Incredibly expensive sunscreen.
It is Chemical Sunscreen. Its active ingredients are 3% Avobenzone, 5% Octisalate and 7.5% Octinoxate.
It DOES smell. It has a bit of a classic sunscreen smell.
It DOES sting in my eyes. It took between 40-50 minutes to migrate to my eyes. At which point, it did start stinging mildly. It was only at around 2 hrs post application that I felt really uncomfortable due to the stinging. After that, the stinging sensation would ebb and flow over the next 5 hours or so, but wasn't incredibly problematic. After the 5 hours or so of wear, the stinging sensation did not come back. In my opinion, that's too much irritation to repurchase the sunscreen. If you have never reacted poorly to chemical sunscreens, this might work for you.
It did NOT gather in my under eye wrinkles.
It did NOT leave a white cast on my skin. It is completely sheer.
It did NOT dry down in 20 minutes or less. This has a thick oily finish that transfers off extremely easily and doesn't set or dry down at all. The first day I tested this, I wore it all by itself; it was not absorbed into the skin at all over the course of the day. It stayed thick and oily all day.
If you like priming with a layer of facial oil before spreading out your foundation as thinly as possible, to achieve asuper dewy wet look finish, this could be a match for you. Even with the most matte drying foundations I own, this made everything look not just oily but wet-look.
Another reason why I don't like it with make-up, is because it absolutely mixes with the make-up. Even with the lightest touch and a flat brush, as you're spreading the foundation on your face, you can see the sunscreen finish mixing with the foundation. If you really over apply this initially, enough of it to may remain on your face to achieve the labelled SPF despite having mixed completely with your foundation. That said, I can’t see how you would end up with an even sunscreen film with this under liquid foundation.
One alternative I tried was mineral or powder foundation. I found this to be so oily, that it will give you a dewy finish even with a super dry mineral foundation. Over the course of the day, it will get more and more oily. Even with a mineral or powder foundation, you still end up with an oily finish that needs to be powdered. Honestly, this stuff is just too oily.
It best suited for extremely dry skin. This is the only skin type I could see this working for.
Texture and consistency: This comes with a dropper, it is a very liquidy texture.
I would recommend this sunscreen to people with extremely dry skin. For anybody else, I don’t think it is worth of money, and even for people with super super dry skin, you can always buy a cheap moisturiser and cheap chemical sunscreen instead of buying this.
Unfortunately, I do feel that this falls in the category of really careless subpar skin care sold under designer names for extravagant prices. Relying on our trust as customers that a name like Armani would only bring us the best and that is so unfortunate. I would never repurchase this, but I get why people do.
