Claims: Face Primer with high sun protection factor, includes powerful anti-oxidants and anti-irritants, light-weight, fast absorbing and illuminating
Ingredients: Algae Extract, Kukui Seed Oil, Round Seaweed Extract, Chinese Skullcap, Caffeine, Hyaluronic Acid, Cetyl Alcohol, Vitamin E and Vitami C. It also has a bit of Mica in it.
Ratings: Broad Spectrum SPF 50
Cost/Value: $75 (1 fl oz) / the most expensive sunscreen I have ever worn.
It is a 100 % Chemical Sunscreen. Its active ingredients are 3% Avobenzone, 5% Homosalate, 5% Octisalate, 2.8% Octocrylene and 3% Oxybenzone.
It DOES sting my eyes. This migrated in to my eyes within 40 minutes of application. It is quite irritating for between an hour or an hour and half. After that, it seems to settle down a little bit and did not bother me as much throughout the day.
It DOES smell. It has a strong sunscreen smell but it also a very strong perfume smell on top of that. If you are sensitive to smell, I would skip this as it has a very strong scent.
It did NOT leave a white cast in my skin. This is completely sheer.
It did NOT gather in my wrinkles.
It did NOT dry down in 20 minutes or less. This has a thick and oily consistency on skin. While it does sink into skin somewhat throughout the day, it does not dry down or set. Even hours later, it looks like you just applied baby oil on your face and easily transferred.
It did NOT wear well under make-up. And it shocked me as it is marketed as a primer.
I tried this with a flat paddle shape foundation brush and my fingers and found that worked in some areas. But in other areas that require a little bit more agitation, for example the hairline or around the nose, this peeled up under my foundation terribly. Because it is so thick and oily, it made my foundations' thinner and more sticky than they typically are.
You cannot couple it with a dewey foundation or BB cream, as it is already way too oily. The last thing about this sunscreen under make up, is that it has so much mica in it. It looks like you just applied a layer of baby oil to your face, it is that shiny. And also because it is mica, it doesn't have a golden or pink reflect. It actually has a blue white reflect. That strong blue white reflect does show through foundations. If you have a dry, lifeless, super matte, super thick, theatrical foundation that you are trying to give a little life to, this sunscreen will do that. The mica will shine through that foundation.
It DOES stick around throughout the day. However, with 100% chemical sunscreens like these it is recommended that you reapply every 2 or 3 hours.
Because it has a very particular finish in the face, it looks the same one everyone. I would not recommend this if you typically react poorly to chemical sunscreens. Avobenzone is the main sunscreen filter in this sunscreen, and it is the most frequent cause of allergic reactions to sunscreens.
I would not recommend this sunscreen. It is just a poor value that irritated my eyes.
