The Three Sunscreens I'm Wearing This Summer (And All Year Long)

Sunscreen is very important, you should know this already. I am an incredibly pale person, with a family history of melanoma, and a personal history of dysplastic nevi, so I have been acutely aware of the importance of sun protection since I was a kid (Yes, I was a buzzkill teenager who admonished my peers for tanning! I was not thanked for my concern! And I’d do it again!). Here’s the thing about sunscreen - it’s only getting better. If you haven’t worn sunscreen since you were a kid and some adult made you postpone a cannonball contest so they could coat you in a thick layer of smelly paste, well, those days are over. (The goopy sunscreen postponing fun days, I mean. I encourage you to partake in cannonball contests and underwater tea parties forever.) There are about a million options for sunscreen out there, but after a pre-summer clear out, I have three sunscreens that I’m keeping around, and would suggest to (almost, more on that later) anyone.

First, a disclaimer! Have you seen that TikTok where someone says it’s classist to tell people to wear sunscreen? Because sunscreen is expensive? I hate it! FIrst of all, I GUARANTEE you treatment for sun damage and/or skin cancer is exponentially more expensive than sunscreen. And even though there ARE expensive sunscreens, there are also perfectly good inexpensive ones. My mom has this Target brand sunscreen at her house, it’s cheap and effective and the smell is super nostalgic (at least for me). Trader Joe’s has a great spray sunscreen that Consumer Reports gave a perfect 100. If you need a lot of sunscreen (it does expire, so only buy what you’re going to be able to use in the next year or so), Costco has some really great deals on sunscreen packs, AND they go on sale regularly. What I’m saying is, you should prioritize sun protection, even if that means budgeting for it.

I recently did a pre-summer clean out of basically all my stuff, and three sunscreens made the cut and got to stick around (I had multiple sunscreens that weren’t empty, but were old, and you should take expiration dates on healthcare items seriously).

Biore UV Aqua Rich Watery Essence SPF 50 PA+++

This is the newest addition to my sun protection arsenal. I’ve been seeing this Japanese sunscreen recommended constantly over the past decade or so, but it’s not available easily in the US. My evidence-based beauty queen Charlotte Palermino has done a whole series on sunscreens and why we don’t have the GOOD good sunscreens in the US, so please check her out for more details. BUT, she also made it her mission to figure out HOW us Americans can get our paws on some fancy sunscreens, and she recommended Stylevana (please do not buy beauty products from eBay or Amazon, but really don’t buy sunscreen from eBay or Amazon, a knockoff lipstick is a bummer, a knockoff/expired sunscreen could lead to cancer.)

Once someone I trusted told me how to get Biore sunscreen without a trip to Japan, I placed my order. I will say, it took three weeks to arrive AND I had to email them to get a better tracking number AND it was sort of lost between LA and Seattle for five days. None of these are deal breakers, you should still order from them, it’s fine, I’m just telling you to plan accordingly. In fact, I just took a break from writing this to go place another order for more sunscreen (I bought smaller tubes but in bulk this time) so that I will never be without, and I can wait a month for it to show up. Buy once to try, buy again in bulk to stock up on what you love.

And I LOVE this sunscreen. Every single bit of hype is deserved. It is like wearing nothing. It is witchcraft. It is a miracle. And it’s not that expensive. Stylevana always seems to be having some kind of sale, plus if you join the club you get an automatic discount on almost everything. Prepare to wait a bit, and possibly spend a chunk of change at once so you’re not constantly waiting for a shipment from Hong Kong, and you’re set.

La Roche-Posay Anthelios Mineral Face Sunscreen - SPF 50

I love this La Roche-Posay sunscreen, but it’s a controversial one. This baby has some major white cast. It has a really nice almost powdery finish, but is that worth the white cast? Unknown. My skintone ranges from let’s say, a Tilda Swinton to a Cate Blanchett, so white cast is not really a concern for me. It is starkly white when I first apply (you need to be using 1/4 tsp for your face, and if you’re not seeing the white from this sunscreen, you’re probably applying too little), but once I wait a bit it settles and looks fine. But I say again: I am very pale. If you don’t have 30+ minutes to wait before applying makeup or going outside, La Roche-Posay Anthelios Mineral Face Sunscreen may not be the one for you, or you could try the tinted version. I haven’t tried the tinted one, but it looks… still very pale. If you’re not Tilda-adjacent, it might not be what you’re looking for. BUT…

Black Girl Sunscreen Broad Spectrum - SPF 30

Black Girl Sunscreen is one of the best no-white cast, no-telltale sunscreen smell sunscreens you can buy easily in the US. It’s affordable, sold at Target, and it is like un-sunscreen. I wrote about this one already in Wear, Watch, Want #194, so I won’t reiterate what I’ve already said. Actually, I will a little. Black Girl Sunscreen is the perfect sunscreen for those who hate sunscreen. It doesn’t smell like anything. It has absolutely no white cast. You don’t even have to maniacally rub it in to make it unseen - it just IS. It also comes in a kids version that’s SPF 50 (I might get this one when I repurchase, I want that high SPF), and a matte version that previously could only be bought from the BGS website but now Target has that ALSO. And the price is pretty good. A tube of Black Girl Sunscreen is about $15, and this is a product that could absolutely be sold at high end retailers for twice that much. I love this brand, i love the price point, I love the accessibility. If you don’t want to delve into Asian sunscreens, this is probably my favorite alternative.

Here’s all three swatched (is it still a swatch if it’s sunscreen? We’ll never know!)

They’re on my fingers because sunscreen dosing is 1/4 tsp or two fingers for the face. The finger trick is helpful, but note how each sunscreen is on a finger, and it seems like very different amounts! But they also have different consistencies and textures. From the top down: The Biore is thick, almost like a gel/lotion. The La-Roche Posay is watery and thin - If you’re using fingers to measure this one, use more than two. The Black Girl Sunscreen is a classic sunscreen consistency, but without the graininess of sunscreens from my childhood.

Whatever sunscreen you use, make sure you’re getting adequate protection, reapply as needed, and keep that gorgeous skin safe and healthy.