Undoubtedly, sun protection is very important to take care of healthy, youthful looking Skin. To me, it’s a final step of my skincare ritual. Overexposure to the UV radiations is fraught with speeding up oxidative stress, sagginess and fine lines. This tends to atrophy the lipid barrier function, leave discoloration, irritation, inflammation and premature aging. The worst is skin cancer. I wear my sunscreen more frequently than makeup, despite most of foundations are infused with sun protection at least SPF 15. My skin is a type of sensitive and acne prone so I just want to liberate the pores as much as possible.
There are countless sun care products in the market with variety of formulations to gratify different skin types. Obviously, those become more cosmetically elegant. My self-fanatic has zeal for discovering a plethora of sunscreens, whether they’re working for real. This time, I’m gonna show you my review of The Body Shop Skin Defence Multi-Protection Essence SPF 50 PA++++.
1. About the Product
The sunscreen tends to provide a vigorous shield over numerous perils of environment on the daily basis, not only UVA and UVB rays but also external free-radicals. The signature ingredient is nourishing extract from Palmaria Palmata, so-called Red Algae or Dulse, a miracle plant of the ocean. Astoundingly loaded with a tremendous amount of peptides, sulfated polysaccharides (carrageenan) as bioactive compounds, carotenoids and fatty acids. It’s proven to deliver rejuvenating, moisturizing, anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial and anti-allergic properties in skincare. The ingredient is inclined to retard the oxidative stress and appearance of aging spots as well as retain natural emollient, improve the complexion and neutralize the discolorations. This is a privilege for those who have delicate, dry and mature skins.
Red Algae extract also functions as thickening and delivery agents to result in silky texture and increase the fluid’s spreadability. Moreover, the sunscreen consists of Sclerocarya Birrea Seed (Marula) Oil, a god sent ingredient or a beauty secret from Africa. Enriched with vitamins C and E (tocopherol and tocotrienol), phenols, flavonoids and essential amino acids. Plus, it’s abundant in linoleic and oleic acids, Omega 6 and Omega 9 respectively. The ingredient flat-out gives potent hydrating, anti aging, antimicrobial and soothing activities. It captures moisture onto the upper layers of skin, alleviates irritation and redness and then, stimulates skin cellular renewal for a lively, resilient look.
Both Red Algae extract and Marula oil are gentle and mild to skin, even very sensitive one. The product contains Dimethicone and Glycerin, all of which are prone to attract water in the atmosphere, bind skin in moisture and reduce the flaking, dry patches. Dimethicone does its job as conditioning, thickening and emulsifying agents to enhance skin’s smoothness and restore the natural radiance. Otherwise, this silicone-derivative is high molecular weight and not water-soluble, so it’s hard to be washed off. You may need to use oil based cleanser to utterly get rid of the sunscreen. It seems that lots of cleansing cream these day are designed with some properties to remove light makeup, especially sunscreen prior to moving to further skincare steps. So, there might be no need to do double-cleansing for everyday makeup-free.
To achieve a clear, youthful complexion, the product contains 3-O-Ethyl Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) with age-defying effect to slow down the oxidative stress due to harmful UV rays. In terms of the active filters, it’s infused with two chemicals. The first one is ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate (Octinoxate or Octyl methoxycinnamate), which is only UVB absorbing agent to defend skin from sunburn and some other sun damage. However, we can’t overlook the drawback that can creep into our health. Octinoxate has moderate hazard and uncommonly causes allergic reactions. In long term, this is not good thing that skin should frequently interact with.
According to a 2008 article of Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, Octinoxate is not photostable, the filter tends to degrade and its ability to prevent the attack of UV ray is atrophied when exposing to sunlight. It’s absorbed swiftly and penetrate deeply into skin layers. Accumulation of using makes the substance across through skin and eventually, affect the whole body. It might contribute to accelerate the development of reactive oxygen species and hence, aging spots.
Additionally, there have been many researches showing that Octinoxate can be a culprit of hormonal disruption. A 2004 Animal study indicates Octinoxate increases the growth of estrogen production in cells, which is in relation to breast cancer. Also, it reduces thyroid hormones in the bloodstream, be more likely to interrupt ordinary thyroid operation. In fact, there hasn’t been an direct conclusion about the link between octinoxate and thyroid disease. Alongside Octinoxate, the second is Butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane (Avobenzone) to absorb the a wide wavelength of UVA ray. Avobenzone is quickly absorbed into skin and has low photostability so it’s more likely to be used in combination with photostabilizer, an inactive ingredient. That leads to fairly high probability of arousing skin allergies. Sadly, it hasn’t guaranteed Avobenzone would be completely photostablized yet.
The product includes denatured alcohol, which plays roles of antifoaming and antiviral, but also astringent and solvent. Alcohol Denat. is inclined to be drying and irritating to skin. Furthermore, it includes many chemical compounds for conditioning, emulsifying and viscosity adjusting agents, for example, Polymethyl Methacrylate, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer and Carbomer. Also, does have synthetic fragrances, such as Parfum, Linalool, Limonene and Citronellol.
2. My Thoughts
What a long “about the product” part! hope you don’t mind it or find boring. Just make sure I’m able to display necessary information for our effective decisions. To begin with, the sunscreen has a pale, milky color with low viscosity and watery base. It’s extremely lightweight in the absence of heavy, uncomfortably lingering sensations onto skin surface. I’m not surprised about this when it’s crystal clear the product is chemical sunscreen. Differ to physical, mineral sunscreens, known as sunblocks, the chemical ones are more cosmetically elegant without thick, opaque white cast sitting on top.
When applying onto my skin, the essence delivers incredibly relaxing, soothing and cooling effects. However, that seems not enduring much. It’s easy to apply, so glad that the fluid isn’t runny at all. It’s fast absorbed and quickly spreads out all over my face, you may fight slightly tacky at the first few seconds. Then, the product is genuinely hydrating and refreshing, Its mild moisturizing content leaves a soft, smooth feeling. It results in an extremely sheer, transparent finish and moderately luminous complexion, rather than overwhelming sheen and greasiness. The Multi-Protection Essence doesn’t give any coverage or brighten up the skin tone. You’re wearing nothing! This is gonna be flattering for girls who love going makeup-free daily.
My skin is a type of combination, sensitive and even, prone to dry, usually gets blemishes because of stress, changing weathers and menstruation (hormonal imbalance). Well, I guess there is a ton of reasons that nasty zits appear on our skin. The sunscreen brings about very airy consistency, so you can confidently save your skin from clogged pores or breakouts. Moreover, the product is claimed to be non-comedogenic or non-acnegenic. Thus, I’d recommend this to oily, acne-prone folk. However, we can’t be utterly sure about this, depends on whether your skin suffers allergic breakout from some particular ingredients. At any rate, I think the sunscreen might be ideal in hot, warm weathers to avoid adding up shine and oily traces.
The moisturizing property is indeed nice, but I feel sorry it’s not long-lasting enough in my case. At the first time of using the sunscreen three weeks ago, I might overestimate that it would have been hydrating throughout the day, so applied toner and serum before the sunscreen. Regrettably, I skipped my moisturizing cream. And, my skin was then very dull, tired and dry with cracks and fine lines on the forehead, chin and under the eyes after heading outdoor. Moisturizing cream is still my lifesaver after all.
Most of skin types can go for it, if your skin is flaking with dry, scaly patches, absolutely need to fulfill your skincare products with high moisturizing content prior to applying the sunscreen. The product seems not be able to solely hydrate skin for long time and it provides a poor protective barrier against external aggressors. My previous sunscreen has creamy base, perhaps I should stick with that choice. I might be a bit biased, but I’ve always adored physical sunscreens, which are formulated with Zinc oxide and Titanium Dioxide for broad-spectrum defence as well as anti-aging elements. Those are not absorbed into skin and safer.
Speaking of the sensitive skin, the product description mentions it’s suitable for delicate ones at the back of the box. Well, I don’t really ensure about this, girls! Its included synthetic fragrances, Parfum, Linalool, Limonene and Citronellol have been in “the blacklist”, notorious for aggravating sensitive skin. Furthermore, some of its chemical ingredients seem not friendly to fragile skin. So confused, but you can feel free to try it out, initially, test with a small amount on the jawline areas within a half of hour. Otherwise, in case of very sensitive skin, easily getting reddened, inflamed and flare-ups, like psoriasis and rosacea, I think this might be not your go-to.
Mature skin can try it as well, this skin type is more likely to be dry with dense aging signs. Definitely apply nutrient-rich moisturizers to fill in fine lines and wrinkles prior to the sunscreen, even though it’s claimed to have age-defying ingredients already. Don’t let your guard down!
3. Packaging
The fluid comes into a flat, lotion squeeze plastic tube. The tube looks clean and white with big black cap. It’s weightless and has a neat, handy shape, I bet this is my travelling size, the one I got here is 40 ml. The full size (60 ml) is a bit taller with the same design. The tube is very tough to withstand physical damage. When squeezing to take the sunscreen out, it’s prone to be back to its original form. The head is very small with big cap to prevent dirt, debris and pollution from sneaking inside and the fluid can’t spill out or smear around.
4. Rating 7/10
I think the product is fine with interesting ingredients and gentle hydration. However, the protection isn’t as good as I expected. I’m gonna give it 7 out of 10. This is my very personal opinions and I see many girls still find it amazing, so sad it doesn’t work for me.
Hope you find the review is helpful and informative enough about The Body Shop Skin Defence Multi-Protection Essence SPF 50 PA++++. If you have any questions or ideas, please be open with me. I’d love to hear you out. Thank you so much for joining me!
The post Review: The Body Shop – Skin Defence Multi-Protection Essence SPF 50 PA++++ appeared first on Punica Makeup.
