“Just buy the cheapest one” Mr C said.
Ok, he didn’t say this. I did. Regarding Sun Cream.
A visit to home bargains, £15 lighter and 3 bottles of Calypso sun cream and after sun later, we thought we’d got a bargain.
Don’t get me wrong – Calypso no doubt is a great budget brand and other people have told me good things about the range. But for me and Mr C, we both broke out badly after using it, and it was so stingy!
Thankfully I also had a selection of La Roche Posay Sun Creams with me.
They say:
La Roche-Posay skincare products are non-comedogenic and contain purified ingredients. They are Roche-Posay Pharmaceutical Laboratory aim to maximize product tolerance, offer UV protection and limit secondary effects (irritative, allergic or infectious).
Each La Roche-Posay product is formulated with water from the La Roche-Posay warm springs.
I used 3 products:
I definitely think the La Roche-Posay products are brilliant for sensitive skin – I experienced far less irritation with these products then with other sun protection creams.
I tried:
La Roche Posay SPF 50 Melt In Cream - Ensure very high protection for your facial skin with the La Roche-Posay Anthelios XL SPF50+ Melt-in Cream. (£12.75)
La Roche Posay Extreme Fluid SPF 50 - Ensure very high lightweight protection for your normal to combination facial skin with the La Roche-Posay Anthelios XL SPF50+ Fluide Extreme. (£14).
La Roche Posay Matte Extreme Fluid SPF 30 – For oily or acne prone skin. Anti shine action and dry touch.
It was super super super hot in Greece so there were a few considerations I had for the sun cream – it had to be ok with out sensitive skin, offer high protection, and not look or feel greasy on the skin.
The La Roche Posay products were excellent. Sometimes it’s hard to distinguish a good sun cream from a ‘bad’ or even average one because essentially it primarily has a job to do (a bit like paracetemol!) so unless you have a skin concern (like with me, sensitive skin) you can probably pick up any brand you like.
Another impressive thing about the La Roche Posay sun creams is that they are light on the skin despite being a high SPF. In the old days, the higher the SPF the greasier the formula would be. All of these sunk in quite well (for some reason they settled more on Mr C’s skin than mine making him look slightly more white!) and didn’t feel greasy.
There was one day that I forgot to put sun cream on (we were on a day trip and I meant to put it on whilst on the coach and I just forgot) and I was sweating and very red during the day. When I remembered, I put cream on but it made me realise that these formulas (especially the fluids) seem to suppress sweat and oil. They also tone down redness and absolutely protect from the sun.
Durability – I know these sun creams can be expensive, especially if you have a few people to slather in it! Me and Mr C didn’t sun bathe at all although we wandered around the pool and things, so applied this throughout the day. The fluids are very long lasting. The Cream disappeared in about 4 days but this is the 2 of us using it all over, not just the face.
The Cream was the best formula for us at first as we both had dry skin but the fluid SPF 50 sunk in the quickest and i preferred this on my body. The matte extreme fluid was good but settled on the surface of the skin more than the other two but might be good as an every day sunscreen.
Verdict:
Invest in a sun cream! I won’t use cheap stuff again, it’s not worth it for the rashes me and Mr C had to recover from!
*The Roche Posay sun products were sent to me via Escentual to try, see their range here.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve heard about La Roche Posay from Lisaeldrige’s videos, since I’m a fan… I never thought they’d be this good. awesome review!
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I have tried the SPF 50 Fluid, but I did not really like it. It made my skin more oily, maybe due to the alcohol content, and was quite whitening for my already uberpale skin.
The Melt In Cream sounds interesting though, I think I’ll ask a sample from the pharmacy.
It’s true that LRP sunscreens give a very good UVA-protection!
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They are “beach” face sunscreens. They look very obvious on my face (bad white cast and shiny). I am not a fan…
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