Review: Neutrogena Sheer Zinc Face Mineral Sunscreen SPF 50

Here’s another sunscreen that I used earlier on this year! It’s Neutrogena Sheer Zinc Face Mineral Sunscreen SPF 50! I was searching for a sunscreen that was a physical sunscreen and stumbled upon this one. This sunscreen contains 21.6% Zinc Oxide. It says it’s a gentle formula that protects the skin against UVB and UVA rays. Good for sensitive skin, fragrance-free, paraben-free, phthalates-free, hypoallergenic, non-comedogenic, oil-free, won’t sting eyes, water-resistant (80 minutes), and doesn’t contain irritating chemicals. It’s specifically formulated for the face. Contains antioxidants and layers invisibly underneath makeup. Easy to apply with a lightweight, non-greasy finish. The product claims sound really good. Neutrogena Sheer Zinc Face Mineral Sunscreen SPF 50 had really good reviews too. I thought I would give it a try to see if it works or not. Here’s my experience with this sunscreen!

My experience

This sunscreen is very thick. It looks and feels like a thick, white paste. Goopy in texture. Neutrogena claims that this product is easy to apply to the skin. It’s far from the truth. It was very difficult to apply. The sunscreen just doesn’t blend into the skin. It was so hard to move it across the facial skin. Patting it into the skin didn’t work too well either. It took so much time to apply this sunscreen in the morning. What a waste of time! So, the application wasn’t pleasant. The product is labeled sheer, but it’s definitely not sheer at all. lol. It left a horrible white cast on my face. At first, it wasn’t a big issue, since I’m not that tan, but it became very annoying since I didn’t like the whiteness that it left behind on my face. I wanted something that blends into my skin and looks natural on my skin. This sunscreen didn’t give me that. It was just a terrible sunscreen.

The first day of using this sunscreen was mostly disastrous, but there were a few pros to this sunscreen. It left my skin matte and less oily. Since I have oily skin, this was a good thing. It also helped dry up some pimples. I didn’t get any breakouts on the first day. The next day, I had issues with it. The product pilled under my eyes. It dried out my skin. My skin felt extremely dry. I noticed dry patches on my chin. After I removed the sunscreen thoroughly (cleansing oil, micellar water, face wash with facial brush), I noticed closed comedones on my forehead, chin, and on the sides of my face. They left marks behind too. So let’s take a look at what’s in this sunscreen…

It’s pretty heavy in silicones and some wax. It contains some antioxidants. It’s nothing out of the ordinary or special. I’m not too fond with the ingredients, especially the silicones. I can use products with a little bit of silicone, but this product was just too dense and heavy on the skin. It felt like the sunscreen just sat on my skin and trapped sebum within my pores, which can lead to breakouts! And it did! It makes a really good makeup primer though! My makeup went on silky smooth, and my skin looked smoother. But it’s not worth it. It clogs my pores! I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone with acne skin.

Pros & Cons

✅ Pros

• Contain 21.6% Zinc Oxide
• Affordable
• Works as a makeup primer

❌ Cons

• White cast. Looks like a mask, lol.
• Too thick in texture
• It’s not easy to apply
• Tugs at the skin when applying
• Feels like silicones
• Breakouts
• Dries the skin out
• Pills

Conclusion

I didn’t like this sunscreen. It’s way too thick, pore-clogging, too many silicones. There’s absolutely nothing special about the antioxidants in this product. It’s so overhyped because it contains zinc oxide to protect the skin from UVA and UVB rays. There are other sunscreens that do the same without making the skin look terrible. This was just a horrible sunscreen. I wouldn’t recommend it. Save your money.

Go here for more reviews on Neutrogena skin care products

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Review: Coppertone Defend & Care Clear Zinc 50

At the beginning of this summer, I picked up Coppertone Defend & Care Clear Zinc 50 for my body. I was searching for a physical sunscreen for my body, but this was close enough, lol. It’s not a completely physical sunscreen but mixed. It has a combination of physical and chemical filters (Octinoxate 7.5%, Octisalate 4.5%, Zinc Oxide 9.7%). Good enough, I guess. haha. My body isn’t too picky like my face. So the product is called Clear Zinc. I’m assuming the sunscreen should go on clear and not leave a white cast behind. We’ll see about that! It’s water resistant (80 minutes). It doesn’t contain any dyes, PABA, and Oxybenzone. It looks like a basic sunscreen that can be used on beach days. It comes in a 6 fl. oz. bottle. If this was used on the face, I would consider this a good amount of product. On the body, not so much. I’ve seen larger bottles of sunscreen for the body. But let’s try it out! Here’s my experience with Coppertone Defend & Care Clear Zinc 50! ☀

My experience

This sunscreen goes all the way back to the beginning of this summer. I’ve had it for a while now. Here are my thoughts on it. The product is a gel-cream. It looks like a cream but feels like a gel. It’s gloopy when dispensed from the bottle. I started using this sunscreen on my body first. It feels like a typical sunscreen lotion when applied to the skin. Nothing really stands out about it. I did noticed that the sunscreen tends to leave a slight white cast on my skin. From my experience with this sunscreen, I don’t think it would work on skin that’s tan or darker. I didn’t like it myself even though I’m not tan. I prefer sunscreens that blend into my natural skin tone. With the white cast, it tends to settle into fine lines and creases. Also, it transfers white stains onto clothes, other fabrics, and surfaces as well. This sunscreen isn’t moisturizing, so if you have dry skin, it’ll accentuate the dryness even more. I think it’s just the zinc doing that, lol. The reason why I tend to shy away from mineral-based sunscreens most of the time. They are, in general, drying on the skin. This sunscreen also has a plastic smell to it. It smells like a bunch of chemicals. I didn’t like it. Well, let’s see how it goes for my face. I decided to try it out anyways. It might work better. I can only hope! Read on…

I wasn’t too impressed with the sunscreen on my body, but I decided to try it on my face, since it contained SPF 50. I wanted a higher SPF at that time. I gave it a go regardless of my experience with the sunscreen on my body. haha. Applying the sunscreen to my facial skin was more challenging. The sunscreen is best applied in droplets. When too much is applied to the skin at once, it gets really messy and doesn’t absorb into the skin properly. My face ends up being white due to the white cast it leaves behind. On the face, the product moves around a lot. It’s streaky. It’s hard to tell if I’m applying an even application. Reapplication is just terrible too. The product would just build up and leave a horrible white cast behind on the skin every time I reapply the sunscreen. It looked like I was wearing a mask. It also accentuated dry patches on my skin. The product would settle in places, such as my eyebrows. It turned them white! It eventually dried out my skin so bad in the end making fine lines and wrinkles look more prominent. Also, the smell of the product gave me headaches. I can’t imagine having this product on my face daily. It smells so awful. The strong fumes irritated my eyes. They became so teary and red. And yes, this sunscreen broke me out. I developed closed comedones. It was pretty scary. Another product that sits on top of my skin and clogs my pores. There’s just too many of them!

After this experience, it looks like this sunscreen is better off used as a body sunscreen. But I really wanted it to work on my face! It’s SPF 50 with zinc and comes in a 6 fl. oz. bottle. It would’ve been awesome if it did! But, nope, it didn’t work. Now let’s look at the ingredient list real quick! Just at a glance, it contains beeswax. My skin hates that stuff, but I had to try it out anyways. Next time, I won’t. It’s an ingredient that I am going to stay away from. Well! The rest of the sunscreen goes on my body. Never on my face ever again!

This is what Coppertone Defend & Care Zinc 50 looks like! Just your typical beach sunscreen.

Pros & Cons

✅ Pros

• Contains SPF 50 (Octinoxate 7.5%, Octisalate 4.5%, Zinc Oxide 9.7%)
• Comes in a 6 fl. oz. bottle
• Affordable
• Water-resistant (80 minutes)
• Doesn’t contain dyes, PABA, Oxybenzone

❌ Cons

• Dries the skin out
• Strong fumes
• Burns the eyes
• Leaves a white cast behind
• Clogs pores (closed comedones!!)

Conclusion

Another big bottle of sunscreen that didn’t work on my face, but my body does ok with it. It irritated my facial skin terribly. It dried out my skin, left a white cast behind (looked like I was wearing a mask!!), burned my eyes, and made fine lines and wrinkles more prominent. Also, I developed closed comedones while using this product. Yuck! It’s a decent sunscreen for the body. Just not for the face. But it’s not for me. I didn’t like it at all. The smell of this product is such a huge turn off. I can’t put up with it. It gave me bad headaches. And I read so many good reviews on it. All lies! I won’t purchase again. Moving on and on to the next best thing!

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