SheerZinc FACE Dry-Touch SPF 50

3 Reviews

1. 

   yearningBoa2

   Reply

   Great formulation with a high content of zinc oxide in it. It is as sheer as non-nano mineral formulations can be. It feels adequately dry on the body but it remains sticky on the face all day.

   Even though a mineral sunscreen, it does break me out. By end of day, I always notice a lot of red spots and small red papules that go away in a day or two without using the sunscreen.

   Get something more refined for face. It is really not good for the face but excellent on a drugstore level for body.

2. 

   betrayedGranola2

   Reply

   I’ve had other Neutrogena products with less impressive SPF protection. (An older formulation of the Pure & Free Baby stuff had less than 5 percent — each — of zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, that I think has now been remedied for better protection.)

   I’m not a fan of chemical sunscreens. In lip products they tend to make my mouth feel a bit numb and irritated, and in face products I tend to break out more, so I prefer a physical blocker. This one with 21.6 zinc oxide as the main active says it offers an SPF of 50. I suspect it’s a bit lower than that number, but I do think it offers good protection in excess of 30 SPF, which is what I want.

   It is a thick formula that looks a lot like Elmer’s glue, right out of the tube. (It doesn’t feel like it, though. It feels surprisingly light once you start rubbing it in.) It leaves a whitish cast on the skin if you don’t blend it in very well. But when I do blend it, it is pretty invisible on my light skin. It feels heavy-ish at first but not as heavy as other products I’ve tried, like last year’s Pure & Free Baby sunscreen.) It has a faint scent, not quite perfumey, but it’s something that I can’t quite put my finger on. It makes me think of chrysanthemums the most, however, or something flower-shop-ish. It’s subtle, though, and I don’t notice it unless I were to lift my hand an inch away from my nose, which isn’t part of my plan anyways.

   Even though there’s a formula for the face, I still use this on my face. It does leave a more noticeable whitish cast there, but I tend to mix it with a bit of foundation or some other tinted sunscreen (like the redness reliever from Cetaphil) and it works well, almost like a primer due to its thicker consistency.

3. 

   dreadfulApricots6

   Reply

   I really wanted to love this sunscreen since there aren’t many all zinc formulas on the US drugstore market, and the idea of it being sheer = cosmetically elegant. Unfortunately though, Neutrogena missed the mark.

   SheerZinc is just like all the other drugstore sunscreens in the US. It’s thick, stark white, greasy, and doesn’t look good under make up. I am NC10… you shouldn’t be able to see whitecast on me. Yet even after some thorough blending and foundation on top, you could still see white blotches of sunscreen. It made my foundation look horrendous because it started to separate. Within an hour I was left with a layer of oil breaking through.

   I could not get this to fully dry down to begin with. If you are oily or acne-prone, beware. Your mileage may vary.