The following review is for the Cetaphil Sheer Mineral Face Liquid Sunscreen SPF 50. Following a long overdue visit to a dermatologist, I have been on a recent skincare journey to take better care of my skin. Years of working outdoors with a fair redheaded complexion and only marginal use of sunscreen have taken their toll. I always applied sunscreen in the morning and generally have worn a hat while working outdoors but would fail to re-apply over the course of the day as applying sunscreen over dirty sweaty skin is uncomfortable to say the least. My dermatologist recommended I start using a retinoid over the long term to reverse some of my skin damage. I had used a retinol for years, but last winter suffered serious skin barrier damage as my skin has become drier than it used to be now that I am in my early 50's and winters where I live are long and harsh. I didn't realize at the time my attempts to exfoliate all the peeling red aggravated skin were just exacerbating the issue and causing further damage to my skin barrier. After months of battling peeling angry skin, I finally quit using retinol and quit over exfoliating, allowing my skin barrier to finally heal. So when my derm recommended I start using a retinoid, I was hesitant as I knew if I wasn't careful I could end up with red peeling angry skin again. I also knew if I started using a retinoid, I was going to have to be very vigilant with my sunscreen regime. I researched how to ease into using a retinoid and have slowly been increasing the number of days of use over the last few months. I also dramatically simplified the rest of my skincare routine while going through this adjustment an upped my sunscreen game by changing to a mineral sunscreen with a higher SPF and by being more diligent in re-application over the course of the day. The hunt for the best facial sunscreen has been long. And frankly expensive. I discovered the hard way that my retinoid treated rosacea prone skin does NOT like chemical sunscreen AT ALL. So out went the first sunscreen choice which was a $50 bottle of NEOVA Smart Skincare Facial Sunscreen Everyday Facial Fluid that had seemed so promising. It not only went on with no white cast, but had antioxidants and claimed to repair previous DNA damage. It went on very nice, but as soon as I was in the sun for longer than a few minutes, my skin started to burn like from a chemical burn and my entire face turned bright red. Not a good look and also very aggravating to my rosacea. From here began the search for the ideal mineral sunscreen. First was Elta MD tinted, which seemed to pop up on a lot of derm recommended mineral sunscreen lists. Definitely no white cast due to the tint, and went on nice, but it also felt heavy on the skin and the tint is just wrong for my skin tone. I look like I applied orange self tanner or something. Yuck. Another waste of almost $40. Next was CeraVe hydrating mineral sunscreen, not horribly expensive at $15, but it left a very heavy white cast and was really hard to rub in. I will admit to not choosing the sunscreen specific to the face as it wasn't available at my local pharmacy (I live in a small one pharmacy town), and I have not tried their face sunscreen recently. I used the one specific for the face in the past though, and I recall it being just like the body version - hard to rub in and a heavy white cast. When I used CeraVe I just had to resign myself to looking ghostly but protected. When I work outdoors I mostly work by myself, so don't really care if I have white cast on my face, neck, and arms as long as I am protected...but it was so hard to rub in, felt like a layer of goo on my skin, and also seemed to attract even more dirt. Mix that with sweat and just YUCK. It also stung my eyes when I would sweat. Not pleasant. So onward to something else. Next was Aveeno Baby Continuous Protection sensitive skin SPF 50 as now I was trying to get something that also wouldn't sting my eyes when I sweat. Not too expensive at $10, and no stinging, but like the CeraVe, hard to rub in (this one even harder than the CeraVe) and still really strong white cast. I can't imagine trying to rub this stuff into a babies tender skin. It's the consistency of glue. And not really specific to the face, so I guess that is my own fault. But I hate even using this stuff on my arms because it's so hard to apply. It's also VERY hard to remove as it's waterproof and sweatproof and trying to get it OFF my face became almost harder than getting it on, further aggravating my retinoid sensitized skin. Same is true for when I used it on my arms, but that skin isn't nearly as thin and isn't being subjected to retinoid so I can scrub harder to get it off. But still, really hard to remove. Moving on and at this point having spent over $100 on sunscreen I can't or don't want to use. *sigh* And I know finding a sunscreen you WANT to use is just as important as finding one effective for you and your skin. At this point I am getting desperate as staying indoors is not an option with my work (I am a field biologist) and sunscreen is critical when using a retinoid on the face. I am contemplating an umbrella at this point, as even my largest hat is only so effective, but also seriously impractical with my work. Even my hat gets in the way at times. So next I tried both this Cetaphil Sheer Mineral Face SPF 50 and La Roche-Posay Anthelios Mineral Ultra Light SPF 50. I got both non tinted (though I don't think Cetaphil has a tinted version as of yet) as the Elta MD made me leery of tinted mineral sunscreens. I will be honest, after reading reviews I really thought the La Roche-Posay was going to be the winner, but after using both I find myself going to the Cetaphil more often. In the photos, the La Roche-Posay is on the left, Cetaphil on the right. These are taken on my forearm, which is about the same shade as my face (though minus the rosacea red in places) which is fair/freckled and with a fading suntan I am trying to get rid of by being more diligent with sunscreen. The La Roche-Posay has a little bit more of a matte finish and feel, which I don't necessarily like with my drier skin. That is not to say the Cetaphil is greasy. It isn't. It's just a bit creamier and seems to agree with my drier skin more. Both have a thin consistency which is easy to rub into the face without a lot of effort. The Cetaphil is a bit creamier while the La Roche-Posay slightly more liquid feeling. Both rub in with only the faintest of white cast being visible close up (think magnifying mirror) but unnoticeable from a normal distance. I would guess that under make-up it wouldn't be at all noticeable, but I don't wear make-up when working outdoors or in general, so I can't say. Neither of them have stung my eyes when I sweat, and I do apply to my eye lid area. They don't feel really heavy on my skin and don't seem to attract dirt, so that is a bonus too. Really, both of them work great. I just find myself reaching for the Cetaphil way more than I do the La Roche-Posay. And considering the Cetaphil is $20 cheaper for the same size bottle, I can't say I am unhappy with this being my face sunscreen of choice. After I finish using up both bottles, the Cetaphil will be the one I will continue to purchase.
