If You Try One Thing This June...

I still remember the '80’s summer heat back in my native country when my mother tried to make me and my sister stand still for two seconds just smother us with some gloopy oil that had SPF 5. She probably gave up most of the time because we just could not be bothered, we were too busy playing, exploring, soaking in the sun, swimming in the Danube.

Fast forward 30 odd years and you would not catch me dead without a minimum SPF30, even if I am inside all day. How the world has changed and SPF technology with it!

There is a sun cream for your every need whether you want it for your face, body, whether you like it rich or light, mineral or physical, fragranced, unfragranced, tinted or not.

Over the decade I have spent in the beauty industry I have tried and tested many SPF creams with different results until I arrived at Beauty Secrets and started using Dermaquest SheerZinc. I was happy to test it since, in my view, sunscreen is one of the best things you can do for your skin and I never finish a treatment without recommending one.

The Firm Favourite

SheerZinc is the firm staff and client favourite, so let me share my thoughts on it with you in case you need a decent sun cream in your skincare arsenal.

What it is: SheerZinc is a physical and mineral sunscreen available in clear and tinted versions.

Who it is for: The clear formula is suitable for lighter skin tones, and if your skin has is darker in tone then I would recommend to use the tinted versions, other than that they are great for all skin types, even sensitive, oily and acne-prone too.

The Dermaquest Claim: SheerZinc is a soothing and healing SPF that will protect all skin types, including sensitive and acne prone skin. It is also suitable to be used post-treatment to give instant SPF protection without adding any moisture to the skin.

Ingredients

I will add the full ingredient list below, but I would highlight the three most important key ingredients:

Zinc oxide is known as one of the safest physical and mineral sunscreen ingredients, it is capable of protecting the skin from UV rays but it is a lot more than just a sunscreen. This ingredient also comes with huge benefits and is hailed as an all-around skin protector. It helps to protect cells from being damaged, aids tissue repair, fights inflammation and helps to prevent bacterial infection, helping to prevent the signs of ageing, sensitivity, irritation even acne.

Elix-IRTM is a natural botanical extract of knotgrass, rich in flavonoids capable of fighting ageing. This breakthrough technology has been found to be useful against photoaging and it is a great addition to classic UV protection and sun care products. Elix-IR helps to inhibit the skin’s inflammatory response, improves firmness and elasticity while protecting dermal proteins from damage due to solar exposure, smoking and normal ageing.

Renovage TM (Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride and Treprenone) provides anti-ageing and protective effects against stress, by telomere (the caps at the end of each strand of DNA that protect our chromosomes ) stabilization and DNA maintenance (cell division). It provides improvement of tissue quality by optimal cell interactions (cell communication), and rebalance of cell functions (metabolism). In simple terms it repairs loss of firmness and elasticity, it moisturises and refines skin texture, evens skin tone by fading redness and age spots.

(Water (Aqua), Cyclopentasiloxane, Butylene Glycol, Glycerin, Glyceryl Stearate, PEG-100 Stearate, Cyclohexasiloxane, Polyglyceryl- 3 Polydimethylsiloxyethyl Dimethicone, Sorbitan Stearate, Dimethicone, Imperata Cylindrica Root Extract, Triethoxysilylethyl Polydimethylsiloxyethyl Hexyl Dimethicone, Cetyl Alcohol, Lecithin, Tocopherol, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Ascorbic Acid, Citric Acid, Tocopheryl Linoleate/Oleate, Teprenone, Caprylic/ Capric Triglyceride, Phoenix Dactylifera (Date) Fruit Extract, Polygonum Aviculare Extract, Sodium Lactate, Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate, Arabidopsis Thaliana Extract, Plankton Extract, Micrococcus Lysate, Polyacrylamide, C13- 14 Isoparaffin, Laureth-7, Xanthan Gum, PEG-8, Carbomer, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Hexylene Glycol, Disodium EDTA)

Application Tips

How to use: I always say to my clients, make sunscreen your day cream all year round especially when SheerZinc is so easy to use. If you have dry skin like I do, use a nourishing cream first, wait a couple of minutes and apply a generous amount of SheerZinc to your face and neck area. If you have oily skin or you are out and about on a hot summer day, just go in straight with SheerZinc after cleansing. Don't forget to reapply if you spend a lot of time outside in the sun.

Make sure you cleanse thoroughly with a cream or balm cleanser at the end of the day. Sunscreens are designed to stay on the skin for a long time so it all must come off in order for your nighttime products to work properly.

Ever since I have been working at Beauty Secrets I always have one tube of SheerZinc on the go. It lived up to the hype and Dermaquest's claims, and I highly recommend it to all of my clients. It's a great everyday sunscreen and it works well under makeup. The texture is light, not sticky, easy to apply and easy to wear. If you prefer your look 'au-naturale' or you are on a beach holiday, try the tinted versions, they are perfect to even out your skin tone without feeling overly made up, plus you can enjoy all the skin-protecting benefits!

Whenever you have a treatment with us you will most certainly not walk out Beauty Secrets without our therapists applying SheerZinc as a finishing touch!

Shop here: Sheerzinc tinted

Author: Judit, Senior Therapist