Korean sunscreens have gotten really popular because they're so lightweight
and comfortable to wear today I'm going to be talking about my favourite in each category
I'm michelle of lab muffin beauty science chemistry
PhD cosmetic chemist and sunscreen trier-onner
I try a lot of sunscreens and most of you are going into summer around now so today I'm going
to be talking about my favourite Korean chemical physical hybrid lightweight and stick sunscreens
all of these are stocked by StyleKorean which is
today's video sponsor they have tons of popular Korean products
Korean sunscreens are known for being very lightweight commuter sort of sunscreens for
everyday wear they feel really nice they sit nicely under makeup they're
generally not designed for really sweaty exercise swimming at the beach wet t-shirt competitions
note that all of these are Korean sunscreens they aren't necessarily
approved as sunscreens in other countries like the US and australia
let's start with my favourite sunscreen from my favourite sunscreen category chemical
sunscreens my favourite is the beauty of joseon relief sun rice and probiotic
I don't think this is any sort of surprise the moment I tried this
it pretty much immediately became my favourite chemical sunscreen
it has these four chemical filters which are all the newer ones well I say newer but they've been
around since the early 2000s they are larger and they're less likely to absorb through skin
kolmar has been making a whole bunch of sunscreens for lots of Korean brands
based around the same core formula and they're all pretty much bangers
I think that's what the kids are saying
my skin is between normal and oily and it's really prone to
dehydration this has the perfect amount of emolliency it's really moisturizing
it's really I want to say nourishing but you can't really nourish your skin with
a moisturizer but I think you know what I mean
it just sort of makes me feel like I am feeding my skin and it is just the right
amount it has a really nice balance of both moisturizing oils and humectants
so it adds both oil and water to my skin without getting really sticky or greasy
it seems to work really well for a lot of people not just me and it is really easy
to apply the right amount of this which on my skin is two-thirds of a quarter teaspoon when
I'm putting it on it doesn't feel like I'm just like moving liquid around on
my face and that does tend to happen with a lot of lightweight sunscreens
it just feels like a cream gel moisturizer and it glides on
really really nice and smoothly some people have mentioned that they find
this a bit shiny but I think that really depends on your skin for me
it looks really glowy especially under makeup it doesn't look you know that's
sort of like too shiny greasy that sometimes happens with sunscreens
I usually wear it under makeup with a really light layer of starch powder on top it's also
hydrating enough on my skin alone under makeup so I don't need to have like a
hydrating toner or anything and it stays really nice and even throughout the day
on my skin there isn't any white cast but I have heard that the
mbbt does show up a little white on darker skin
there's no fragrance or alcohol in this if those are issues for you all
of the sunscreens in this family do have niacinamide and adenosine which are used
as brightening and anti-wrinkle ingredients in lots of functional Korean cosmetics this
one also has rice extracts which are good for hydration and sensitive skin
within that same sort of sunscreen family there's also the skin1004 hyalu cica water fit sun serum
this is pretty much the lightest version in that family some people do find that the beauty
of joseon sunscreen is a bit heavy on their skin but I actually kind of prefer that maybe
because my skin has been quite dry lately because I've been using lots of retinoids
this one dries down to feel like almost nothing it's still really
hydrating but you just don't have that much of a skin feel
it's great if you want something super lightweight if you have sensory issues
your skin is more on the oily side or in hot and humid weather
it's slightly dewy and it comes in this really nice flat pump top
tube which is handy for tucking into your handbag
in terms of the other active skincare ingredients
it's got a whole bunch of plant extracts including centella and hyaluronic acid
onto mineral sunscreens these are also called physical or inorganic sunscreens
they use zinc oxide or titanium dioxide as the main sun protective ingredients
they can be really useful if you're allergic to say
a common chemical sunscreen active or if you're looking for a really matte finish
a lot of the time they will look a little bit white if you apply the right amount which can
be a good thing because on some people's skin it has a sort of subtle evening out
effect like a tinted moisturizer but on my skin it tends to look a bit weird
I generally don't have a lot of luck with mineral sunscreens but people do always ask
me for my recommendations so this one the benton skin fit mineral sun cream is my favourite so far
I was actually pretty surprised by how nicely this applied on my skin the white cast was a bit
scary when I first put it on but on my skin it mostly went away after about 10 minutes
it was pretty surprising there were a couple of little white patches left
which I could easily just blend in it was really easy to apply the right amount of
this and there was a little bit of settling of that whiteness into my
eyelids but I have pretty oily eyelids so I wasn't really surprised by that
this uses zinc oxide along with butyloctyl salicylate which is
an SPF booster so you can sort of count this as a hybrid sunscreen
it has a minty herbal smell I think the reason I like this so much for a mineral sunscreen is
that it's got a more dewy slidy sort of finish than most mineral sunscreens which kind of
feel a bit like a thin clay mask or maybe like wood glue and that sort of dry texture makes it
really difficult to blend out any white patches if it starts bunching up in the middle of the day
but because this is so gliding and slidey it made that really easy
I did find that this did settle a little bit into my pores after a few hours not
as much as other mineral sunscreens though and I think that if I used a more hydrating
toner underneath and I had makeup on top it would be a lot less noticeable
onto my favourite combination or hybrid sunscreen yes hopefully you
can tell that I've actually been trying lots of mineral sunscreens lately to try
to get recommendations my favourite is the jumiso waterfull hyaluronic acid sunscreen
combination or hybrid sunscreen is the third category of sunscreen and
these sit in between chemical and physical
they have a mixture of both chemical and physical
sunscreen actives and in terms of features they're kind of in between
there's this misconception that having a combination sunscreen will give you
higher protection than just a chemical or just a physical sunscreen but that
is a myth the final protection that you get is just given by the SPF on the label
but there are a lot of aesthetic differences between the different types of sunscreen
that might influence which one is best for your particular situation
this one is actually a surprise favourite it's got a bunch of
newer chemical sunscreen filters that less people tend to have reactions to plus it
has titanium dioxide that's a physical or a better word would be inorganic sunscreen
filter that has much stronger uv absorbance properties than zinc oxide so you tend to
get a lot less in sunscreens which means that it makes the texture a lot lighter
so this is a really good option if you're allergic to some of the older
chemical sunscreen filters or organic filters it has less white cast than a
lot of mineral sunscreens and it's lighter in texture as well and also a lot less drying
I've been super impressed by the sunscreen because it's really lightweight it's
probably even more lightweight than my usual chemical sunscreens it was so comfortable on
my skin once that I forgot I was wearing it and I almost put on a second sunscreen
finally my favourite sunscreen stick it is the tocobo cotton soft sun stick I've
talked about sticks a bit recently they're not really good as your main sunscreen
but they are fantastic for reapplication when you don't need a full reapplication
for example if you've been in the office all day and you haven't really been sweating or
moving around too much most of the sunscreen that you applied in the morning will still be on your
face but maybe that layer isn't as complete anymore maybe there's just a few cracks in it
sticks are really good for this sort of situation because you can actually apply
them over makeup without too much smudging they're also really small to fit into your
handbag you don't have to carry around like a tube of sunscreen and a sponge
I've also found sticks really useful for situations where I would probably just
skip putting on sunscreen number one is for the backs of my hands I'm always a bit scared
of having sunscreen on my fingers because a lot of sunscreen ingredients can break
down plastic so I always wash my hands before touching the keyboard or driving
but then to get the sunscreen on the backs of my hands I'd have to
get the tube and just like carefully dispense it and then kind of rub my
hands together and try to get into all the bits and that's just a lot of coordination
that I don't have especially if I'm in a rush which happens a lot of the time
the few times I've tried to do this in a rush it's just like splashed and
gotten everywhere and it's just a pain so sunscreen sticks are fantastic for that
also sometimes I'll get dressed and then realize that my chest is open and I haven't put sunscreen
on it but then it's kind of hard to apply the sunscreen without it getting onto your clothes
if you're using a lotion and then possibly that stains and it's just a bit of a mess and you'll
just in this situation where you have gap between your sunscreen and your clothes but
if you had less of a gap then you would have dirty clothes and sometimes that kind of risks you know
having to take off your clothes and change to a new outfit so it is again just a lot of stuff
and again the sunscreen stick is fantastic for that because it is
just so much neater and requires less coordination
they're also really good for putting on around your eyes if you have like a
sunscreen that you want to use up but it stings too much if you get it too close
so this is my favourite sunscreen stick that I've tried it glides on really smoothly it
has this matte silky finish that works really well on my skin it's also a chemical sunscreen
so there's no white cast it does have a moderately strong cotton scent that
to me smells like laundry or clean shower gel from when I was a kid I don't know how
better to explain that but I really like that smell it's really nostalgic for me
I also really like the shape of the stick it's big enough that you can get it on really quickly
but it's also narrow enough that you can get it into like around your nose pretty easily
so that is a roundup of my favourites so far let me know what you thought of
these if you've tried them or if there's other Korean sunscreens that you think I should try
like and subscribe and follow and more sunscreen videos should be
popping up around me if you want to nerd out more