Sun protection game-changer
Centred on sun protection, a new skincare brand has SPF in every product it rolls out, writes Syida Lizta Amirul Ihsan
ANEW skincare brand is changing the SPF game in a big way. Centred on sun protection, everything Supergoop! rolls out has SPF, whether it is lip balm, body oil or face serum. In fact, it is so big on SPF that its daily use sunscreen comes in an easy-to-use 500ml pump dispenser. I imagine placing it on a wall-suspended dish by the door, used by everyone who’s going out of the house.
Over the board? Founder Holly E. Thaggard doesn’t think so.
Thaggard came to the city a few months ago to mark the arrival of the brand here (in Sephora stores) and told me how a friend’s diagnosis of skin cancer piqued her interest in sun protection which eventually gave birth to this label.
“A dermatologist taught me that it was daily exposure - starting as a young child - that was the culprit, and I immediately thought about children playing in the playground with no sunscreen. Yet we don’t use adequate sunscreen,” she says.
Tennis star Maria Sharapova co-owns the label. She found out about it while looking for a good sunscreen for her tennis tournaments.
Most seem to melt and when sweat drips into the eyes, vision is compromised. That’s not something a champion tennis player can take lightly. So she uses its sunscreen - which she bought at Sephora and buys a chunk of the brand.
STICKY MESS
“A lot of people don’t like using SPF because it’s thick and messy, not to mention the white residue it leaves when you sweat. I want to change all that. I want SPF to feel just like your usual skincare products,” she says.
The Supergoop! Lip Balm has an impressive SPF 50. It’s colourless, Thaggard says, so you can just swipe sun protection over your favourite lip colour. Then there’s the Sun-Defying Sunscreen Oil, a brilliant concoction of SPF in oil form to use before you head out.
Its serum sunscreen comes with Vitamins E and B5 for extra protection in a polluted environment and of course, SPF 30. There’s also a mousse - yes, that’s right — made with avocado oil so it’s not sticky.
“We want to go where no SPF has gone before, and to do it with the most clean, ingredient-conscious formulas out there. We want to take away all the reasons you’d say no, and for it to be a healthy habit that we all start from a young age,” she says.
Asian customers, she says, are more conscientious about putting on sunscreen, so she’s happy that Supergoop! is available in a region where customers understand the importance of sun protection.
“Asian women are savvy about sunscreen. It’s the Western market that needs more education. Perhaps because it’s not hot all year round so people think they are protected when they are not,” she says.
For me, the idea of a multi-textural and multi-functional sunscreen is a great tool to get people to get used to putting on sunscreen.
Gone are the days when sunscreen was the thickest goo that you lathered on last before you walked out into the sun.
With Supergoop!, the potions blend seamlessly, leaving the thick texture behind, and focusing only on protection from the sun’s scorching rays.