Are ‘sunscreen serums’ the future?
To keep your skin looking youthful, you need to be wearing sunscreen all year round. Sonia Haria discovers the best new ones to try
If there’s one piece of beauty advice that every dermatologist or aesthetician will wax lyrical about, it’s using sun protection every day. Not just in the summer months when the sun is shining, or while you’re under an umbrella on a beach holiday, but even on dreary cloudy days in the depths of British winter.
It was a topic that was widely discussed at the Telegraph Beauty School reader event last month. The skin specialist Dr Ewoma Ukeleghe, who spoke on our panel, said that apart from sun protection helping to protect your skin from cancer, using it is also the primary way to future-proof the look of your skin in the long run. A higher factor daily means fewer wrinkles and pigmentation for years to come.
No posh serum or expensive face cream is going to make one jot of difference if you don’t protect yourself from the sun. But here’s the rub. Think of sunscreen and you’ll probably conjure thoughts of a thick, gloopy cream that sits horribly under make-up. You might be able to put up with a greasy product that leaves a film on the skin when you’re in flip-flops and a sarong on the beach, but it’s not ideal in normal, everyday life.
Sadly it’s not enough just to rely on the sun protection in your foundation or powders, either, celebrity make-up artist Hannah Martin tells me. You often don’t use foundation in a thick layer all over the face, so if it says SPF30 on the packet, you’re unlikely to get that protection in reality. For an SPF to be effective, you need to use enough of it. Dr Ukeleghe suggests applying the product in a thick line down at least two fingers – which is the minimum you’ll need for a full face.
That’s a lot of gloopiness. But thankfully if there’s one field in skincare that has seen the greatest innovation in the past five years, it’s suncare. Brands such as Murad, Vichy and La Roche-Posay have developed such brilliant textures in their formulas that a high protection feels more like a silky, lightweight serum. The new Correct and Protect Serum Broad Spectrum SPF45 by Murad (£68, murad.co.uk) is one of the best new products I’ve tried this year. It sits beautifully on the skin, sinks in straight away and leaves not a hint of that ashy cast that can occur with some sun creams.
Another favourite for sun protection is the Australian cult suncare brand Ultra Violette, which you can buy from Space NK. The range has something for everyone in terms of texture. The best in the range in my opinion is Queen Screen, a lightweight SPF50 that dispenses like a serum through a glass pipette (£36, spacenk.com).
I frequently recommend La RochePosay, which has mastered the “sunscreen serum” texture in its best-selling Anthelios fluid, which also comes in a superb tinted formula. If you prefer a two-in-one moisturiser with a richer texture, the brand’s Anthelios Age Correct is brilliant: it packs a punch with a SPF50, but also contains ingredients to combat pre-existing pigmentation on the skin (£18.75, boots.com). There are so many other brilliant ones, too, at every price point.
For a full run-through of your summer skincare routine, head to youtube.com/ thetelegraphlive to watch our Telegraph Beauty School panel