Found in Issue No. 283
The Ultimate SPF Guide For Summer 2024
- Words By
- Caroline Ferry
- Edited By
- Laura Fantacci & Petro Stofberg
Best For A Vitamin C Boost
Vitamin C is a skincare mainstay, not just because it brightens – a powerful antioxidant, it also helps supercharge your sunscreen to help prevent premature ageing. This is our favourite Vitamin-C booster formula for sun protection that brightens, firms and hydrates, too.
Best For Body
A spray is absolutely essential for quick and easy application – whether you’re at the beach or commuting in the sun. It also makes sure you’re protecting those harder-to-reach places with ease. Sun Bum’s brilliant sunscreen is water-resistant for up to 80 minutes, which takes the stress out of swimming.
Best Under Make-Up
Australians do sun protection really well. Designed specifically to work with make-up, we love this weightless, non-greasy formula from Mecca Cosmetica. Wear it over your moisturiser for a matte finish that primes the skin perfectly.
Best For Lips
The thin skin on our lips is vulnerable to both dehydration and UV damage in the summer months. This clever balm from Beauty Pie protects from both.
Best Tinted Formula
There isn’t a variation of this iconic sunscreen that we don’t love. This tinted SPF offers reliable, high protection while giving skin an instant, healthy glow. Just the easy, breezy mood we’re channelling this summer.
Best For Photo-Ageing Prevention
We’re big fans of multitasking formulas, especially if it saves us from unnecessary skincare steps. This brilliant face sunscreen gives broad spectrum (UVA and UVB) protection and helps the skin trigger its natural repair response to stop sun damage in its tracks.
Best Sun-Protection Drops
A truly innovative formula from Miranda Kerr’s natural skincare brand. Mineral sun protection is delivered not in a thick cream or spray, but in a hydrating, serum-like formula that can simply be dropped onto the skin.
Best Mineral Sunscreen
A lightly tinted, milky sunscreen, Summer Fridays’ shade drops use a mineral filter, which acts as a physical shield between the skin and sun. Mineral sunscreens are particularly compatible with easily irritated and sensitive skin types, in particular rosacea-prone skin.
Best For A Matte Finish
Oily and combination skin types can find this time of year particularly gruelling, especially when trying to be diligent about sun protection. We love Supergoop’s matte sunscreen because it’s specifically formulated with non-comedogenic ingredients that won’t clog pores and leaves the skin mattified and entirely shine-free.
Best For Kids
There are two elements that we love about this Heliocare sunscreen. First, it’s the easy-to-apply stick. If you’ve ever startled a toddler with a cold spray of sunscreen, you’ll appreciate an alternative mode of application. They’ll even love applying it themselves – and there’s no fear of spillage. Second, this has been formulated specifically for children, whose skin barrier is more delicate than ours and can’t tolerate the same active ingredients.