The Ordinary Sun-cream

If you can’t tell by my previous blogs, I love The Ordinary. Their products have done wonders for my skin. So, when I read Glamour’s article about their new sun-cream line, I was over the moon. Straight after work I ran to the store, hoping they hadn’t sold out – as I was going away the next day, so it was get in, pick up the sun-cream and leave. Which is exactly what I did. The sun cream retails at £ and is packed in the standard size tube all the rest of the creams are, however it has a bronzy tint to it, tying in well with the bronzy glow we all associate summer with, love it.

Unfortunately, I don’t have as positive words to say about the actual product. I hate to write negative reviews, especially about brands I love, but I must be honest, I really didn’t like this product. At first, I was reluctant to believe I didn’t like it, I pushed through and carried on using it every day, I had to give it a chance, right? Evetime I used it, I tried to persuade myself that this would be the day it would surprise me, this will be the day I love it. However, that day never came. Before applying it, I did try it on my hand and did notice that it was very thick and left a slight white cast, but I wasn’t worried as I just assumed if I rubbed it in enough it would go away. I was wrong. When I applied the product to my face I found very difficult to rub in, it almost felt like it was tugging on my skin. Not only did it leave a white cast on my face, it had a pink tinge to it, I can’t say it was the best look! Other than the colour it left, it also left a strange film on my skin, it kind of felt like my skin couldn’t breathe under it.

I thought, there must be a reason this is happening, so I decided to do a little bit of research. The sun-cream contains Zinc oxide and Titanium dioxide which are two ingredients that physically block out UVB rays (the ones which cause DNA damage) and also block UVA rays (rays which damage collagen – causing wrinkles etc). These ingredients are the reason the white cast is left on the face, regardless of how vigorously you rub it in. The only way to avoid this is by using nanoparticles, however, as these are so damaging to the environment, The Ordinary decided to use microparticles – which explains why the cast remains.

Although the sun-cream doesn’t claim to be water resistant, it does not budge. I would be able to go into the pool and the white cast would still be there. One positive of this is that if you are in an environment where you are going to be sweating, the sun-cream does not run into your eyes and I tell you, when you get sun-cream in your eyes, it’s no joke!

However, this doesn’t mean that the SPF has held up as we don’t have the means to test that at the tip of our finger tips, so you must still reapply your sun-cream every two hours.

I do want to leave this review on a slightly positive note, the product has no fragrance which i believe is the reason my skin didn’t react badly to it as usually with sun-creams, they sting my face, especially after being in the sun for a while. It also didn’t leave a greasy feel on my face either.