I hate wearing sunscreen.
I’m prone to overheating, and that extra layer on my skin irritates me, body and soul.
I’ve tried many face sunscreens over the years, and my sensitive skin turns on almost all of them after a while.
But I live in Los Angeles, and daily sunscreen is a must. So I decided to try a sunscreen that makes a seductive, if dubious, promise: It claims to stay on and protect better, not worse, when you sweat.
Shiseido’s Ultimate Sun Protector Lotion is not exactly new (in fact, its older SPF 50+ iteration is discontinued). But the company launched a new SPF 60+ formula earlier this year that claims to work better after 30 minutes of sweat exposure.
To see if I could feel a difference between this sweat-thirsty formula and other tried-and-true face sunscreens that we recommend, I took Shiseido Ultimate Sun Protector Lotion SPF 60+, Supergoop Unseen Sunscreen SPF 40, and Supergoop Play Everyday Lotion SPF 50 to the beach, two national parks, and a theme park.
I also consulted two cosmetic chemists and a dermatologist, as well as Wirecutter’s resident face sunscreen expert, senior staff writer Caira Blackwell.
My conclusion: While its claims are intriguing, in practice, the Shiseido sunscreen doesn’t seem all that different from other invisible sunscreens.
