A few weeks ago, I mentioned in this review that I had possibly found my favourite, everyday indoor sunscreen. I’d been mulling over buying this for weeks and weeks. There aren’t many reviews of this online, so I just kind shrugged and went ‘for the blog!’ and ordered it. I don’t regret it one bit.
Store: This eBay seller here, who ships from Japan. It took about two weeks to arrive to me in the UK.
Cost: £13.93 including free shipping.
Amount: 160g, which is a LOT compared to the 50ml that other facial sunscreens I’ve tried normally come in. But this is assuming 1g = 1ml.
Cost per 100g: £8.70, which makes it more cost-effective than all the sunscreens in this round-up post. The cheapest one in that post, the Biore Watery Essence, has a cost per ml almost double! (My wallet is happy… for now eheh.)
Packaging
This comes in a pump bottle! There are other sunscreen products that come in large pump bottles but this is the first of those I have tried. It also comes in a smaller bottle without a pump. It’s pretty solid and sturdy, and also comes with a cap cover making it suitable for travel too, although this will mostly be living on my desk.
Below I have compared the size to the Biore Watery Essence (50ml) and as you can see, it’s deceptively small but fatter.
Product claims (with the help of Google Translate):
- Protects from severe UV rays
- Can be used everyday
- Is suitable as a makeup base
- Suitable for leisure activities
The packaging then elaborates on these points in some more detail including things like ‘water-light texture that isn’t heavy’, ‘no white residue’, ‘non-drying’ and ‘easily removed with cleanser’. It also contains hyalauronic acid and lots of plant extracts.
As far as I know, this isn’t waterproof, so I wouldn’t use it for sports and strenuous activities. Otherwise, I think the product meets its claims.
Ingredients
For these I am gonna link you to Ratzilla Cosme’s product page on the sunscreen.
The CosDNA analysis is here. You may be concerned with butylene glycol, cetearyl alcohol, or methyl paraben in this sunscreen. Please check the ingredients list if you have any other known sensitivities.
This has mostly chemical sunscreen ingredients and a tiny amount of the physical titanium dioxide.
This is the 2016 formulation of the product and is SPF50+ PA++++.
Note: I’ll be comparing it to the Biore UV Watery Essence a lot just because it’s so popular and it’s very much a bog standard amongst Asian sunscreens and its the one other Japanese sunscreen most people are likely to have tried. On the other hand, I could only find two reviews online for this sunscreen!
Texture and finish:
This has an initially very dewy finish that takes a minute or so to settle down to slightly more matte. It also has a slight chemical scent but it is nowhere near as strong as that of the Biore Watery Essence – I had to hold my hand up to my nose before I realised there was a smell, unlike Biore which you can smell as soon as it leaves the bottle.
It is white in colour, leaves a very slight cast upon initial application but after it dries properly there is no cast at all. It has a slight cooling texture. It’s got a watery gel texture that does run a little, and it’s not thick at all. If you’ve never tried a sunscreen like this before (watery, from Japan) it can be best described as lotiony. The kind of lotion feeling you never realised was possible in a sunscreen. It’s life-changing (haha).
As an added note, my makeup worked absolutely fine on top, as if I weren’t wearing any sunscreen whatsoever.
Personal comments:
I was looking for a sunscreen to replace the Biore Watery Essence. I know in my sunscreen round up I said I wouldn’t repurchase it as it wasn’t the best choice for long wear/oil control on oily skin types, however I realised that I enjoyed it as a simple indoor sunscreen. For an indoor sunscreen it doesn’t have to be matte or waterproof, just something that is enjoyable to use so I won’t hesitate to reach for it every day. It is also lightweight and comfortable on my neck so I won’t shy away from using it there too.
For whatever reason if you want a long-wearing outdoors sunscreen, look elsewhere.
If you have tried and happened to like the Biore Watery Essence, chances are that you’ll like this as I find them to be pretty similar. I think this is a fantastic, more affordable alternative, and I can imagine myself repurchasing this once it runs out – which hopefully won’t be for quite a while with this bottle size!
If you know of any more underrated sunscreens, let me know. This one definitely needs more love.
I hope you found this helpful. Thanks for reading!
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Twenty Swans 
Nice write up and blog! I used this sunscreen while in Japan and was perusing the web to try and find more when I stumbled upon your post.
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