Wearing Sunscreen With Your Makeup

Summer time, and the livings easy!

At least it is for us, but don’t forget about your biggest organ. Your skin! Our skin never seems to get a break. It’s either dry or cracked in the winter or getting blasted by ultra-violet rays in the summer. Add that to makeup and skin care products and there isn’t a moments rest for our skin, particularly on our faces which are exposed to the elements the most. This summer take care to still look great while protecting your skin from lasting UV damage. Here are some tips that I’ve found helpful for combining sunscreen and makeup for the best results.

Makeup Doesn’t Count!

Before the real tips I just want to point out a common fallacy that many of us girls choose to believe for convenience sake. Make up doesn’t count as a sun protector! Sure, your skin is covered up but unless it is specifically designed to incorporate SPF protection the makeup will do next to nothing to protect your skin from the sun. Even if the makeup claims to have SPF protection odds are that you need to apply much, much more than you’d ever normally wear to get the benefits.

Start with Sunscreen

If foundation is the base for your makeup, then sunscreen should be the bedrock. If you didn’t already know, sunscreen offers diminishing returns past a certain SPF. Some claim 45, others 50, and I’ve heard 30 is the magic number as it blocks 97% of UV rays while 50 only blocks 98%. I personally stay around 20-30 SPF in the summer depending on my skin tone and strength of sun. Find a sunscreen that fits with your skin type – there are plenty of options

Best practice is to start with a generous amount of sunscreen applied to your cheeks, forehead, nose, chin, ears, and neck. I like to use a dime sized dollop for my forehead and nose, another for my cheeks and chin, and yet another for my neck and ears. Be sure to rub in the sunscreen completely and dab away any excess with a cloth and let your skin soak in the sunscreen for about ten minutes.

Letting it soak may sound unnecessary, but this helps your skin get the most benefit from the sunscreen and your makeup will apply better since there won’t be as much oily sunscreen on the surface of your skin.

Apply your makeup as you normally would. Sunscreen with titanium dioxide or zinc oxide may make you look like you just saw a ghost, so be aware of that and adjust your makeup accordingly to get to your natural skin tone.

Less Than an Ounce of Prevention

It doesn’t take much sunscreen to significantly protect your skin and even lower your risk of skin cancer, so start implementing this easy step into your daily summer routine. Remember to reapply sunscreen throughout the day, especially if you’re going to be outside for extended periods of time. For reapplication I like to use a face lotion with SPF protection if I don’t have time to redo all of my makeup.

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About the author:

Selina Torres is a self-diagnosed beauty product addict but she doesn’t like to harm her skin. When she’s not trying to match her ever changing skin tone she writes with
Glisten, a beauty product supplier.
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