About two months ago, I bought this sunscreen in Japan because I was going to the beach for a 7 day vacation. I normally wouldn't have defected from my beloved
Laneige sunscreen and
sunscreen powder, but then I rationalized that since I was in Japan and Laneige products were hard to come by there, and the Sofina Perfect UV line has such a wonderful rating, why not? In fact, I had been dying to find some excuse to try the Sofina Perfect UV Lucent, but couldn't find any till now :P
Anyway, a little brief about the Sofina Perfect UV lineup. This line has actually existed for about five years, and they changed the name of the line about two to three years ago to Perfect UV. The line has three products, all of which has SPF 50 PA+++:
1. Sofina Perfect UV Lucent--supposedly the most original sunscreen in the line
2. Sofina Perfect UV Nuance Up--the sunscreen is supposed to provide a makeup effect besides providing the sunscreen abilities
3. Sofina Perfect UV White Protect--this sunscreen should provide whitening effects and offer the maximum protection. It was said to fade freckles and be very water proof.
The former two products were discontinued last summer, leaving only the White Protect. I was not sure whether I would have chosen the Lucent or the White Protect if they had both been available, since minimalist and maximum protection both sounded extremely appealing to me.
However, I tried out all three at the counter, and am glad to say that I would have picked the White Protect anyway. :) In this article, I will mainly review the White Protect, and very briefly review the other two sunscreens since all three are very similar, with only slight differences.
All three sunscreens are of a milky and runny texture, which was hard to get used to at first. However, I gradually adjusted to the texture and grew to like it very much. The SA told me that for this sunscreen, I have to apply at least 3/4 of a teaspoon for my face, which she said is approximately the amount you get by putting a dot with a 2cm diameter on the back of your hand. Even though it may seem a lot, the runny texture of the sunscreen makes it very easy to apply that much, without looking horrifying. The below review is of the White Protect sunscreen.
Pros:
1. Very natural looking and very light. Does not feel as if I have anything on.
2. Smoothing abilities: The sunscreen has a very high silicone content, which makes it perfect as a primer. It smoothes out my skin, and make it look very nice.
3. Oil-control: This has the best oil-control I have ever seen in a sunscreen. I didn't get much oil on my T-zone until I took this off. I actually carried out the ultimate oil-control test on my skin. I rubbed my Son Bahyu Horse Oil on the back of my hand in very large amounts so that my hand looks very shiny and a little greasy. Then I applied this sunscreen on top. For five minutes, my hand had a rather expected muddy feeling. However, by the tenth minute, all the oils were absorbed by the sunscreen, and my hand looked very smooth and did not feel greasy or muddy at all. 4. Very water resistant. I went swimming with it for 4 days, and today, I even cried on it (since my hubby is leaving today), and nothing came off.
5. Very good sun protection factor for both UVA and UVB rays: SPF 50 PA+++
Cons:
1. Gives a slight white case: this is not really noticeable on me since I already have very fair skin. However, on my coworker, her face looked white compared to her neck after applying the requisite 3/4 teaspoon. It looked a natural white nonetheless, just weird contrasting with her neck.
2. Not very moisturizing/a little drying: I would not really say this is drying for me since I never felt dry with it as long as I put moisturizer underneath. However, I know a lot of people who would like to skip moisturizer if they are putting on sunscreen, and this sunscreen would definitely feel drying on you that way. I don't really consider it a con because I think that a sunscreen cannot have good oil control and at the same time be moisturizing unless it uses heavy waxes like mineral oil to seal in the moisture, and that would be comedogenic.
3. Hard to remove: this thing seems to only come off with makeup removers like cleansing oils or hardcore makeup removing gels. This is in a way a good thing since it stays on during the day. However, it is also bad for those who hate heavy makeup removers.
Neutral:
Whitening effect: I cannot really see any whitening effect on me or lightening of freckles (since I do not have any, luckily), so I cannot comment on that. However, it has not really faded my hyperpigmentation marks that I got from using Benzoyl Peroxide.
Overall: Really great sunscreen that may replace my staple. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a high protection sunscreen, who isn't allergic to silicones or hate cleansing oils.
Sofina Perfect UV Lucent: This sunscreen is very similar to the White Protect sunscreen except that it doesn't have whitening properties. The sales assistant told me that the water proofing ability is also slightly less. I've noticed that it also has a white cast, but may be slightly less noticeable than the White Protect.
Sofina Perfect UV Nuance Up: This sunscreen is supposed to contain some pigments so that it evens out your skintone. I think this has a light medium coverage like a tinted moisturizer. Otherwise, it is very similar to the White Protect.
Happy New Year, everyone!
