Sunscreen rant/review, Kmart skincare no longer decent for the price
At this point I have two known ‘tolerable’ sunscreen options at the supermarket and they do go on special sometimes for half price, but I don’t love either. So I didn’t get them on sale today.
But because every other affordable option was packed with unnecessary crap that would make my skin react and they even put niacinimide in all the ‘gentle/basic’ options I previously would have gone to, I decided to try some cheaper Kmart options instead. (OXX face sunscreen, spf face lotion, and pump lotion.)
…Within seconds/minutes of patch testing the sunscreens I don’t trust them. They have a very strong sunscreen smell, kind of faintly stung on application and now the spot where I put the spf moisturiser is sensitised and itching. Sometimes cheap things can be perfectly serviceable and become a favourite but not here.
The products were OXX
SPF 50+ sunscreen (sensitive) - $3
SPF 50+ sunscreen face moisturiser (non-tinted) - $7
Daily moisturising lotion with ceramide - $5
I’m glad I didn’t go straight to applying these on my face. I’m also dubious about their knockoff of Cerave lotion which doesn’t feel great on the other inner elbow. I’ll keep patch testing to see if I come out in hives or not but these sunscreens are not better than the usual (which also can sometimes sting or produce a few hives).
TL;DR: You might be fine with OXX sunscreen but test it first on your arm and not your face. And I’m not sure how well they would live up to SPF ratings.
Usually I respond to expensive and/or bad options across the board by doing without but sunscreen is required. It’s the one thing I do regularly use.
I also forgot to stock up on my multivitamins while they were half price.