This is a new product from the Cancer Council of Australia. They now have three facial sunscreeens, two chemical (one with tint and one without) and now this with 20% micronised zinc oxide. The full name of the product is Day Wear Light Feel Face Sunscreen Plus Clear Zinc, a bit of a mouthful.
The Good - This is without a doubt the lightest zinc oxide sunscreen I have ever come across. It is easy to apply, stays put fairly well and it is fairly easy to remove at the end of the day. There is virtually no white cast.
The Bad - it does tend to sweat off in hot weather. When you sweat you will notice some whiteness on the skin where it runs. You really cannot wear this if you perspire heavily. On the package it does say that this product is not water resistant, but it comes off too easily with perspiration for me to feel comfortable with its level of protection. There appear to be no added antioxidants on any skin conditioning ingredients, which is a pity because the two chemical facial sunscreens have added aloe vera gel and vitamin e.
The Ugly - It stinks!!! It has a very strong fake chemical citrusy smell that lasts for a good 2-3 hours. This has me really pissed off because the other Cancer Council physical sunscreens have virtually no smell, so why does this one absolutely stink? I have emailed the Cancer Council about this but not heard back from them so far.
Overall verdict - if you can put up with the smell this is an excellent product. I suggest using it with a light dusting of mineral foundation on top as this will minimise sweating and the white cast that it gets when you sweat heavily. If you perspire really heavily, just blot and carry a pressed powder mineral foundation with you to touch up any areas where it might have sweated off. Even though it is fairly easy to remove, please do remove it with an oil based cleanser and face cloth at the end of the day. Otherwise you're just asking for blocked pores and breakouts. Cost is $16.95 for a 75 ml tube which makes it around the same price as Olay SPF 30. The Chemist Warehouse has it for about $13.95 instead.
Edit - The Cancer Council finally got back to me regarding the fragrance level. It has 2% fragrance which is more than twice as much as their other two facial sunscreens. The tinted one has just under 1% fragrance, and the untinted one contains 0.4% fragrance. Very very disappointing that this has such a high fragrance level. While I understand that fragranced products sell better than unfragranced this is still a ridiculous amount of fragrance to use just to try and disguise the slightly metallic, chalky smell of the zinc oxide. It is highly unlikely that I will rebuy this simply because of the fragrance level, and if I do, I will probably mix it 50/50 with the Cancer Councils Toddler sunblock which contains only titanium dioxide (and no added fragrance). Zinc oxide covers a wider range of the uva/uvb spectrum and I really want the benefits of some zinc oxide but just not the fragrance that accompanies this product.