La Roche-Posay Anthelios 50 Tinted Mineral Ultra Fluid Sunscreen

I just started using this, specifically for tinting my too - white mineral sunscreens (currently Neutrogena Pure & Free Liquid SPF 50). This La Roche Posay sunscreen is too expensive for me as a stand-alone since I apply a generous amount of sunscreen daily (this is $30-35 for 1.7 oz). It's a bit too dark for my skin anyway, so I was happy to try it as a tint.

WHY TINT MINERAL SUNSCREENS?
I tend to favor mineral sunscreens over physical ones one my face because the latter tend to break me out and irritate my eyes. The one big issue I can't get around with mineral sunscreens, though, is the ghostly bluish-white cast they leave on my light, olive-toned skin.

APPLICATION:
I've been fiddling around with the amount of the La Roche Tinted that I use. Too much of this liquidity sunscreen and my face looks too greasy. But if I add just a few drops into my mineral sunscreen and mix it in my hand, it turns into a beige tone, and the end result is MUCH more natural-looking vs the untinted sunscreen alone. It does tend to increase the drying time by a few minutes.

VALUE:
Since I'm only using this as a tint I'm expecting it to last at least till fall if not further. I suppose I could achieve the same thing at a much lower cost if I used a few drops of darker foundation, but it's very hard to find broad-spectrum foundations, on top of which, they tend to be thicker than this.

FINISH:
I don't use foundation normally, just sunscreen and a bit of undereye concealer. I ocassionally use bb creams (by skin79) . The effect of this tinted sunscreen mixed with plain white mineral sunscreen is a bit like putting bb cream on (it has a brightening, slightly smoothing effect), only the finish is less elegant, less diffuse. Mineral sunscreens tend to be a bit gritty, and this is no exception. I don't have much of a problem, as it smooths a bit out after application.

EFFICACY:
I am assuming since both of the mineral sunscreens I'm using have the same SPF, that mixing them won't affect the active sun protection. But if you know different, please let me know... :-)

BUYING TIPS:
You can occasionally find this $30 to $35 1.7 oz sunscreen on sale for about $23 to $25. I got mine for $25 on sale at Amazon (seems to go on sale once in a while- it was less than $20 a few weeks ago, then back to regular price, then back on sale for $25 last week). I also saw it on sale on Rite Aid and CVS websites in the $24 range. (Rite aid's website changed the price after i added it to my basket due to some glitch with the mobile version, and I had a terrible customer service experience trying to get them to understand that, so I won't be shopping there again).
7/26/18

I am on my second bottle. This is the only facial sunscreen I've found that doesn't irritate my (admittedly sensitive) skin. The tint may be too dark on very pale skin. It blends pretty well, but you may feel nervous about it appearing orange when it first comes out of the bottle. The tint turns out just right for my skin. When I wear this, I can skip the BB cream or foundation which makes it a great summer option. The only down side is the texture. The texture can feel gritty and annoying to spread. Once it's on, I honestly forget it's on my face!

I really struggle with finding a sunscreen that doesn't break me out. I find la roche sunscreens surprisingly don't cause me any breakouts. I bought this on sale for $26 (regular 35), so it is a bit pricey but when it's on sale it's not bad. The tint is actually quite subtle and blends in great. Very easy to apply and sinks in very quickly. Will continue to repurchase unless anything changes.

Hated everything about this sunscreen. The formula is is a brownish tint and feels heavy on my combination skin.Made me feel like I was wearing a mask. Left my face super shiny looking. Caused massive breakouts. Switched back to Cerave spf 50.

I used the non-tinted version of this for a year or so. It was fine, but then it became sold out wherever I bought it from the next year (I usually buy sunscreen once a year) so I got the tinted version. For some reason it totally turned me off of this product. It seems very dry and I have very dry skin. And I could not stand getting the tint on my hand. I am almost cringing when I think about putting it on. I have moved on!

I'd gone through a few bottles of this and liked that it didn't give me a white cast like so many mineral sunscreens. However, I no longer buy it after the last two bottles I bought had a weird gritty, sand-like texture. It was like rubbing exfoliator on my face. La Roche Posay customer service acknowledged the problem but said it didn't affect the effectiveness of the sunscreen (it kind of does if I can't put it on) and didn't replace it. Given the price I'm not gambling with getting a good bottle and I'm looking for another product instead.

Sadly, another sunscreen that doesn't work for me. I started by wearing it every few days off and on, because I've had bad experiences with sunscreens causing reactions. It seemed okay, then I wore it daily for a week and developed a really bad rash on one side of my face. I got the same rash when I was wearing the Tarte bb primer, which used to be fine and causes a rash. I don't know if it was this for sure, but it's the only thing that changed in my routine, and hasn't happened again since I returned it. Also it's pricy, and watery and on my oily skin I couldn't wear it alone, needed to wear under oil control fdtn or with powder.

After a dermatologic procedure, my doctor had recommended that I use a mineral sunscreen until my skin healed. I tried a few others, but ended up with the dreaded chalky ghost-like look until I tried LRP Anthelios TINTED sunscreen. I'm really glad that I discovered this!

My first impressions: it smelled a bit like dirt, and the color was way darker than any TM or foundation that I use (I'm NW15 for reference). When I applied it, it took a bit of blending to get it to look natural, but once it was blended, it was very natural looking--it even covered some of my flaws as well as a foundation. After a few hours, I looked in the mirror and was surprised how good my skin looked--it looked even and flawless. I was floored.

As far as the effectiveness of the sunscreen goes, I know this has gotten some rave reviews, and I can personally attest to not having been sunburned while wearing it. I'm not great about reapplying (to be totally honest), but I like that this is a physical sunscreen and I can tell it's there by how great my skin looks.

Why is this a 4/5 instead of a 5/5? Well, if you don't blend it well it sits on your skin and leaves an orange-ish cast, and it still smells like dirt. It will also transfer pretty easily, so be careful when wearing it with light colored clothing. That said, I took this on vacation instead of foundation and was very pleased with it. I'm on my second bottle and have every intention of repurchasing this when I run out.

This product unfortunately broke me out across my t-zone. Stuck with it for 3 months and then reverted to my Neostrata SPF 50 and the spots went away. I liked this as it was much sheerer and has a warmer tint to the Neostrata however it didn't work for my skin type that is sensitive and prone to small breakouts (I always have at least one active spot on my face). It also irritated my eyes and I personally didn't like the faint smell of alcohol when I applied it. Very blendable and can imagine this would be the perfect spf for someone else though!

So I've always had a problem with sunscreen. I generally hate the way the traditional kinds feel, I hate the smell of something (is it avobenzone?) that always seems to be in them, and I hate the way my sensitive skin reacts to them. Then when I started using mineral sunscreens, I found that they just whitened up my skin too much. My skin isn't even dark, but the white opacity of so many of them leaves me looking ghastly. And not in a good way. Plus the waxy bases that a lot of the water-resistant natural brands have wound up actually trapping the heat in my skin or something and I wound up with terrible heat exhaustion. (My friend probably should have taken me to the hospital now that I think back on the situation).
Anyway, this looked promising, and indeed there is much I love about it! For starters, the tint is just right. I seriously compared it to my foundation and the difference was that this looked a little bit more olive-toned, so HALLELUJAH! I've found that a lot of tinted products skew more orange or peach which ends up looking fake and weird.
The texture is good and light, and it doesn't make me feel like I have a bunch of greasy crap on my face. There is a slight grittiness I notice now and then as I massage it in, and since I'm on the first bottle I don't know if that is normal or if there's something off with mine. But it doesn't smell weird or irritate my skin.
The non-irritating-ness of this is my favorite part! It doesn't irritate my skin in any way, and my skin is incredibly irritable. It doesn't irritate my sensitive snowflake nostrils, and almost EVERYTHING irritates my sensitive snowflake nostrils. And it doesn't irritate my eyeballs when I see myself in the mirror because the effect is that it's just invisible, but evens things out a tad on no-makeup days.

My biggest complaint is this: it is really hard to remove! It's a double-edged sword, of course, because its sheer persistence on skin is what makes it useful for, say, a day at the waterpark. But every night when I wash my face I have to go through several steps to get it off. And according to my googles this doesn't seem to be something a lot of people are noticing or commenting on.

My normal face wash, the Cerave hydrating whatever whatever, doesn't touch it.

It comes off with micellar water, if I go through enough cloths or cotton pads or whatever. But that brings me several steps closer to needing to do laundry or take out the trash or buy new cotton pads and I'm also not really keen on doing that much MESSING with my face.

It comes off with oils if I scrub the oil off with a microfiber cloth. This is the same problem as above. I don't want to be doing so much physical abrasion of my sensitive and ever-older facial skin.

I went mad-science on it, and mixed up a cleansing oil (10% Polysorbate 80 + 90% carrier oil--I used fractionated coconut because I had it lying around) because, under normal circumstances, that will dissolve the oil-soluble things and then rinse away with water. Nope! (It worked fine if i wore makeup and no sunscreen though, but not wearing sunscreen is FORBIDDEN).

I bought the bullet at bought a cleansing oil at Ulta because I thought, hey, professionally formulated products sometimes work better! It did not! This sunscreen makes rinse-off products NOT RINSE OFF.

I don't want to have to use a harsher facewash to just detergent this mess away, because, again, my skin is irritable. It's even more irritable than I am, and I have to leave the room if I think someone is chewing a little too much.

So there it is. It feels good. It doesn't cause heat exhaustion. It probably prevents skin cancer. And it's a good thing it matches my skin because it will never come off.