At the risk of being annoying, we’ve said it before and we’ll say it again (but you should already know it!): you should be wearing SPF all year long. Just because it’s not summer doesn’t mean the sun’s rays won’t find you and aren’t harmful. So if you’ll be spending any time exposed to UV rays, regardless of the time of year, we implore you to wear sunscreen.
That said, wearing sunscreen used to be much less pleasant than it is these days: the chemical formulas all smelled very…SPF-y. We won’t even get into the potential downsides to both our planet and personal health posed by chemical SPF. Mineral formulas, on the other hand, didn’t blend well and left unattractive streak marks all over our face (sometimes colorful streak marks; remember Zinka?) Both chemical and mineral sunscreens of old also felt very heavy, and we could swear they caused us to break out. So we can’t fault anyone who avoided daily sunscreen before.
But thankfully and luckily for us, SPF innovations have improved formulas by leaps and bounds, and there are now some amazing options on the market that both actually protect against UV rays and also blend seamlessly into the skin. Our current favorite is Le Prunier’s Plumscreen SPF 31. The award-winning formula combines broad-spectrum sun protection with the benefits of the brand’s incredible Plum Beauty Oil (if you haven’t tried this yet, it’s another must). Le Prunier’s patented Plum Superfruit Complex sinks into skin, defending against free radicals that can damage DNA and delivering UVA/UVB/HEV blue light protection. We love that the complex is derived from upcycled ingredients found on the brand founders’ family farm.
The laundry list of reasons we love this clean, safe sunscreen are many: reef safe, low zinc level, transparent application, dermatologist and pediatrician approved, fragrance free, blue light protective, allergy tested, hypoallergenic, vegan/cruelty free, and clinically tested.
In regards to that last point, in a consumer study, after just 14 days, participants reported seeing the following in their skin: 100% improvement in overall appearance, texture, and smoothness; 96.3% improvement in clarity; and 92.6% improvement in evenness.
We are wholly devoted to this skin-loving sunscreen that has become the last step in our daily morning skincare routine (though please note that the brand recommends re-application of Plumscreen every two hours).