Catching Rays

I have the kind of skin that almost never tans.  I'm either pasty white or lobster red and it doesn't take long to go from one to the other.  I had a few too many painful sunburns as a kid, back before I started taking sunscreen more seriously.  I used Bullfrog Sunblock for a long time, among other strong sun protection, but the problems I ran into were my own laziness (you have to reapply every two hours!), the gels that my oily skin didn't completely reject were often kind of sticky and the creams I eventually decided to stick with are fine for general skin protection, but irritate the skin on my face and neck.  


My skincare quest this season is to find the perfect sunscreen for my oily but sensitive skin that won't come right off the moment I step through my front door (and through a curtain of humidity that makes me feel like I've just been through a squall).  I've done some research and here's what I've found:


For the best protection from sunburns (and worse), look for broad spectrum suncreens (those that block both UVB and UVA rays).  The good news is that the FDA has some new regulations to make sure that anything labeled "broad spectrum" will actually be such (imagine that).  The bad news is that, though it's supposed to be official by mid-June, the final date for compliance isn't until December 17th, 2012.  Which means that we're all still responsible for figuring out the labels they put on those bottles.  Here are some of the top rated sunscreens from Sephora.com, Soap.com and those I've come across in various magazines.


I like the idea of continuous sprays, but Health Magazine recommends applying two coats, which makes it a lot less convenient.  If a spray is what you want, they like Aveeno Hydrosport Sunscreen Spray SPF 30 and Coppertone Sport Pro Series Continuous Spray.


For all skin types:
Banana Boat Ultra Defense Broad Spectrum SPF 50
Avene High Protection Mineral Cream SPF 50

For oily skin:
Shiseido Suncare Urban Environment Oil-Free UV Protector SPF 42
Alba Botanica SunBlock SPF 45, Water Resistant
Clarins UV Plus HP Day Screen SPF 40


For sensitive skin:
MD SolarSciences Mineral Screen Lotion SPF 40
La Roche-Posay Anthelios 50 Mineral Ultra Light Sunscreen Fluid


For travel:
Clinique Sun SPF 45 Targeted Protection Stick
Supergoop SPF 30+ Sunstick
BareMinerals SPF 30 Natural Sunscreen (powder)
Shady Day Daily SPF 30 Wipes


In your makeup:
Stila Sheer Color Tinted Moisturizer SPF 20
Clarins UV Plus HP Day Screen High Protection Tint SPF 40
Bare Escentuals bareMinerals SPF 15 Foundation


For lips (with a little color):
Fresh Sugar Tinted Lip Treatment SPF 15
Clinique Long Last Glosswear SPF 15
Tarte 24/7 Natural Lip Sheer SPF 15
Benefit BeneTint Lip Balm SPF 15


For hair:
Bumble and Bumble Color Minded UV Protective Styling Balm
Alterna Bamboo Color Care UV+ Fade-Proof Fluide
Fekkai After Sun Daily Mask

If you have a Consumer Reports subscription, check out their Sunscreen Buying Guide.

CapFABB

The Thinnest Skin now has the honor of being a member of CapFABB (Capital Area Fashion and Beauty Bloggers).  CapFABB is an organization/community for DC area bloggers, like me, to get to know each other, get support, meet up and possibly collaborate.  I don't claim to know much about fashion, but I really look forward to working with these amazing people and getting to know more about beauty blogging (since most of the people reading this know me, y'all know that I'm a whore for beauty products - I don't say that enough on here, do I?).

I also have to thank the truly lovely Kristine Thomas of Dewdrop who hasn't seen me in about eight years, but upon reconnecting via email, immediately set me up for success in the DC area.  I am really excited for Dewdrop's next clothing swap, which I will be attending in Bethesda on June 30th (expect a post about it that weekend!).  If you live in (or will be visiting) the DC Metro Area, you can get tickets here.  These clothing swaps sound amazing and I'm really looking forward to seeing how everything works.  What I do know is that you bring some fashionable clothing of your own to swap out for new-to-you items and from the last swap's pictures, it looks like there are a lot of great options.

Thank you Kristine and CapFABB!

A Balm for All Our Woes

I discovered BB Creams at Sephora several months ago by accident.  I had been looking for a good tinted moisturizer with some sun protection, but I couldn't find anything that was just right.  When I saw the Boscia B.B. Cream with SPF 27, I was immediately pulled in...by the packaging.  There were only four brands (Dr. Jart had two of them) at Sephora with a BB or "beauty balm" product at the time:

I ended up with the Clinique Age Defense Bb Cream SPF 30 because it had everything I wanted.  A tinted moisturizer, primer and sunscreen in one (also advertised as antiaging, natural looking and lightweight).  It was fairly mattifying during the winter, but the moment Virginia heated up I had to add powder.  Still, I never liked wearing foundation on my once-oily, sensitive skin but this stuff doesn't feel heavy or like it has to be scraped off at the end of the day.  I have started to mix it with a light moisturizer to apply it, but all the other BB Creams at that time were much thicker.  Having a look around now, I see that there are quite a few more of these creams out there.  Even the Wall Street Journal is writing about them.

BB Creams were first popular in Korea (their popularity spread through Asia, then came to the U.S.) where the BB stood for "blemish balm."  Skinfood (see the two pictured above by them) is a line my friend Nikki started using in Korea and highly recommends.  They have since been restyled as "beauty balms," which makes more sense, as these aren't just to cover the occasional spot.  This type of product may still need to be combined with a moisturizer, a stronger sunscreen or foundation (depending on your skin and what look you're going for), but if you want to minimize your routine (making it cheaper or quicker or, even better, both) this is the product for you.  I went from "cocktailing" four products to just two.  I also have to use very little of the Clinique BB Cream mixed with my regular moisturizer every day, so my first tube has already lasted me several months.

Here are a few from the slightly pricy to incredibly pricy:

And here are a few from the under $20 range:

If you want to know more, Refinery 29 has a great article that can be found here.

LUSH Reintroduction

Anyone who reads The Thinnest Skin has no doubt figured out by now that I am a fan of LUSH.  So I almost hesitated to write this post.  But then I thought, I know all the people who read this blog...I should totally write this for them.  So if you haven't already noticed that LUSH has made some changes to their website (at least the US one), here are a few new features that I'm excited about.

Unlike Jodi, whom you may remember from my last (mostly) LUSH post, I have never been particularly patient with the internet.  Where she will go onto the LUSH forums and find out about new products, I will just pin them on Pinterest whenever I happen to notice, which is usually when they're not new anymore.  Of course, this all has to change because I am now a part of social media.  Heavens to Betsy.  Now that I've gone over to the Dark Side, I was ecstatic to see that LUSH has a new Social Sign In feature.  You can sign in with your Google, Facebook or Twitter account instead of creating a whole new profile, meaning you don't have to create and remember yet another username and password.  I chose to sign in with Facebook, so that I could enjoy all the other new features.  And the first one I'm going to enjoy is the new Social Feed feature (look for the Get Social box on the bottom left side of your screen), so that I can see what all of you are reviewing and/or buying.  Which, by the way, is something you can now do from your phone, thanks to the Mobile Site feature.

Another social media feature they've added is Share.  As with on all the LostGirls sites (when you see Share It), you can click on an item of your liking and send it to Facebook, Twitter, via email or (my favorite part) to one of your boards on Pinterest.  Can you guess which one makes me happiest?  There was a time, not so long ago, when pinning anything from the LUSH website was hit or miss.  Now it's built-in.  All my pinning dreams have come true.

I was also excited about the new Gift Registry and Wishlist features.  Will I use them?  Well, my birthday is coming up...  In any case, I did go a bit crazy today and added every item I've ever loved, as well as a few new ones I want to try, to my Wishlist.  You can check them out here:  http://j.mp/J7KCqw.

If you haven't quite heard enough about LUSH after this post, you can go onto their site and read their Articles.  Not only can you read their Tips and Tricks, but there is a whole Behind the Scenes section.  LUSH is big on educating their customers and their articles are about more than just beauty and pretty, smelly products.  If you want a quick reference of their ingredients, you can also check out the LUSHOPEDIA.

Last, but not least, I'm lovin' the Multiple Category Views feature.  I'm persnickety and like to be able to view things in multiple ways and, yes, I did just put a link to each type of "view" in each of those words you see underlined in the first sentence of this paragraph, since you're asking.

If you are already a LUSH fan, I hope this post helps you find new and interesting ways to love your LUSH.  If you are not yet a LUSH fan, I hope this convinces you to give it a try.  I'm going to go apply Lemony Flutter to my hands, then walk around my house with them pressed to my face so I can smell it everywhere I go.