YET MORE SUNBLOCK ON MY BACK, PLEASE
(BOHOL vacation, Part Two)


Continuing our tradition of road-testing sunscreen lotions for the greater good of mankind, we pooled together all the sunblocks we brought along to Bohol, as you will see from the pic below:





We had a remarkably good batch this beach outing, since all the 5 sunblocks were easy to disperse into the skin and didn't have any 'oily' feeling.

1. Hawaiian Tropic Sun Junk SPF 45 (Tropical Fusion)

The packaging was unique, to say the least. It reminded me of the odor repellant i used in my car, which sadly, did not repel any odor. Haha. I thought this sunblock was spray-on (i.e. you just point the nozzle to the body part, and start firing away); turns out this wasn't the case.

We really liked this one, though, mainly due to its fruity, appealing smell.

2. Murad Waterproof Sunblock SPF 30

It smelled quite nice as well, with its Pomegranate extract touted to have anti-aging properties. As everyone very well knows, i'm a huge sucker for these natural fruit/herb/plant extract-type of things.

A tad too pricey, though, at around PHP1,300.00 (roughly US$26.00).

3. Soltan Extreme Sport Suncare Lotion SPF 25

The bottle says it provides "extra resistancy against water, wind, sand, cold, sweat and snow." Naks!

Compared to the others, you have to make more effort to rub this sunblock into your skin, but it does stay on. The smell is a bit weird, although not really off-putting.

4. Hawaiian Tropic Ozone Sunblock SPF 70

S. was the one who brought this sunblock. She admitted that its smell was faintly reminiscent of rust and rotten leaves, but claimed that due to its being 'thick' (i.e. viscous in texture), it was therefore effective and served its purpose well.

Hmm. . .i didn't find her logic Einstein-esque, but couldn't marshal any logical arguments to the contrary. I suppose it is more of a mental thing, since its ultra-high SPF (which is really overkill, by the way) can make one more secure and protected against the sun.

5. The Face Shop Oil-Free Sun Milk SPF 38

Being in liquid form, i had thought this would be difficult to apply, but surprisingly it wasn't. It felt a bit oilier on the skin than the others, though.


So, which one won our "Annual Beach Outing Sun Block Road Test" contest?

It was none other than the Hawaiian Tropic Sun Junk!! Not only did we like its smell and performance, at the price of PHP499.00 (around US$10), it provided fantastic value for money.

EVEN MORE SUNBLOCK ON MY BACK, PLEASE
(Part 2, Boracay series)





As i had mentioned last year during our Dos Palmas beach outing, nothing screams "I had a grand vacation on the beach while everyone else were stuck at their office cubicles under blinding flourescent lighting" like a really great tan.

Of course, overdoing it by getting burnt to a crisp is worse than not going at all. I must have sounded like a broken record to my fellow Bora-mates, with my constant reminders to put on sunblock 20 min. before going out into the sun, re-applying after swimming, etc.

So, without any further ado, here is this beach outing's sunblock review: [Please check the relevant post under Dos Palmas Palawan for the previous sunblock review]

Face Shop Sunscreen Cream SPF 25++ - has a light floral scent and easy to apply. But doesn't absorb well at all. . . streaks when you perspire even a little bit.

Beach Hut Max SPF 75 - spray-on while helps in applying it on your body. Surprisingly absorbsd easily and quite effective, too. Finicky people might not like its alcohol content, though.

Nivea Sun High-Protection Sun Lotion SPF 30 - i'm not quite sure what the touted "specially for Asian skin" on the bottle meant, but it was non-greasy. The smell takes a little getting used to, but i liked it. A reasonably-priced, good-value-for-money sunblock at PHP354 for a 125 ml bottle, easily the cheapest amongst our surveyed sunblocks.

Nivea Sun Face Moisturizing Cream SPF 50 - has a rather strong smell, which unfortunately was off-putting as well. But it wasn't greasy or oily.

VMV Armada Sport SPF 70 - i was apprehensive at first that it would be sticky/oily as most ultra-high SPF sunblocks are, but these fears proved unfounded. Virtually no smell, spreads quite easily, absorbs very very well (doesn't streak) and it really stays on even after you dip into the water! It is pricey though, at nearly PHP1,000.00 for an 85 gm bottle.

And the winner is. . . .(drum roll, please) VMV Armada Sport SPF 70!!! (Clap, clap) R.T. even went as far as saying it was the "best ever" sunblock he has used.

A LITTLE MORE SUNBLOCK ON MY BACK, PLEASE
(Part 2, Dos Palmas)

I like a good brown suntan like everyone else. After all, what else literally screams, "Hah! i went to the beach and had a glorious time bumming around, while the rest of you worker ants had to endure another week of pencil-pushing and mindless doodling at your cubicles" than your newly oven-baked complexion? Nothing too burnt, i hope.

But i also know that too much sun makes your skin all shriveled up when you're 70. Besides, only chicken should be fried to a crisp, not your own skin, right?

Thus, i was armed with a boatload of sunblock for our Dos Palmas trip and wasted no time in converting R.T. and R.C. to the merits of slattering pasty, greasy, vile-smelling goo all over their bodies. R.C. was typically recalcitrant, and had to be cajoled to go along, though. Tsk, tsk.

Anyway, i've decided to do a review of the various sunblock lotions we used. Here goes:

1. Hawaiian Tropic Ozone (SPF 70) - reading the label, it claims to have mango/guava/papaya/passionflower fruit extracts. Funny, it smells rather like burnt leaves!

2. Hawaiian Tropic All-Day Sunblock (SPF 30) - smells a little better than its cousin above. Really adheres to the skin, living up to its water-proof billing. Stained R.T.'s shorts though.

3. Nuskin Sunright (SPF 35) - okay, not greasy on the skin. But smells a little "slimy" though.

4. Nivea Sunblock (SPF 50) - no smell, slightly greasy.

5. Godiva Green Tea Sunblock (SPF 25) - kinda chalky and wears off easily. Stained R.C.'s beloved Billabong t-shirt, a cardinal sin.

6. Coppertone Sport (SPF 30) - weird smell for me, but R.T. and R.C. liked it. Easy to apply, as it is sprayed on.

So which one was the best? Drum roll, please.

We voted UNANIMOUSLY the Nivea SPF 50 sunblock lotion as the best among all we tested!
[Important disclaimer: Given the miniscule sample size of 3, our survey results unfortunately have a margin of error of +/- 15%]