Price: $30 for 1 ounce
Shiseido Claims:
This innovation will change the way your skin is protected. Discover the lightweight, moisturizing, and oil-free tinted cream that brilliantly defends your skin against UV rays and environmental aggressors while blending flawlessly. It contains SuperVeil-UV 360™ offering comprehensive protection of the skin's surface, and Profense CEL™ which protects cells and DNA, and helps inhibit enzyme activity—the causes of wrinkles and uneven skintone. It gives the skin a hint of color for a glowing, healthy-looking complexion.
Sounds pretty great with terms like Superveil-UV 360 & Profense Cel, but is it worth the hype? Keep reading to find out!
Basically, Shiseido's Tinted UV Protector, which is part of their "Urban Enviornment" line, promises an SPF of 43 with a sheer wash of color to neutralize and blur any imperfections. It also claims to work well as a primer under makeup.
Overall, Shiseido's claims of performance are absolutely right, even if their claims of proprietary formulations with terms like SupereVeil & Profense are over inflated & misleading.
The Tinted UV Protector applies wonderfully smoothy and provides plenty of slip making it easy to blend before it sets to a nice, satin finish. It does wear very well under makeup and lacks many of the negative traits associated with a sunscreen like a greasy finish. In addition to this, the three shades are wonderful and will suit light-tan skintones.
So why, with all of these positives would I strongly suggest you look elsewhere? Alcohol. Lots & lots of alcohol are included in this formula. Now I'm not referring to the Alcohol Emollients which are included as a districution method, I'm referring to the high quanitiy of striaght alcohol which was included as an easy & lazy way to give the Tinted UV Protector an easy way to transition from a slippy, blendable formula, to a set, finished product.
Alcohol evaporates. Everyone knows this, but I want to reitterate it to explain how precisely it is used in cosmetics. Alcohol is extremely blendable, and, in all actuality, has a cooling feeling on skin which can be refreshing. When Alcohol is mixed with a formula, the alcohol allows the formula to spread & blend beautifully; then, as the alcohol dies, you are left with only the pigment part of the formula.
This may sound absolutely delightful, and many times it is, however, the problem is that as the alcohol is spread over your skin, before it evaporates, it is actually destroying all sorts of healthy fats, good cells, and any anti-oxidants that may be on your skin. It works fast, and it does all this under-the-surface damage BEFORE it evaporates, meaning that by simply applying a product like Urban Enviornement UV Protector, or Shiseido's Perfect Hydrating BB Cream SPF 35, your actually destroying your skin. Obviously, its your choice, but if you're concerned about skincare, you probably don't want to use this. I don't understand why Shiseido has this compulsive need to add alcohol to their formulas!*
Just how much alcohol is included in this formula? Good question, but its a significant portion. Shiseido lists their ingredients by quantity, and there are about 12 ingredients that come AFTER alcohol, so that should give you an idea.
Now, if you are dead set on using this, there IS a way you can use it without destroying your skin, and that is to simly let the alcohol evaporate. You'll need a jar or something to empty the tube into, and you'll have to stir it occasionally until the alcohol is evaporated. You could also do this with a small 5g sample jar, and just put 2 days worth into the jar and let it "air out" before applying it. This will remove all of the alcohol in the formula. It may also render any cell communicating ingrediants in the formula useless, but if you used the formula as a whole, those good additions would just be trying to un-do the damage done by the alcohol!
You also may notice some moderate changes in the performance of the formula since the alcohol helps give it the illusion of being "lightweight." This is certainly an option for those who have the UV Protector already and can't return it, but I wouldn't suggest purchasing with the intention of going through this, since that process is a wicked P.I.A!
| If this was a $3 BB Cream that was cruelty free, I might have said that its worth going through the extra effort to re-formulate it, but, even though the formula is good, it isn't spectacular. Add that to the skin damage and $30 price tag, and I would say skip this one! Consider trying these Cruelty Free options for a sunscreen & tinted moisturizer/BB Cream! Physicians Formula Super BB All-In-1 Beauty Balm SPF 30 Physicians Formula Super CC SPF 30 Any Thoughts? *I would hate to think that Shiseido adds alcohol to formulas knowing the damage it causes, but I don't see how they can't be aware of what their doing, especially when one considers all of the Research & Development the company claims to invest in!  |
| Shiseido Urban Environment Tinted UV Protector SPF; Swatches of Shades Shade 1, Shade 2, Shade 3, |
No comments:
Post a Comment
I don't moderate comments before they're posted but I do make it a point to read & respond to every one of them. I LOVE hearing what you guys have to say so thank you for taking the time to let me know what you're thinking!