If you’ve ever used sunscreen for kids, you’ll know that it goes on chalky and white because of the great deal of mineral suncreen ingredients in it. These are known as physical sunscreens, and they’re used instead of chemical sunscreens because they’re less likely to break down in the sun thus providing better sun protection. They’re also not able to be absorbed into the skin, meaning that there’s less likelihood of them interfering with hormones and growth. Of course, these are all things that we look for with out kids, but adults don’t want to appear to be wearing chalky white sunscreen so the adult formulas usually don’t have these ingredients even though they’re proven to be better.
The Sheer Zinc sunscreen contains only zinc oxide as its sun barrier and promises to dry clear. It has a lot of silicone in it so that it goes on nice and smoothly without being too powdery. Although this did dry pale white (not clear) on my skin, it did so after lots of blending. Because I could see the whitish cast, I don’t think I would wear this sunscreen on its own to work, or on a day that I was going to be in pictures. That being said, my makeup glided well on top of this foundation, and I was able to colour-correct pretty easily through the use of foundation and bronzer. If you wear just sunscreen on a regular basis, you may want to apply powder on top of this to fix any colour issues.