Nothing says that it’s finally summer in Colorado like suddenly emptying three sunscreens. It’s generally been pretty humid, though, due to tons of rain (and hail), which means that in some cases I’m pretty glad to have some of these heavier-feeling products out of my routine, even with my dehydrated, dry skin.

Sunscreen

☀️ Dr. Ceuracle Hyal Reyouth Moist Sun

At first I hated the Dr. Ceuracle Hyal Reyouth Moist Sun, and was glad that I had gotten it for free through the YesStyle Influencer program and hadn’t spent my hard-earned coin on it. But I’ll admit, it grew on me. At first it felt both drying and heavy, but I found that by cutting down on my AM routine, it didn’t feel quite so suffocating. Where it really shown, however, was as a body sunscreen, because it truly did feel weightless there. This does have some fragrance, which some folks might not love, as it’s definitely a very sunscreen-y smell. The little applicator is nifty, but it does mean that in high elevations the product can easily leak into the cap itself, so maybe don’t take this one up to 7k feet, like I did.
Opened: April
Price: $19 USD / 50 mL
Rating: 8/10

💖 Krave Beauty Beet The Sun

Krave Beauty’s Beet The Sun is the reformulation, using US FDA-approved chemical filters, of their Beet Shield, which was my gateway sunscreen back in the day. This is an SPF 40, with homosalate, octisalate, avobenzone and octocrylene, and unlike many sunscreens made with this formula, it really does feel lightweight. I did a Face Off between Beet The Sun and Beet Shield a while back, so I encourage you to go check it out. I don’t love it as much as the original, I’ll admit, but I like it well enough that if, for some reason, I’m unable to order chemical sunscreens with the modern generation of filters from overseas, I would absolutely repurchase.
Opened: March
Price: $20 USD / 50 mL
Rating: 9/10

☀️ Derma:B – Everyday Sun Block SPF50+ PA++++

Have I had Derma:B – Everyday Sun Block SPF50+ PA++++ open for more than a year? Yes. Is it an absolutely enormous bottle? Also yes. I’m a big fan of Derma:B for body products, and the Everyday Sun Block is tricky to find, but it’s occasionally available on YesStyle (fun fact: they actually just had it as a freebie from the brand, with the purchase of $25 in product, so guess who’s going to be trying it again). This feels and smells more like a US sunscreen than any of the other Korean sunscreens I’ve tried, but it’s still substantively more comfortable, and given that we predominantly use it for body, it’s not an issue at all. This uses all FDA-approved sunscreen filters, and includes the Derma:B patented synthetic ceramide, as well as prickly pear, cucumber, aloe vera and chamomile extracts. It passes the husband test, so it’s definitely nice and wearable.
Opened: April ’22
Price: $15 USD / 200 mL
Rating: 8/10

Serums

🍒 Good Days For All C’s The Day

If you’ve been waiting to snatch the reformulation of C’s The Day because you’ve been concerned about oxidization — concern yourself no more, I can confirm they fixed the issue. With the previous formulation, I would typically see oxidization at the end of the first month, with it being pretty fully brown by the end of the bottle. But after being opened for three months, this only began to show the faintest hint of yellow. Given that this actually has a higher ascorbic acid percentage (12%, up from 10%), it shows the extent to which they went to stabilize it. It still includes my favorite additional brighteners of licorice root, niacinamide and camu camu extract, but now has magnesium ascorbyl phosphate (MAP, a vitamin c derivative) and various plant extracts for some extra anti-oxidant support. I will say, however, that this did sometimes oxidize on my actual face — towards the end of the bottle, I took extra care to blend it at the edges of my hairline, or I occasionally got some brown buildup. I’m also a skincare maximalist, though, so it’s likely that if this is your only AM serum, you may have no issues on that front.
Opened: March
Price: $26 USD / 30 mL
Rating: 10/10

💧 Byoma Hydrating Serum

Somehow Byoma has figured out how to formulate inexpensive ceramide-full products, and their Hydrating Serum is a prime example. This is not what I would typically think of as a hydrating serum at all, however — instead this is really a drugstore ceramide serum. It’s got a creamy texture, and has ceramide, cholesterol and fatty acids (the skin barrier trifecta). The hydration from this, insofar as it exists, is from the glycerin and lactic acid.If you’re looking for a serum for hydration, this is probably not your best choice, especially if you have normal to oily skin. The packaging is cute, and the price point is fabulous, but as far as ceramide serums go there are ones out there that I feel do more.
Opened: April
Price: $16 USD / 30 mL
Rating: 8/10

Creams

💜 By Wishtrend Vitamin A-mazing Bakuchiol Night Cream

This is the second bottle of By Wishtrend Vitamin A-mazing Bakuchiol Night Cream, and I do highly recommend it for anyone looking to try out retinal in a gentle formulation. This reminds me a bit of the Stratia Night Shift, in that you definitely could use this as a night cream if you wished, and since it’s been so humid I have sometimes only been using this and a sleeping mask after my serums in the evening. In addition to retinal, this has bakuchiol, niacinamide, palmitoyl tripeptide-8, beta glucan, centella extract and ceramide NP, and when my esthetician said how much better my skin was looking since she started working with me (it’s been about a year), I thought through my skincare history and realized that, beyond generally working on my skin barrier health, it almost certainly had to be this. I’m moving onto a stronger retinal now (this one is .03%, the one I’m going to open is .05%), but I’ll almost certainly be back some day.
Opened: April
Price: $33 USD / 30g
Rating: 10/10

🍃 Barr Centella Calming Barrier Cream

I’ve been working my way through much of Barr’s Centella Calming line, including the Barrier Cream. It’s lighter than a lot of barrier creams, but definitely not lightweight — it has a midweight, hydrating type of texture. The base of this is 64% centella water, but it also includes madecassoside and asiaticoside. Panthenol, ceramide NP and heartleaf extract add to the soothing, while squalane and jojoba are nice skin-identical oils to nourish. I originally thought this might make a nice night cream for oily/acne-prone skin types, and I still think it would — but as I came into summer, I must say I probably wouldn’t recommend it for warmer months, as it can start to feel a bit heavy in the heat. I actually ended up downgrading this, at the very end, for body use.
Opened: March
Price: $20 USD / 80 mL
Rating: 9/10

Other

🥣 Kinship Ceramide Barrier Repair Oil

If you’re explicitly looking for ceramides in the Kinship Ceramide Barrier Repair Oil, you won’t find them — the ceramides here are in the oat kernel oil, which is a good source of various good-for-the-skin ingredients. This is, generally, a lovely, well-rounded oil blend, with sesmae seed oil, squalane, jojoba, rosehip seed, sea buckthorn, borage and avocado oils, as well as THD ascorbate (a vitamin C derivative) and varius fruit extracts. This does have a bit of a fragrance to it, because some of those fragrances are lavender, sandalwood, rosemary and fruit extracts, so those who want to avoid anything fragrance adjacent may want to avoid. But I enjoyed using a few drops of this after my serums and before my retinal over the past few months.
Opened: January
Price: $38 USD / 30 mL
Rating: 9/10

🪄 Magic Molecule The Solution

Guess what’s officially a staple in our house now? If you guessed Magic Molecule The Solution, you would be correct. This was our first bottle, but we’ve already opened the second (it comes in a pack of two 50 mL bottles) and reordered. My goal had been to use it for my flares of dermatitis and my husband’s rosacea. Well, we use it for that, plus bug bites, random itchy spots, sudden breakouts and, in my case, an extra step in my “lazy cleanse” routine of just using toner pads. We’re not precious about it, and apply it liberally. It really does work — the dermatitis on the back of my neck has disappeared, our bug bites are less itchy, and he’s even been flaring with rosacea less.
Opened: May
Price: $25 USD / 100 mL (in two 50 mL bottles)
Rating: 10/10

🧼 Rhonda Allison Foaming Peptide Cleanser

As a dry-skinned human, foaming cleansers are not my jam, but Rhonda Allison mostly misbranded their Foaming Peptide Cleanser. To be clear, this truly does not foam at all. It’s really more of a milk cleanser (which, incidentally, they claim on their site) and leaves the skin feeling very soft. This has goat milk and yogurt extract, as well as hydrolyzed protein, though no specific peptides. Interestingly, it leaves my skin feeling more stripped if I use it on its own than if I use it as part of a double cleanse, so it’s definitely taking something out of the foaming cleanser book. It was fine, but I’m ready for the next thing.
Opened: April
Price: $14.50 USD / 30 mL
Rating: 7/10