June 6, 2013

Which Light, Liquid Sunscreen ‘Veil’ Works the Best?

By Charlotte Cowles

Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Welcome to sunscreen week at the Cut, where we provide you products reviews, tips, and news you’ll need for better sun safety.

Come summer, the last thing I want to do is put anything on my face that’ll make me any stickier and shinier than I already am. My sensitive, finicky skin tends to flake, sting, and break out, sometimes all at the same time. Sunscreens make matters worse, so I generally avoid them, even though I’m well aware of the consequences. Now in my late-twenties, my face is a ticking time bomb of wrinkles. I’ve recently noticed a light sprinkling of sunspots on my cheeks, and so I’ve considered changing my ways.

Luckily, our beauty editor Christina Han — horrified at my disregard for sun protection — introduced me to a new kind of sunscreen called a “veil.” Unlike traditional sun creams, which tend to be thicker and greasy-feeling despite their label’s proclamations to the contrary, these are highly concentrated and liquid. They absorb easily, and leave you feeling like you don’t have anything on your face.

Eleven sun veils, two sun-filled weekends, and one minor sunburn later, I’ve finally found some SPF I don’t hate. My requirements are pretty basic: I want to feel like I’m not wearing sunscreen. More specifically, I want something that doesn’t smell bad, sting when I put it on, or make my face feel melt-y. And to my surprise, none of these were terrible, and a lot of them passed with flying colors! I might actually board the sunscreen train for good.