Makeup Mondays: 5 affordable and makeup-friendly sunscreens

INVESTING in a sunscreen for your face is one of the best ways to protect your skin. Whether you regularly take advantage of sunny days outside – or simply sit with direct sun on your face next to the window all day – you still need to wear adequate sun protection on your face to prevent sun damage, blue-light harm and premature ageing.

Whether you’re lounging at the beach or sipping spritzes in your backyard, any blissful time spent in the sun means more exposure to its rays, which can wreak havoc on your skin if you’re not careful. Nowadays, there are lots of ways to add an extra dose of protection to that provided by your sunscreen because more and more beauty brands are formulating everything from tinted moisturisers to eye shadows with SPF in them.

Sunscreen can be sticky, greasy, and heavy, it can leave a ghostly white cast and make your makeup slide off by midday. So, do you really need sunscreen before makeup?

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Even under makeup – sunscreen is non-negotiable. Skip the step of applying sunscreen, and your skin will be vulnerable to dark spots, acne scarring, wrinkles, fine lines, sagging skin, and in the worst case, skin cancer. SPF-enriched makeup does not help protect against sun damage. For adequate sun protection, you will need to apply a healthy dollop of sunscreen on your face – that’s roughly seven times the amount of foundation than is normal, even for full coverage. Which is not going to be a good look. Makeup also isn’t always applied evenly and comes off easily, which makes it notoriously ineffective against the sun. Makeup with sun-protective ingredients doesn’t qualify as sunscreen – it’s still just makeup with a little extra thrown in.

So, you absolutely do need sunscreen under your makeup – at least if you want good skin for the rest of your life.

Fortunately, there’s a whole new crop of sunscreens for makeup that actually give your foundations, powders and blushes a smooth base along with staying power rather than hinder the process – think transparent formulations, no greasiness, magnifying ingredients like silica, and lightweight textures that layer without pilling.

The skin on your face is more delicate than the rest of your body, so you should wear a higher factor than normal, looking for at least SPF 30 or higher. It’s also important to look for a product that lists SPF as the main ingredient. If it’s an added extra, it won’t provide the same protection as a specific SPF product.

Luckily, long gone are the days when facial sunscreen left you with a ghostly pallor and clogged pores. Skin protectors are much more advanced – even the cheaper pharmacy buys. From gentle invisible mists to tinted anti-pollution shields and makeup primers, with a high sun protection factor, they’re an essential, final step of any good skincare routine for every skin type and budget.

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The key to making your sunscreen play nice with makeup is to wait for your SPF to absorb completely before putting on your foundation. Here is a list of affordable makeup-friendly sunscreens to apply under your foundation:

• Sorbet Salon Skin SPF50 Sun Protection Face Cream 50ml – Available at Clicks.
• Nivea Sun Shine Control SPF50 Sunscreen 50ml – Available at Clicks.
• Cetaphil Sun Face Fluid SPF 50+ Non-Tinted 50ml – Available at Clicks.
• Avon Care Sun Face Shine Control Sun Cream SPF 50 50ml – Available at Clicks
• African Extracts Rooibos Classic SPF30 – Available at Clicks.