Skin Care Review: Clarins Oil-free Sun Care Spray SPF15

Rating
Excellent

Benefits
Doesn't block pores, cause spots or breakouts

Drawbacks
Colourless fluid - hard to know if you have applied enough or missed bits

Details
Since my teens I have suffered from oily skin that breaks out in spots easily and I have never been free from blackheads and blocked pores since then.*

I'm now 35 and whilst in my teens and early 20's it seemed a great idea to try to sunbathe my spots off(!) I can now see the damage this did to my skin - uneven colour, fine lines and, what I hate most, enlarged pores (a beautician friend told me that sun damage enlarges the pores by loosening the collagen structure under the skin - I used to think it was just stretching from spots and blackheads).

My skin is not what I would call sensitive, but I have to be careful what I put on it - anything heavy or thick clogs it and I get spots and breakouts within 24 hours. This instantly causes a problem if I put suncream on my face and chest.

Over the last 10 years I have tried numerous oil-free or non-greasy sun lotions in the hope that I would find something to protect my skin without upsetting it but I have ended up swinging between 2 extremes: going without sun protection (and risking all the sun damage and wrinkles) or putting it on and enduring the misery of even more spots and blackheads than normal - it would take weeks for my skin to clear up again and many months for the spot scars to fade.

This is the first sunscreen I am truly happy to use on my face and chest. I'm so relieved to have found it. I hope my recommendation can help someone else.

Note: I'm not a sunbather and I don't burn easily so I cannot say just how effective this the sun factors in this suncreen are, but Clarins is a well-respected brand, so I think the product would have been withdrawn if it did not do its proper job. It's been on sale for a good few years at least now. I have certainly never burned whilst using it, so it must offer a certain degree of UV protection.

I discovered 5 years ago that I have coeliac disease (UK spelling). Once I switched to a gluten-free diet, a huge proportion of my skin problems went away (the constant oozing of muck from my pores seemed to have been one of my body's ways of expelling toxins). My skin will never be perfect but the difference now is marked. Gluten allergies are rarely mentioned as a cause of acne but I can usually spot a fellow sufferer who isn't following a GF diet by their painful boils!

Conclusions
I really recommend this product for anyone who has oily, breakout-prone skin.

Price (paid by reviewer)
£15

Where to find it
Department store