Every spring, like clockwork, the sunscreen launches come rollin’ in hot. Here at Well+Good, we get literally hundreds of emails a week starting as early as March and April from beauty brands wanting us to try their new SPF innovations, promising they’ll be the “least sunscreen-y sunscreen we’ve ever tried,” that will, “never leave a white cast behind” or “cause any sticky, chalky feeling when it’s on.”
Yep. When it comes to SPF, we’ve heard it all and have quickly learned over the years that most brands tend to overpromise and underdeliver. Don’t get us wrong—there are some products that really have changed the sun protection game forever and continue to find their ways back into our beach bags, summer after summer. But for the most part? New launches feel, well, repetitive.
This is what I was thinking when a bottle of Coco & Eve’s new Body Sunscreen SPF50+ ($32) arrived in the mail. Actually, my first thought was, “cute bottle,” because of its pretty lilac coloring. Besides that? I was doubtful it was going to blow my mind. Welp, I’m eating my words because Coco & Eve’s silky soft sunscreen has blown my mind, and I’m confidently adding it to the very short list of new sunscreens W+G staffers have tried that actually left them impressed.
I could babble on and on about SPF and how to separate the wheat from the chafe, but I’ll spare you the details and cut to the chase. Here’s what makes it awesome:
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It doubles as skin care
Like most people I know, I love anything that saves me time. If it requires multiple steps or a complicated process, I’m not going to do it. This is why I never liked chemistry or algebra. Too. many. steps.
Instead, I prefer products that work smarter, not harder, combining extraneous steps into quick, one-and-done solutions. Not only does this Coco & Eve sunscreen protect the skin—its main goal—it also soothes and smooths skin out as it work its SPF magic thanks to copious amounts of coconut oil (a star ingredient in all of the brand’s products) that gives skin a hydrating a burst as it plumps. There’s also vitamin E, another emollient known for its antioxidant powers that actually reverse signs of aging (fine lines, dark spots, etc.) whilst moisturizing. Suffice to say, the Body Sunscreen allows me to skip the vitamin C treatments, collagen serums, and retinols, and just slather my body in one, single cream that does the work of all three, plus some.
It’s gentle on skin and the sea
ICYMI, all our sunblock hasn’t been great for sea creatures, particularly coral. The chemicals found in traditional chemical sunscreens have been linked to coral bleaching, causing highly visited areas in places like the Great Barrier Reef to turn white. It’s so significant, places like Hawaii have banned non-reef-safe sunscreen altogether in hopes of protecting marine life.
While many mineral sunscreens (SPFs that use physical compounds like zinc to block UV rays) are reef-safe, it can be hard to find a chemical sunscreen that’s friendly towards our fishy friends. Which is why this Coco & Eve sunscreen is so impressive—it’s a “clean” chemical sunscreen that’s free of octinoxiate and oxybenzone, the two chemicals linked to coral bleaching. There’s also no petrolatum (mineral oil) which takes forever to biodegrade and can be extremely harmful to fish and waterfowl, nor is there titanium dioxide, a mineral which has also found to negatively impact our oceans.
Oh yeah, it’s gentle on human skin, too. It’s dermatologist-tested, which is a gold-standard for all skin-care products. This fragrance-free formula is made without any toxins, parabens, silicones, common allergens, or animal byproducts. An additional burst of aloe vera (which you commonly put on after spending time in the sun) soothes skin while it’s on. Like we said, work smarter, not harder.
It’s not a zillion dollars
A bottle is $32, thats it! I think we can all agree that spending less money on a product that does a really good job is a good thing, right? I don’t know about you, but I use a lot of sunscreen in the summer, and I don’t want to have to drop big bucks every time I need to re-up. But $32 a bottle (which lasts a long time, BTW) I can absolutely afford, especially when I know it’s good for my skin and good for the environment.
And yes, in case you’re wondering, it *actually does* do all the things the big beauty brands claim their sunscreens do: it blends evenly into skin, it’s silky soft, it doesn’t leave a chalky cast behind, and it’ll make you forget your’e wearing SPF in the first place. Take it from someone who’s tested ’em all—this stuff is the real deal.
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