Question: How do I minimize the "white cast" from sunscreen?
Answer:
The “white cast” from sunscreen comes from UV filters inside of it, mainly the titanium dioxide and zinc oxide ingredient of physical sunscreens.
Some sunscreens can make your face appear paler than your neck, streak after applying, or look like white residue on your skin. To minimize this effect, you can try the following things:
- Try different formulations of sunscreens until you find one that doesn’t leave a white cast. Chemical sunscreens do not have this problem as much as physical sunscreens. Check here for a list of sunscreen recommendations.
- Apply sunscreen in advance. The white cast will usually disappear when the sunscreen is completely absorbed by your skin. (This can take up to two hours for some people though.)
- Pat in sunscreen instead of rubbing it in. This helps the sunscreen to be applied in one, even layer, which will help with any streaking.
- Mix tinted sunscreen with regular sunscreen (preferably one of the same brand) to mask any whiteness.
- Mix tinted moisturizer or foundation with your sunscreen. Though it is unknown whether this will impact the sunscreen's stability.
- Apply a light layer of makeup (powder or liquid) to cover up any white residue from sunscreen.
The above steps will help with minimizing any obvious white casts on your skin from sunscreen. However, even if you don’t notice a white cast, you may still appear ghastly and pale in photographs with flash. Find out why here.
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