If you’re laying out with your girlfriends and want to get a good tan, but don’t want to burn I recommend Australian Gold 30 SPF Spray Gel Sunscreen with instant bronzer. It has a wonderful fragrant smell to it, and being a gel I find it is concentrated enough that I find a single bottle to last longer than sprays.
— Jen Friel
There are two types of sunscreen — physical and chemical. (I read this once on the Internet, so it must be true.) Ever since then, I’ve been using a physical UVA-blocking sunscreen on my face. It’s called zinc, and it’s super cheap. Surfers and people cooler than I am go for crazy colors — hot pink and lime green — and then apply them neatly in artistic swaths. I stick with the clear. (I smear).
— Sara Matthis
Being Irish and filled with freckles, I also burn. In addition to any spots I might have missed with the bronzer, I also use Banana Boat Sport Performance Broad Spectrum 110 SPF. Yes, I know 110 is excessive (the FDA has conclusively proven that there is no evidence that any SPF over 50 has additional value), but I’d rather have peace of mind and save a few extra dollars on an aloe “after-burn” purchase. Your choice.
— J.F.
For a long day, we reapply Neutrogena Beach Defense (broadspectrum SPF 50). It goes on pretty thick and stays on for a few hours in salty, sandy, sweaty and wet conditions. It’s necessary to reapply at the three- or four-hour mark. The only downside is that it doesn’t smell extra pretty, but we’ve been using it so long that the fumes evoke a Pavlovian reaction — “Good times just around the corner!”
— S.M.
