The second part in my skin care essential series! For part one go here: Skin Care Essentials.

Let’s just start with the obvious, shall we?
1. I’m not a dermatologist or any kind of doctor or a person who is qualified to work on your face.
2. I am a woman who has read umpteen-dozen articles and reports and whatnot (and who goes to a very beautiful, perfect dermatologist).
3. I am a natural blond w/ freckles and I am of a certain age (I like to say I’m between 35 and 80. Guess.)
4. Sunscreen is the #1 MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR SKIN.
5. EVER.

Basically, I’m not going to get into the whys and hows and benefits of sunscreen usage. It’s like telling you that you have to drink water. And that you shouldn’t lick paint in old houses. Y’all, please. We’re smart enough to advance to the next stage.

You know you should be wearing sunscreen. Hopefully, you’re already wearing it on at least an as-needed basis (days at the beach, by the pool, etc.)

Now you need to upgrade.

Do It Every Day.

Yes, this is hard. For those of us who work in the North of the Northern Hemisphere (or South of the Southern Hemisphere) we may feel that sun is not always dangerous. We may work inside 95% of the day. But there are windows and… whatever. I’m not explaining it. My very beautiful dermatologist says to do it.

Now which ones should you wear?
I should say, whatever works for you. And that’s mostly true. But you really do need a separate product from whatever is in your moisturizer/ foundation.

Here are the ones that are in my current rotation:

My most favorite sunscreens are these Japanese Biore ones. If you hate the way sunscreen feels on your face, try these. Also, the Japanese REALLY know sunscreen and are able to use ingredients that we don’t use in the US.
Biore UV Perfect Milk
Biore UV Watery Essence

My very-close-second favorite right now (and only because I just got it and haven’t bought, like, five tubes of it) is this La Roche Posay Cooling Water Sunscreen. It comes closest to the Biore Perfect Milk, in my opinion. This is the one I just took on a cruise and it worked awesomely.

The Elta MD UV Clear is a very highly recommended product. I know my dermatologist’s office sells the whole line so I bought it this spring to see how it was. It’s my least favorite right now, but I’m not sure if that’s because I’ve been spoiled by the Japanese products. Possibly, my skin also went a little weird in the last few months as the weather changed so it could have been that. A lot of people love it, so I thought I’d still include it.

If you don’t want to order sunscreen, my best drugstore recommendations are Neutrogena ones with Helioplex. My husband got this one for a trip and I’m about to steal it from him. I think “Sport Face” is a funny name but it feels really nice - as nice as some of the ones I have pictured. Also, you can find the La Roche Posay and the Elta MD in a lot of stores.

And then of course, you need sunscreen for your body.

I’m not as picky about this stuff, except I like a lot of it, and I prefer it is not applied by my children because then I get sunburned on my back in an artistic swirl pattern. (Yes, we just got back from vacation. My back itches for some reason.)

So that’s the long and short of it.

TL; DR. Wear high SPF sunscreen as much as possible so you look fabulous when you’re an indeterminate advanced age.

For Part 3: The Other Essentials, click here.

For Part 4: Why Moisturizers are NOT an Essential (But here are some that really work), click here.