Looking for a vegan and cruelty-free face sunscreen that is actually good for your skin? I tried Ultra Violette aaand it’s the bomb. Here’s why.

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As someone whose great, great grandparents lived in all places cold, my Frosty The Snowman-esque skin is unable to deal with the harsh Australian rays.

I get burnt. Easily. I once got burnt in the window seat on a plane. It’s real sunny up there and no one was more surprised than me, so now I always wear sunscreen on airplane…and just about everywhere else since I was 19 because, yo, the sun can be great in small doses but over time it ages you and makes you look all leathery and gives you cancer and, as someone who can see the damage it has done, I just think everyone should be wearing sunscreen.

I’ve been on a quest it find a really good one vegan sunscreen for my face for while. I used to use a brand I will not name with SPF 30, which was really quite good for a long time, but I had no idea if it was cruelty-free or vegan, and I eventually realized I was putting it on my face with absolutely no idea what was in it. For all I knew, it could have been aging my skin more than the sun.

I was in Sephora one day and told my boyfriend what I was looking for. He went off looking and came back with Ultra Violette Queen Screen, which I had somehow missed while scanning the store. I looked it up and not only was it vegan and cruelty-free, it was SPF 50 and made by a small Australian company - and if anyone knows how to make good sunscreen, it’s Australians.

I was sold.

I’ve now been using it for about six months and I believe I’ve found the holy grail.

Ultra Violette Vegan Sunscreen

When I look for a face sunscreen, I need something light and non-greasy that will go smoothly and undetected under a full face of foundation.

Not only does Ultra Violette protect your skin from UV rays - according to the bottle - the product is full of antioxidants and will actually help your skin live its best life.

The company has a few different kinds of sunscreen, and I do want to try the waterproof ones, but for now I want to stress that I am only reviewing the Luminising Sun Serum. This is largely because it’s the one Chris found on the day, it had this cool eye-dropper thing and promised to ‘illuminate’ my skin. I would like to try the Supreme Screen Hydrating Facial Sunscreen, but we’re sticking with the serum for today.

Review

The Ultra Violette Queen Screen Luminising Sun Serum comes in a blue glass bottle with a white eye-dropper lid. It’s aesthetically pleasing, the glass means it’s not really light in weight - you wouldn’t just chuck it in your bag, the eye-dropper is smooth and rubbery and everything it should be - it’s quite soft and easy to squeeze and doesn’t feel like it’s going to crack. You can also see the product through the bottle and there is a light sparkle to the serum that shines through. Getting the product out is as easy filling the eye-dropper by squeezing it in the bottle, and then again on to your hand. I don’t know how easy that will be once I start nearing the end, but it’s been about six months and I’m only about halfway through, so I still have quite some time before that happens.

The product is white and it does appear to have tiny flecks of sparkle in it, which I guess is the ‘luminising’ property. I wasn’t crazy about that part because, while it can look great when you’re 19, as you age sparkles like that can make you look older, so I really hoped it would not be too visible under make up.

ingredients

You know how I said earlier that Ultra Violette has ingredients that benefit your skin more than just shielding it from the sun? Well, here it is.

Kakadu Plum: This Australian plum has 50 times more vitamin C in it than an orange and has generally been hailed as an all-round excellent thing to put on your skin. It’s in a bunch of really fancy skin serums and I was kind of stoked to find it was in my sunscreen.

Dragosine Plus: This one apparently keeps your skin feeling bouncy and protects it from the entire solar spectrum. It’s also a powerful anti-aging agent.

There is also a lot of hydrating glycerine to make sure your skin doesn’t dry out. Winner.

Application

The sunscreen feels very smooth to touch and glides easily over skin, spreading smoothly and quickly. Ultra Violette says you should use three eye-droppers worth of product with each application. THREE. I mean, sure, but about half an eye-dropper was more than enough to coat my face…so…that’s a thing.

The serum has a rose scent which you immediately notice, but it doesn’t smell like sunscreen which is excellent. Chris put it on once and said, ‘oh, I smell botanical’ - I think that’s the best way to describe it. Botanical, rose-like, but not overpoweringly so.

Appearance

You are left with a light sparkle to you face after application. It’s not like OMG MY FACE IS COVERED IN GLITTER, but it’s definitely there. Again, not crazy about that part.

When I put make up on, I could not see the sparkle anymore - which is what I wanted. It does mean that if went make up-free I would have a sparkle to my face, buuut I guess that’s fine for now.

The other thing I want to mention is that people of colour often have problems with sunscreens leaving a white cast over their skin. I can’t speak on that issue personally, but from everything I’ve seen and read, apparently Ultra Violette does not leave a white cast, and there seem to be quite a few people with darker skin tones who use the product.

does it work?

Yes! I have not been burnt on my face since using Ultra Violette, besides that one time I went to the beach. Guys, it’s not waterproof. But it doesn’t pretend to be so that was my own fault. I mean, I didn’t use three eye-droppers full that day either, but actually in that instance maybe I should have. The company does have a waterproof sunscreen - the Extreme Screen which is water resistant for 4 hours - and that’s really what I should have used when going to the beach. For everyday use, under make up when not in the water, Queen Screen shields you from the UV rays.

Verdict

At $47 for 50ml, it’s on the pricy end. The company’s suggestion to use three eye-droppers of the stuff every day would definitely mean you’d go through product a lot faster than I do using half an eye-dropper (I’ve had mine for six months and I’m barely halfway through), but I also think it’s for the overall health of your skin so it’s worth it in that respect. The product is also vegan and cruelty-free and Australian-made, so I do think it’s worth supporting a company that values those things.

Along with bonus properties, like Kakadu plum, that help your skin, I think Ultra Violette is actually committed to making quality products.

What’s your favorite sunscreen? Let me know in the comments below!

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