Avene Very High Protection Emulsion SPF 50+ Review

Sorry about the recent absence! I've indulged in a little holiday towards the end of May and moved into a new flat straight after coming back and our internet still isn't switched on. By now I've had enough, so snuck into the pub around the corner with my laptop to indulge in some free wifi, blogging and a glass of Pimm's in the sunshine.

Speaking of sunshine we all know how important it is to protect ourselves from the sun's harmful rays, no matter how much we fancy a tan. For my very pale skin in particular, a high SPF is a must as soon as the sun decides to show its face. I found this out the hard way about a month ago when I burnt to a crisp thinking that factor 15 would be enough on the beach "cause it's just England". Yeah... no. No, it's not.

I received this offering by Avene a while ago and didn't get on with it straight away, so decided to give it another shot. This is my first Avene product and considering how much beauty bloggers all over love their facial spritz, surely they must be doing something right.

First up the packaging: A light plastic tube with a pump applicator shielded by a harder plastic cap. In my personal opinion, the packaging is absolutely genius. It's light and saves on space but still makes for easy application on the go. Two thumbs up from me!

The emulsion is aimed at sensitive skins - I got the one for normal to combination skin - and offers an impressive SPF of 50+, protecting from both UVA and UVB rays. For some reason it's still fairly tricky to get sun protection over 30, especially for the facial area. When it comes to sun lotion for the face I always have two main concerns:
1) Will it cast an ashy tone over my complexion?
2) Will it make my skin greasy and sweaty?

The first issue was not a problem: The emulsion slid around my skin without the slightest of colour casts. No whiteness, no ashy glaze, no odd shimmery bits.
As for the second issue, this is where me and the Avene Very High Protection Emulsion must part ways. No matter how little I used or how much I rubbed, I could never get it to fully sink into the skin. Throughout the day it felt heavy and I could always sense that there was this "layer" on my face. My skin constantly felt and looked oily and soon began sweating resulting in my make-up melting away - in 20 degrees.

I wouldn't mind if it was aimed at dry to very dry skin, but for normal to combination skin (which I have), this is just way too rich and gloopy and I cannot imagine anywhere I'd want to wear it.

Maybe if your skin is on the drier side you can make it work for you, but for me it was a disappointing first encounter with Avene.

The Avene Very High Protection Emulsion SPF 50+ retails at £15 for 50ml.