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.

Soap and Glory Feel Good Factor Review

I bought this back in November, just before going on holiday to Florida, as I wanted a moisturiser with in-built SPF so I wouldn't have to use extra sun cream on my face. Most moisturisers come with an SPF of 15, which I thought might not be enough for the Florida sun (yeah, even in November, it was hot, hot, hot!), but this has 25 which is why it landed in my basket. I've been waiting to review it ever since and seeing as the sun's making an appearance again it's time for you to find out how good this stuff is!

Ich habe diese Creme im November gekauft, kurz vor meinem Urlaub in Florida, da ich eine Tagespflege mit eingebautem Sonnenschutzfaktor wollte, damit ich nicht extra Sonnencreme auf mein Gesicht schmieren muss. Die meisten Tagescremes haben einen SPF von 15, was wahrscheinlich etwas zu niedrig ist für die Sonne in Florida (selbst im November, es war heiß!!), aber diese hier hat 25 und landete somit in meinem Einkaufskorb. Ich konnte es seitdem nicht erwarten, diese Review zu schreiben und nun, da die Sonne wieder herauskommt, ist es an der Zeit, dass ihr erfahrt wie gut dieses Zeug ist!

Soap & Glory Feel Good Factor comes in a metal tube which is somewhat reminiscent of paint tubes. I was a tad worried about it bursting or being spiked by something sharp, but it managed to survive a trip in my suitcase and several days of being chucked into a backpack full of random stuff without any messy tragedies. The tube makes it very handy for on the go application and is also more hygienic than a pot.

Soap & Glory Feel Good Factor ist in einer Metalltube verpackt, die an eine Farbtube erinnert. Ich war etwas besorgt, dass sie platzen oder zerstochen werden könnte, aber sie hat eine Reise in meinem Koffer und mehrere Tage in einem Rucksack voller Krimskrams überlebt, ohne klebrige Tragödien zu hinterlassen. Durch die Tube ist es sehr praktisch, die Creme unterwegs aufzutragen und es ist auch hygienischer als ein Tiegel.

There's absolutely no way I could use normal sun lotion on my face, as it would just result in a sticky mess and loads of blocked pores and even most facial sun protection I've tried left me feeling very greasy. This does have the texture of a sticky gel, but once on the skin in sinks in immediately and doesn't leave any horrible residue. After a couple of seconds you can apply make-up over it as you would over any other moisturiser.

Ich könnte unter keinen Umständen normale Sonnencreme auf mein Gesicht auftragen, da es sonst zu klebriger Haut und verstopften Poren kommen würde. Selbst speziell aufs Gesicht abgestimmte Produkte haben meine Haut oft fettig hinterlassen. Diese Creme hat zwar eine klebrige Geltextur, aber sobald sie auf der Haut ist, zieht sie sofort ohne Rückstände zu hinterlassen, ein. Ein paar Sekunden später kann man getrost Make-up auftragen wie bei jeder anderen Tagescreme auch.

Throughout my holiday I carried this tube around with me and reapplied as and when I saw fit. While it was just moisturising enough to calm down my sun parched skin, even frequent reapplication didn't clog my pores or make my skin oily. Oh, and of course it did its job protecting my face, as I didn't burn either.

Während meines gesamten Urlaubs hatte ich diese Tube zur Hand und habe immer wieder mehr aufgetragen, sobald es nötig war. Die Creme war reichhaltig genug, um meine von der Sonne ausgetrocknete Haut zu beruhigen, aber selbst häufiges Auftragen verstopfte meine Poren nicht und hinterließ auch keinen Fettglanz. Ach, und natürlich hat sie auch ihren Job getan und ich hatte keinen Sonnenbrand.

Now, I'm not too sure about those elusive antioxidant vitamin balls that are supposed to be in there. As you can see on the photo above the cream is completely smooth and I am yet to spot any mysterious vitamin balls. Maybe they're all hiding at the bottom of the tube and will come flooding out once I'm almost finished?
Apart from that, this moisturiser does everything it claims and will most certainly be one of my summer staples, whether I'm goin on holiday or not.

Ich bin mir nicht ganz so sicher, was diese merkwürdigen Antioxidant Vitamin Balls angeht, die angeblich da drin stecken sollen. Wie man auf dem Foto oben sieht, ist die Creme vollkommen ebenmäßig und noch bin ich auf keine Vitaminbällchen gestoßen. Vielleicht verstecken sie sich ja alle ganz am unteren Rand der Tube und kommen alle gleichzeitig herausgeschossen sobald ich damit fast fertig bin?
Davon aber mal abgesehen leistet diese Creme alles, was sie verspricht und ich werde diesen Sommer garantiert häufiger auf sie zurückgreifen - ob ich jetzt in Urlaub fahre, oder nicht. 


I have to mention something that irks me, though. I bought this in Boots for £12, which I find very reasonable as sun protection is often ridiculously expensive, especially for the face. Now that I've moved to Germany, the only shop you can get it in is Douglas and they charge a ridiculous €24,95. What a rip off!

Ich muss aber noch etwas erwähnen, das mich etwas aufregt. Ich habe die Creme in Boots in England gekauft, wo sie mich £12 gekostet hat. Das finde ich fair, denn Sonnenpflege ist oft etwas teurer, vor allem was das Gesicht anbelangt. Jetzt, da ich wieder in Deutschland wohne, kann ich sie nur noch in Douglas bekommen, wo man unsinnige €24,95 dafür verlangt. Das ist doch Betrug!