My In-Depth Review of the La Roche-Posay Anthelios 45 Ultra Light Sunscreen Fluid

It’s sunshine time in most areas of the US. In Florida its lets burn my skin of as the sun tries to kill us time. I thought this would the perfect time to review a sunscreen I just started to use. So, I now present my review of the La Roche-Posay Anthelios 45 Ultra Light Sunscreen Fluid (and the crowd goes wild). 

I’m pretty new to the idea of skincare. I really started this journey because I was tired of my Rosacea. Even the prescription medications were not working, and after having cancer I wanted to expose myself to as little medication as possible. I’ve done a lot of research on sunscreens and decided to try the La Roche-Posay Anthelios 45 Ultra Light Sunscreen Fluid. 

From the La Roche-Posay website:

Anthelios 45 Ultra-light Sunscreen Fluid has been formulated with Cell-OX Shield™ technology, an exclusive combination of: 

• UVA and UVB filters to provide Broad Spectrum protection.
• A powerful Antioxidant complex to help protect skin from free radicals caused by UV rays.
• All Anthelios sunscreen have been formulated for optimal skin tolerance.
• Water resistant for 40 minutes

Active Ingredients

Avobenzone 3% (sunscreen) • Homosalate 10% (sunscreen) • Octisalate 5% (sunscreen) • Octocrylene 5% (sunscreen) • Oxybenzone 6% (sunscreen).

Inactive ingredients

Water • Cyclopentasiloxane • Alcohol Denat. • Silica • Dicaprylyl Ether • Styrene/Acrylates Copolymer • Peg-30 Dipolyhydroxystearate • Dimethicone • Cyclohexasiloxane • Polymethylsilsesquioxane • Nylon-12 • Dicaprylyl Carbonate • Phenoxyethanol • Lauryl Peg/Ppg-18/18 Methicone • Sodium Chloride • Caprylyl Glycol • Methylparaben • Poly C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate • Disteardimonium Hectorite • Disodium Edta • Diethylhexyl Syringylidenemalonate • Cassia Alata Leaf Extract • Maltodextrin • Dodecene • Poloxamer 407

If you’re interested in a breakdown of the individual ingredients here is a link to COSDNA, which has the information.

http://cosdna.com/eng/cosmetic_08a065070.html

General impressions of the product

The smell is like any other sunscreen but it does dissipate pretty quickly. When they say ultra light fluid they are not exaggerating. You cannot feel the product on your face and instead of being thick when you dispense it the product has the consistency of water. I actually didn’t expect this and dropped some all over my pants the first day I put it on. 

Wear

I’ve worn this product in two ways – Just casually doing errands and outside working in my garden (so sweating up a storm). 

It worked perfectly under my makeup for daily running around and special events. I had no application problems and it did not change the texture of my products. I will say that I went a little crazy the first time I used the sunscreen (it’s so light) and put too much on. When I went to rub it in I did noticed that it pilled a little (like rubbing off dead skin) but I’ve gotten used to the consistency and I haven’t had that problem since correcting the amount I apply. 

I used it before gardening and of course I did not put on makeup. I was sweating and it did not burn my eyes (of course it got in my poor eyeballs). I also reapplied the sunscreen twice while I was outside and there was no buildup and I did not get sunburnt (score!). 

After washing it off

No irritation! Usually sunscreen irritates my face. At the very least my cheeks will get red and I’ll have some small pimples. They’re Rosacea pimples so they’re little red bumps more so then the traditional pimple. I had none of this. Even after sitting outside and gardening my face had no reaction to the sun or the sunscreen. I have used this product for two months without any signs of irritation (sometimes it takes awhile for me to see irritation) so I am saying its irritation free for me. 

I love this product and it is now part of my daily face routine. It’s a great sunscreen for any skin type but for those of us with sensitive skin or rosacea who have been searching for a non-irritating sunscreen it’s perfect. 

What sunscreen products do you use?

Two Years Since Cancer Diagnosis

Time for a serious post (don’t worry I’m doing some unboxing’s and unbagging in the next few days for everyone). For those that don’t know I was diagnosed with Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia on June 2nd 2013. I am doing well now on February 22nd of 2015 I hit my official one-year in remission mark. I am very lucky that my type of leukemia and the fact that I was considered low-risk (lots of factors here) I was able to do a combination of Arsenic Trioxide and ATRA chemotherapy route. Yes, that’s the regular old arsenic they use to kill rats. From June until the end of Feb I had chemotherapy 5 days a week with a 14-day break every month and a half. 

Bone Marrow Biopsy for Diagnosis. YAY

I also had a reaction to the ATRA – fluid buildup, fevers, and caused me to go legally blind (I can see now but I’ve had to have monthly injections of medication – more chemo – into my eyes). 

Fun shit they don’t tell you about cancer:

• My treatment made me lose a layer of skin. Literally just peeled off like sunburnt skin. You should warn people of this shit before it happens. 
• You can taste the chemo and it will ooze out of your bodily orifices. The skin around my eyes would burn, as if I had been out all day and gotten sweat into my eye, but it was chemo. 
• I expected to not be able to taste food but I didn’t realize food would become an enemy. Meat tasted and smelled like dog food but I needed my protein. The balance was a huge struggle.
• My body stopped making fingernails. I had divots in my fingernails where my body stopped making fingernails. 
• My hair turned grey and then back to brown. I think this is related to the fingernail thing. 
• You can’t kiss or have sex for 24 hours after chemo (my chemo at least). They told me this factoid month’s into my treatment. So, I poisoned the hell out of my then boyfriend – laugh. 
• You have to stay away from you pets. Depending on how compromised your immune system is you may have to get rid of your animals, at least for a while. 
• You will never EVER experience constipation like when you’re on chemo. Ever. 
• Your recover will take much longer then you think. I had the idea that after chemo ended it would take awhile for it to leave my system but my guess was a month or two and I was wrong. It has been over a year and I am still in physical therapy dealing with the after effects of muscle denegation and weakness. 

Cancer is also very surreal for me. I still don’t grasp that I had cancer or that I’m in remission. We don’t remember everything, our memories suck, and we can get cranky, moody, and angry without knowing it. Just ask my poor mother. 

Zombie Eye after an injection

I am lucky that I haven’t had to have a bone marrow transplant (it could still happen). If you want to help (and everyone should) please go to http://bethematch.org/ to find out how to get yourself typed for bone marrow donation. Please give the potential gift of life to someone who needs a bone marrow transplant.