Anessa Whitening Essence Facial UV Sunscreen SPF50+ PA++++

I inherited this 40g tube of Anessa Whitening Essence Facial UV Sunscreen SPF50+ PA++++ from my gal pal J. She bought it a couple of years ago (it's been discontinued as of 2017), tried it, didn't like it, and passed it on to me. Even then, it took me until now to get to it, so suffice to say this review is super late and useless =.=", but I'm posting it anyway since this blog functions more like a product diary than anything else.

This isn't just your average whitening sunscreen. It's a quasi-drug, medicated with ingredients to help and prevent sun spots, freckles, etc. Normally, I don't care for whitening stuff, but J. told me to simply throw it out if I don't want to use it. I thought I might as well give it a try and then chuck it if it doesn't work.

This is a light cream that gets somewhat "melty" once dispensed into my palm, I suspect because of body heat. It does have a faint fragrance that's not intrusive or even noticeable, and I've since forgotten it's even there. Active ingredients include Uvinul T 150 (エチルヘキシルトリアゾン), octinoxate (メトキシケイヒ酸エチルヘキシル), Tinosorb S (ビスエチルヘキシルオキシフェノールメトキシフェニルトリアジン), and oxybenzone (オキシベンゾン). I'm not too keen on the oxybenzone bit, to be honest, because of the high absorption rates through the skin.

On its own, this essence feels pretty much like any other sunscreen essences or "gels," i.e., thick, pasty, takes forever to set if it sets at all, and it leaves a noticeable white cast. Depends on how much I apply, it pills up horribly also, definitely a no-no by itself.

So on to mixing I went! Since I've used up my other bottles of sunscreen milks, I went with Curel UV Protection Milk. I started with 15 "noodles" (that's how it comes out of the tube!) fo Anessa and 30 drops of Curel, and that proved to be disastrous. The whole thing just pilled up, and whatever remained just shifted around my face in masses. So I reduced to 10 "noodles" of Anessa and maintains 30 drops of Curel. This formulation took a while to set still, about 15-20 minutes, but it actually sets to a dewy matte finish that stays on and doesn't crease by the end of the day, so this is what I've been sticking with. Will I repurchase the current incarnation of this Anessa essence (Anessa Whitening UV Gel N SPF50+ PA++++)? Nope.