FANCL Sunguard 50+ Protect UV SPF50+ PA++++

I was looking forward to using this 60mL bottle of FANCL Sunguard 50+ Protect UV SPF50+ PA++++, that was, until I actually used it.  

Let me temper your expectation: this is probably one of the worst, if not the worst Japanese sunscreen I've ever tried in all of my 15+ years of religious daily application of Japanese sunscreens.

This comes out of the bottle an innocuous semi-translucent milk, which then goes to set to a surprisingly opaque matte that feels like super glue on my face. I kid you not, this stuff just does not budge once it set. Normally, I'd apply a sunscreen, let it set, then massage the rest in to make sure there isn't any visible streaks and all are well blended. Nope, doesn't work this way with FANCL. With FANCL, I'd have to massage the stuff the moment I apply it, otherwise there's absolutely no hope of doing so once it sets. 

The problem is that it just shifts around in patches when I try to massage it into my skin, so I have no choice but to let it set before trying to massage it in, only it won't budge then... see how that just doesn't work out very well? Even worse is that it leaves a very noticeable white cast despite my medium-fair skin tone. Now to be fair, I believe it's free of octinoxate (メトキシケイヒ酸エチルヘキシル), which may explain the white cast if it means heavier on the mineral sun blocks. However, there's zero excuse for the terribly inelegant formula, especially in a competitive market flooded with supremely elegant formulas at drugstore prices!

 

Of course I've tried to make it work. Whenever I bump into a sunscreen that doesn't work on its own, I'd mix it the gazillion other sunscreens I have to arrive at an acceptable texture and finish. Out of all the sunscreens I've tried thus far, very few were great by themselves. It's inevitable that I find them too thick, too thin, too transparent, too opaque, blah blah blah. Yes, I'm annoyingly picky like that. 

 

And usually, it's not hard for me to find a mix good enough that I'd be able to finish up that particular bottle or tube of sunscreen either. 

 

With the exception of this FANCL. 

 

Goodness gracious, I must have tried mixing this with a dozen different sunscreens, and this stuff is just so damn opaque that only Sunkiller Perfect Strong Moisture is thin and transparent enough to add some translucency to it, but even this still doesn't help the super glue finish. The super glue finish is so damn stubborn that if I were to use more than 10 drops of FANCL, it doesn't matter what I mix it with, it'll still set to super glue. Argh! So yeah, I don't know how I'm going to use all of this 60mL of super glue, and I sure as hell won't ever buy it again. I absolutely do not recommend this stuff to anyone, unless they like super gluing a kabuki mask onto their face.