The Best Face Creams with SPF
We’re not going to insult your intelligence by telling you to moisturize and wear sunscreen. You already know how vital it is to pump your skin with moisture and protect it from harmful UV rays. But did you know you can do both crucial skincare steps at the same time? We’ve rounded up the best two-in-one creams that simultaneously fight off sun damage and furnish skin with the dewy plumpness it deserves. Whether you’re searching for the SPF moisturizer that won’t break you out or can’t figure out a way to wear sunscreen every damn day, the right product is waiting for you below.
SPF Face Creams FAQ
What are the benefits of face cream with SPF?
Face creams with SPF combine the benefits of two separate products—moisturizer and sunscreen for the face—into one easy peasy little product. These ingenious two-in-ones do many things, chief among them preventing dehydration and protecting your face from sun damage, which can cause avoid premature aging, sun spots or other discolorations, and the development of skin cancer. They’re lifesavers for people who sometimes forget to work sunscreen into their daily routine, or for those who find most standalone sunscreens oily, chalky, or blemish-inducing. Specifically formulated to moisturize without grease and deliver sun protection without causing breakouts, they’re ideal for everyone who knows sunscreen is important, but doesn’t quite act on the fact that sun protection is something that needs to happen every single day.
Do I still need to wear a separate sunscreen?
You should, though a face cream with SPF is better than no sun protection at all. Face creams and sunscreen have different formulas. Moisturizers are typically designed to hydrate your skin all day long, while sunscreens usually need re-application after two hours. Additionally, face creams are formulated to do a lot of work with a pea-sized amount of product, whereas sunscreens are generally designed to be applied liberally for the best protection. When combined into a single product, you’re likely not getting the full benefit of an SPF that you would with a standalone sunscreen.
That means you shouldn’t rely on face cream with SPF for your lone sun protection if you’re going to be exposed to more sun than usual, like on a trip to the beach, a long outdoor lunch, or a sunny mountain hike. And you absolutely need to find another option if you’ll be swimming or heavily sweating outside, as most SPF moisturizers are not water-resistant. But face creams with SPFs are great for days when you know you won’t be out there baking, you just need a bit of a barrier between your skin and some stray UV rays.
In what order should I apply face cream with SPF along with my other skincare and makeup?
Your SPF moisturizer should be the last of the skincare products you use before makeup. So, after cleansing and using any other products like toner or serum, apply the face cream with SPF. Then, if you’re wearing makeup, you can put that on over the SPF moisturizer.
The Best Face Creams with SPF
Best Sun Protection Face Cream Overall
Aveeno Positively Radiant Daily Facial Moisturizer SPF 30
Aveeno has gone and put everything you need in a moisturizing sunscreen into one wildly affordable bottle: creamy hydration and solid SPF that doesn’t leave behind a white cast or any grease. This SPF facial cream even has a non-GMO soy complex that helps to even pigmentation and bring out your skin’s natural radiance. We have to give them a hats off—we’re just making sure this sunscreen is on under our hats first.
Best Drugstore Moisturizer with SPF
CeraVe Facial Moisturizing Lotion AM SPF 30
In just over a decade (not very long in the world of drugstore skincare!), CeraVe has become a cheap and trustworthy go-to thanks to products exactly like this one. Named for the ceramide formula that helps your face retain all the right moisture and block outside stressors, this gentle cream keeps skin soft and safe all day long.
Best Status Face Cream with SPF
Shiseido Vital Perfection Uplifting and Firming Day Cream SPF 30
From Japanese luxury brand Shiseido comes this indulgent SPF moisturizer. Clinically shown to to help sculpt and lift skin after a week of use, the rich cream is outfitted with ingredients like tea and root extracts to take on dullness and other signs of aging after four weeks. It’s worth the splurge, especially for mature skin.
Best Anti-Aging Moisturizer with SPF
L’Oreal Paris Revitalift Bright Reveal Anti-Aging Day Cream
Retinols are anti-aging miracles, but they’re often quite pricey or too harsh for daily use. Not here. L’Oreal has made a gentle SPF 30 moisturizer that doesn’t just use retinol to reduce and prevent the signs of aging, but also exfoliating glycolic acid and brightening vitamin C to give skin all of the glow with none of the sun damage.
Best Face Moisturizer with SPF for Sensitive Skin
Simple Kind to Skin Protecting Light Moisturizer SPF 15
Skincare brand Simple starts with purified water and slowly builds its products from there—none feature the fragrances or dyes that can be harsh on delicate skin. With Simple’s lightweight facial moisturizer, allantoin (an extremely gentle anti-ager) combines with the anti-inflammatory bisabolol and skin-softening glycerin to provide an all-around moisturizing formula that soothes even the most sensitive of complexions.
Best Face Moisturizer with SPF for Acne-Prone Skin
Image Prevention Daily Matte Moisturizer Oil Free SPF 32
Future breakouts will be stopped dead in their tracks with Image’s oil-free matte formula, which uses an innovative micro-sponge technology to soak up your skin’s excess oils and leave behind a mattifying finish that’s often hard to find with sunscreen. As a bonus, apple stem cells work to minimize the appearance of fine wrinkles, leaving behind a youthful, grease-free glow.
Best Face Cream with SPF 30
Perricone MD Vitamin C Ester Photo-Brightening Moisturizer Broad Spectrum SPF 30
Beloved for its whipped texture and lightweight feel, this vitamin C cream with SPF doesn’t just moisturize and provide sunscreen. Its titular antioxidant also gives skin an illuminating glow that several online reviewers note makes it double as a great base for makeup.
Best Face Cream with High-Factor SPF
Neutrogena Healthy Defense Daily Face Moisturizer SPF 50
Harmful UV rays won’t have anywhere to go with defense like this. Neutrogena manages to pack a whopping SPF 50 into a lightweight, hypoallergenic formula that dries fast and blends well under makeup. Environmental irritants aren’t getting anywhere near your face either, thanks to vitamin E that blocks out aggressors and serves up soothing hydration.
Best Face Cream with High-Factor SPF—Runner Up
Josie Maran Argan Daily Moisturizer SPF 47
A punch of SPF and hydration this powerful has never felt so lightweight. Josie Maran’s chemical-free face lotion combines argan oil, green tea, and antioxidants for rich but fast-drying moisture, while zinc oxide and vitamin E work together to shield skin from the sun and pollutants with an SPF higher than most cream/sunscreen combos.
Best Oil-Free Face Cream with SPF
Juice Beauty SPF 30 Oil-Free Moisturizer
Calling all oil haters! This is your SPF face cream. If other formulas, even ones that claim to be mattifying, still make your face feel like a vat of grease, get Juice’s moisturizer ASAP. Made with organic ingredients like algae and pomegranate, this vegan, zinc oxide-based formula manages to feel decadent without any of the oil. Note that this is made specifically for people with oily skin, so if you’ve got dry or even combination, it’s best to turn to a product better formulated for those needs.
Best Moisturizer with SPF for Men
Jack Black Double-Duty Face Moisturizer SPF 20
Even men who avoid sunscreen—or any skincare product—have gotten behind this lightweight sunscreen and moisturizing twofer. There are zero fragrances, sulfates, or colorants here, but plenty of plant-based ingredients like blue algae, vitamins A and E, and sea parsley, an anti-inflammatory herb that also helps to regenerate skin. Between this and Jack Black’s cleanser, it’s all a dude has to do to have a healthy and sun-protected face.
Best Face Cream with SPF for Dewy Skin
Get your natural glow on with Dermalogica’s Prisma Protect SPF 30. The company uses what they call light-activated drone technology to not just block out harmful UV rays, but to convert that light energy into a hint of iridescence. Skin feels healthier, softer, and glow-ier, as biofermentation from sage and antioxidants from matcha tea soothe tired skin in a formula that dries within seconds. The price point is on the higher side, but a little goes a long way with this one.
Best Natural Face Moisturizer with SPF
Naturopathica Lavender Protective Moisturizer
Protecting your skin with natural ingredients never felt so luxurious. Fortified with zinc oxide to provide a natural wall between the sun and your skin, Naturopathica’s creamy moisturizer uses turmeric root to prevent age/sun spots and vitamin E to add extra defense against other environmental irritants.
Best Organic Face Moisturizer with SPF
Eminence Organic Skin Care Tropical Vanilla Day Cream SPF 32
Especially great for sensitive, inflamed, or chronically red skin, this ultra-gentle organic SPF moisturizer has a calming effect. Shea butter and aloe vera heal and hydrate, while vanilla does double duty by both soothing and boosting circulation to give skin an extra dose of revitalizing pep.
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