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The Body Shop Drops of Youth: Youth Fresh Emulsion SPF20 PA+++ is a brand new, lightweight, anti-pollutant moisturiser with sun protection. It’s not yet available but will go online and nationwide on 23rd May for £22/50ml.
As we meander into Summer, I’m starting to retire some of my thicker moisturisers in favour of lighter lotions and gel-lotions as the weather hots up. I can’t stress enough the importance of mixing up your skincare to match your current skin needs as well as the weather. Building a capsule skincare wardrobe is key to any good skincare regime.
The Body Shop Drops of Youth: Youth Fresh Emulsion SPF20 PA+++ is a lightweight gel emulsion that’s a nice mid-ground between a 100% gel and richer cream-based moisturiser. It’s definitely thirst quenching but doesn’t disappear into the skin like some gels do, which can leave my skin gasping for more moisture. But this doesn’t leave skin feeling greasy, which is excellent considering it also has a broad-spectrum UVA/UVB SPF which can sometimes cause products to leave a film on the skin.
The Youth Fresh Emulsion has a water and butylene glycol. Butylene Glycol, although very safe, is not good for sensitive skin. However, if your skin is not sensitive, it has a has a number of useful properties including moisture delivery/conditioning; thinning of the product and finally allowing the other ingredients to blend more easily and be more efficiently delivered. Just make sure with this, and most products that aren’t dedicated eye creams; avoid the eye area.
The sunscreens are Octocrylene and Ethylhexyl Salicylate; both organic compounds that together give broad-spectrum UVA and UVB sun protection. There’s Soybean Oil; a non-greasy and non-comodogenic/blocking hydrator. Dimethicone acts as an emollient and helps prevent moisture loss during the day whilst glycerin is a time-tested humectant that bonds moisture to surface skin cells.
Naturals include skin-soothing Meadowsweet extract; Community Trade Babassu Oil from Brazil; Buddleja stem cell extract (Summer Lilac). Thyme is there as both a natural fragrance (there is artificial parfum in here too) and skin conditioning agent. Sea Fennel (Criste Marine) extract and Sea Holly (Eryngium Maritimum) extracts also help to condition whilst Edelweiss Stem Cell extract protects against UV damage.
So how does it feel? For me, if I’m wearing a slightly richer serum underneath such as Aesop Lucent Facial Concentrate, or something that has a little more body and ‘tack’, then this is enough for my skin during warmer days. If I’m wearing a lighter serum such as The Body Shop Tea Tree Anti-imperfection Daily Solution (I’m in my 4th bottle) which is just a clarifying liquid, then this isn’t enough for me and I’d opt for something like the recently launched Origins A Perfect World moisturiser (SPF40) that has a little more hydration.
If you’re oily or oily/combination, then I’d definitely look at using this. It totally disappears despite having an SPF, doesn’t leave a film and instead leaves a very gentle sheen on the skin – it’s also slightly purple/pink iridescent to give a natural glow. The combination of the natural SPF smell and the Drops of Youth collection fragrance gives this very beautiful floral/sweet smell to it that’s one of the better fragrances I’ve smelt in skincare in a long time.
As mentioned, I believe this is available in some stores already but will be available for £22 on 23rd May. Currently The Body Shop has £10 off when you spend £25 online with code ‘19805‘.
The Body Shop Drops of Youth: Youth Fresh Emulsion SPF20 PA+++ Full Ingredients
Aqua/Water/Eau, Butylene Glycol, Octocrylene, Ethylhexyl Salicylate, Glycine Soja Oil/Glycine Soja (Soybean) Oil, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Dimethicone, Glycerin, Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane, Pentylene Glycol, Polyglyceryl-2 Stearate, PEG-8 Stearate, Cetyl Alcohol, Disodium Stearoyl Glutamate, Phenoxyethanol, Stearic Acid, Caprylyl Glycol, Palmitic Acid, Parfum/Fragrance, Pentaerythrityl Tetra-Di-t-Butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate, Linalool, Adenosine, Citronellol, Myristic Acid, Spiraea Ulmaria Extract, Sodium Hyaluronate, Orbignya Oleifera Seed Oil, Buddleja Davidii Extract, Thymus Vulgaris Flower/Leaf Extract/Thymus Vulgaris (Thyme) Flower/Leaf Extract, Limonene, Benzyl Alcohol, Crithmum Maritimum Extract, Eryngium Maritimum Extract, Citric Acid, Leontopodium Alpinum Callus Culture Extract, Xanthan Gum.
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