Identifying as a sunflower has its downs—crispy just isn’t it.
But when the only solution available is giving grease monkey, I’m not exactly excited to plaster myself in white goop all day every day, let alone every two hours. Which would be all well and good except that I live in the country with the highest rate of melanoma in the world (spoiler alert: it’s New Zealand).
As I was contemplating my most recent solar love bite and who I’d be willing my monstera to when my sun saluting toxic trait inevitably caught up with me, I realised it’s not me, it’s the sunblock. (Ok, maybe it’s also me but having to baste myself with something that’s thick, sticky and wet on the reg’ is not exactly user-friendly.)
Image credit: Melitta Skin | supplied (L-R: Jenny Jung, Rafay Mitha, Isabel Klaja, Grace Jung; centre front: Melitta Adam)
Sun protection has been stuck in the dark ages but Melitta Adam, Jenny Jung, Isabel Klaja and Rafay Mitha are lifting it out with MELITTA SKIN's GLOWGUARD—Aotearoa’s first daily-wear SPF 50 with four-hour protection ($62). Given 96% of New Zealand SPFs only provide a two hour protective window, it’s a pioneering step.
But is an extra two hours of solar protection worthy of frothing over, really?
Image credit: Melitta Skin | Sophie Williamson
Part of the deep research phase of GLOWGUARD was finding out what people actually knew about their sunblock (TLDR; it isn’t much). When the standard two-hour reapplication rule was explained to them, 75% of participants said it made them less likely to use sunscreen at all. And that jumped to over 90% among makeup wearers, with many describing it as "to hard," "unrealistic," or "not compatible with everyday life." In a country like New Zealand, that’s a life-or-death situation.
Turns out slip-slop-slap-repeat really does slap.
"That stat really became a turning point for us in product development and was our primary north star," says Melitta. And that’s only part of the sun protection agenda on MELITTA SKIN’s radar. Even a four hour window won’t pack a punch if we’re not slapping on the right amount in the first place which, 80% of us are straight up failing at, according to research done in collaboration with Waikato Hospital.
Image credit: Melitta Skin | Sophie Williamson
Enter: GLOWGUARD’s pipette which measures 1.25mL a.k.a. the perfect amount to prep your face and neck for the sun. Now you've got a goal—one and you're good to go. "Every single crevice and corner of GLOWGUARD has been thoguhtfully and meticulously designed," explains Melitta.
As for that all-important feel? Yet again, GLOWGUARD proves to be the holy grail with an impossibly lightweight, invisible profile. Plus, it’s hydrating, fragrance-free, vegan, suitable for sensitive skin, can be applied as a make-up primer or on top of your make-up, and it's super cute.
Yep, I never thought I’d be waxing lyrical about the aesthetics of sun protection but here we are and I’m not mad about it. An exquisite meeting of design meets function (the former thanks to Marx Design), GLOWGUARD holds its own against luxe makeup and skincare brands from unboxing to application (and re-application). The team wanted a sunscreen that people actually look forward to using, and they’ve crushed it.
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Main image credit: Melitta Skin | Sophie Williamson.