Monday, October 6, 2008

Review: Neutrogena Healthy Defense Moisturizer SPF 45

Thank you for the lovely comments about the dress :D Before I received it, I was afraid actually that the dress would've been too big for me (because I'm so short) but fortunately it just hits at my knee yay :)

I went on a bit of a shopping spree the past weekend! Will take pictures soon :) Also, I'm getting onto a bit of a skincare kick lately. My skin was acting up for the past month with lots of blackheads and congested areas, so I gave in and went to a spa to get them extracted and all. My face definitely looks a lot clearer and more glowy! Now that my pores are cleaned out I'm going to try and avoid wearing foundation/mineral makeup to see if it helps reduce the blackheads I get!

Anyways here is a quick review on the Neutrogena moisturizer with SPF which I've used for 1 month now.

I've been looking for a face sunscreen without mattifying properties since my skin tends to get dry patches often (even though it is technically combination skin). Also I wanted something that would moisturize too since I really don't have time in the mornings to apply an extra product.

After reading reviews on Makeupalley I decided to get Neutrogena's Healthy Defense Moisturizer with Helioplex. They have two different SPF levels available, I chose the higher one which was SPF 45:

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Claims:

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Ingredients:

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The tube itself looks nice and sleek - which it should considering it costs $15 at Wal-Mart in Canada, for a mere 50 mL.

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This was apparently reformulated with Helioplex technology recently. Basically they added ingredients to make the sunscreen photostable, which another reason I got this over other cheaper but non-photostable moisturizers.

Pros:
- Photostable protection, protects against both UVA and UVB
- Conveniently combines your moisturizer and sunscreen into one product
- Nice packaging for a drugstore product

Cons:
- Not lightweight, despite the claims
- Feels greasy despite claims
- Expensive for a drugstore brand (CDN$15 for 50mL)

Overall:

Price: 2/5 (costly for a drugstore brand at ~CDN$15 for 50mL)
Packaging: 5/5
Effectiveness: 3/5 (it isn't non-greasy unlike the claims)
Repurchase: No


So yes, unfortunately packaging and convenience is the only thing I like about this product. The texture of the product is way too greasy for my t-zone which gets oily easily. I'm actually not going to touch this product again, now that I've cleared up my skin, because I'm just too afraid the greasy texture might clog up my pores.

12 comments:

Unknown said...

I get mad with greasy moisturisers especially when it says NON GREASY on the package!!

Have you tried gel type moisturisers? I love my Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturising Gel!! Its lush, non greasy, my skin loves drinking it because it is light and refreshing and just the right amout of moisure!

fuzkittie said...

Thanks for the review! I always have doubts putting drugstore sunblock on my face, they tend to be too oily and clog the pores more.

Tracy Roa said...

Thanks for sharing. I was thinking about getting this, but with you mentioning that it's greasy, I don't think it would work for me, either.

cheryl said...

i've always used neutrogena sunscreen for my body but i've never tried it on my face, where i just use the shu uemura UV base...

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure but I think sunscreens with Avobenzone aren't photostable...

watercoloursky said...

Eve: Yes avobenzone alone is quite photo UNstable. However according to various sources it can be stabilized with a certain percentage of octocrylene. I believe thats why Neutrogena relaunched this product promoting the "Helioplex" aspect of this reformulation. See http://www.neutrogena.com/acs/faq.asp

I know I probably sound like a total geek but I actually checked all of these out before buying this moisturizer...so it sucks that it turns out to be too greasy lol.

This is a particularly helpful article about photostable ingredients, if anyone wants to know more:

http://makeupalley.com/user/notepad/sunscreenFAQ/

watercoloursky said...

glow: yes I have, I love Lancome's aqua fusion gel creme! But it isn't photostable...and only SPF15 thats why I wanted to try something else :S

watercoloursky said...

fuzkittie & tracy: hope it helped :) thanks for the feedback!

cheryl: ah perhaps I will check that Shu Uemura base as well. They finally opened a Shu counter here, so I can now! :D

Unknown said...

Hey!

Pardon my dunce-ness! I forgot about SPF! I saw that SANA do a medicated suncream for the face! That might be good...I need some too for my next trip to Cape Town.......The wind and sun there wreaked havoc on my last year!

IchigoBunnie said...

i agree with you on this! I used to use this....i don't know how many years ago, and it was soooooooo oily and greasy :(

my mom however is using this tube after tube after tube....either this stuff isn't greasy on her or maybe she doesnt care that ti's greasy or maybe she just doesnt even notice that it is?? i don't know @_@ but i sure didn't like it.

Anonymous said...

Thansk for the helpful review! We featured this post on Beauty Chat this week =) Check it out: http://www.beautychatblog.com/2008/10/fab-friday-finds-13/

Lydia said...

Aaww thats to bad that its greasy... thanks for the review :) Now I won't buy it lol

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