What do you think of when you picture California? When I was a kid in Maryland, I told my classmates that my family was moving to California, and they were in awe. They said that people in California only ate yogurt, so I should prepare myself for a drastic change in my diet. And they told me that the people were all golden tan there. They probably got this information from movies and books—after all, before I moved to the West Coast, I thought that all Californians were like Dawn from The Baby-Sitters Club. I soon discovered that Californians were people who ate more than just yogurt, and that they came in all skin tones, shapes, and sizes.

I live in NYC now, but I’ll always have a soft spot for California. A part of me will always believe that California has the best Chinese food, the best weather, and the most laidback people. Maybe that’s fair, and maybe it isn’t, but it is what it is. So I had high hopes for COOLA, a California-based company that creates cheery, beautiful-looking skincare and beauty products. Sephora’s Sun Safety Kit 2018 included a BB+ cream from COOLA, so I was excited to get to try it out.

COOLA BB+ Cream Tinted Sunscreen ingredients

Unfortunately, it looks like COOLA Tinted Sunscreen lists its inactive ingredients in alphabetical order. Or I suspect so, since water should be higher up in the ingredient list, but instead, it appears second to last, where it belongs alphabetically. I wish companies wouldn’t do that sort of thing!

Like other tinted sunscreens (including Australian Gold), this particular BB cream uses aluminum hydroxide to provide its tint. It’s also formulated with ~70 percent organic ingredients.

I’m not sure what “flavor” means (update: “flavor” is actually an FDA-sanctioned term for anything that masks undesirable effects of a product; see this page for details), but I do like that this sunscreen includes sunflower seed oil, which is rich in Vitamin E, an antioxidant that helps boost SPF protection.

COOLA’s product page also highlights plankton extract as a key ingredient. Plankton extract has been shown in some clinical studies to help protect against skin damage and aging.

One major downside to this BB+ cream is that it does not suffice as a standalone facial sunscreen. Titanium dioxide only protects against UVB and UVA2 rays, not UVA1. Therefore, it’s wise to supplement this with a sheer sunscreen that offers UVA1 protection—using another tinted sunscreen with this one might throw off the tint. Out of all the FDA-approved sunscreen ingredients in the U.S., only avobenzone and zinc oxide provide protection against UVA1 rays. Note that avobenzone is notoriously unstable in the presence of sunlight, so I’d opt for zinc oxide over avobenzone. If you are going to use a sunscreen that contains avobenzone, make sure it also includes Vitamin E, Vitamin C, or ubiquinone, which help promote the photostability of avobenzone.

COOLA BB+ Cream Tinted Sunscreen review

COOLA BB+ Cream Tinted Sunscreen does a great job at blurring imperfections and hiding blemishes and hyperpigmentation. It has a runnier consistency than what I’m used to with Australian Gold Botanical Tinted Sunscreen, and it leaves a dewy consistency. I personally prefer a matte finish like Australian Gold’s, but that might be because my skin gets pretty oily by the end of the day.

If you have dry skin, this might be exactly the type of sunscreen you’re looking for. However, keep in mind that you should use it in conjunction with a base sunscreen (preferably non-tinted) that offers UVA protection, so something that uses zinc oxide as an active ingredient since avobenzone is more likely to be somewhat photounstable. One such option would be Alba Botanica Sensitive Mineral Sunscreen, which can get a bit chalky. Its slight white cast may be balanced out by the dewy and tinted consistency of COOLA BB+ Cream.

Related reading

• Tinted sunscreen guide: A brief exploration of tinted ingredients
• Alba Botanica Sensitive Mineral Sunscreen Review