I’ve definitely been on a zinc oxide sunscreen kick lately. It’s the best all-in-one sunscreen filter available in the U.S., and it’s reef-safe. When I first came across Coppertone Pure & Simple Sunscreen SPF 50 For Face in CVS, the high zinc oxide percentage caught my eye: a whopping 24.08% (the FDA allows up to 25 percent in sunscreens). Plus, it was labeled specifically for facial use, and I rarely see that in a drugstore. Usually you only see general-purpose sunscreens…

I’m always on the hunt for a good zinc-based sunscreen, since physical sunscreens tend to be gentler on sensitive skin, and zinc oxide is the only FDA-approved sunscreen filter in the U.S. that protects against UVA1, UVA 2, and UVB rays—the full spectrum! Plus, it’s a reef-safe sunscreen filter, which is a nice bonus. So why doesn’t everyone use zinc oxide sunscreen? Most of the time, zinc oxide-based sunscreens are notorious for producing a ghostly, chalky effect, which makes…

We signed up for a Trilogy tour to visit an island called Lana’i. One nice perk of this tour (aside from the fantastic cinnamon rolls!) was that free reef-safe sunscreen was provided free of charge, and you could apply it at your leisure throughout the day. Trilogy partnered with Hawaiian Sol to provide SPF 50 sunscreen to its guests. This is a biodegradable, reef-safe, and purely physical sunscreen. It doesn’t contain any of the chemical sunscreen agents that have been shown to be…