Review: Lavera Anti-Age Sunscreen SPF 20

I may have very strong cheap tendencies, but that doesn't stop me wishing that I could slather my face with the likes of Creme de la Mer on a regular basis. There's a part of me that secretly thinks that using a $100 face cream will have me looking 20 again. Even when nobody ever thinks I look as old as I really am, and my $15 face cream is working just fine, thankyouverymuch.

But still, seductive catalogs can still draw me in. There I was, perusing a natural beauty type catalog, sighing longingly over all the Lavera organic vegan anti-aging goodness, which had an average retail price of about $65 when the anti-aging sunscreen caught my eye. At a price of $28 or thereabouts, I wondered if it might be worth spending a little more than I usually do in order to get some anti-aging benefits at less than half the price of their night creams.

Once the product arrived, I was a little taken aback at how little it was, although I knew I was getting 50ml but somehow the size of the tube brought home the idiocy of trying to go cheap on high end products.

The sunscreen is a titanium dioxide physical sunscreen, which means that you have to rub it in or you'll end up looking like a 16th century lady who has painted her face in white lead powder. This product seems to require more rubbing in than others of the same type. I have regularly gone out of the house with a big unnoticed smudge, or a white eyebrow, or what appear to be white hair roots around my forehead. In fact, sometimes I stand in front of the mirror and carefully check for no white smudges, only to find some a few hours later. I guess I rub my forehead and some of the sunscreen forms into new smudges.  Otherwise, it has a pleasant texture. It is designed for sensitive skin, and as I don't have sensitive skin I can't comment on that, but I am not careful with it around my eyes and haven't noticed any stinging or other problems.

As for the anti-aging benefits, if you concentrate really hard after putting it on, you can feel some slight skin tightening. The dark shadows under my eyes appear to have lessened, but that could be due to the time change and getting more sleep.  Overall, I can't really ascribe too much difference to this product, not that that's a really fair test, as nothing is really going to give a dramatic effect.

I'm undecided on whether to buy another tube of this. I like it well enough, and am willing to hope for more anti-aging benefits with continued use (after all, that slight tightening might be doing something). But it's not wowing me, I have to say. If this was a $12 product, I'd probably be gaga over it, though, so perhaps I was expecting too much.

3 stars.