#10: Sunscreen reviews, how to fade pigment, book launch

June update.

Half of 2024 is almost over, can you believe it? It’s another sunscreen-heavy newsletter. Also I’m currently in Europe - please give me your product recommendations!

Shorter content

My latest posts on Instagram and TikTok:

• Why clean beauty sucks

• DIY sunscreen is a bad idea

• Sunscreen sprays aren’t good (but it isn’t because propellant coats your lungs)

• Why you can’t just trust someone citing “scientific studies”

• Tranexamic acid probably doesn’t work (longer version is in my pigment ingredients video)

• My favourite diagram from The Science of Beauty - which is out now in the UK, and in a few days everywhere else!

Longer content

I’ve finally updated my sunscreen recommendations list with a bunch of new entries.

Because of the regulations surrounding how Australian influencers can talk about Australian sunscreens, I asked my husband Omar to share his thoughts on them… but it turns out he cares a lot more about the packaging than the contents.

I also talk a bit about my thoughts on the Mexoryl 400 filters in the UVMune line, and reviewed the UVMune sunscreens I’ve tried separately in this blog post (so I won’t have to take the whole video down if/when they launch in Australia).

You can watch it on YouTube or Nebula.

I also have a new video on how to fade dark spots and hyperpigmentation. including a breakdown of how many of the popular pigment-reducing ingredients work. The video features a really lovely diagram from The Science of Beauty, showing the different steps in the pigment development process. There’s also a bit of a venting session on tranexamic acid.

Watch it on YouTube or Nebula.

Extra bits

• My sunscreen misinformation video got featured in another article - this time in Vox! This is a really good discussion of some of the issues with sunscreen misinformation online, and some spitballing about public health communication strategies.

• I was also profiled in Hello magazine and the Sydney Morning Herald for the release of my book, which was pretty cool!

• I also went on the excellent Conspirituality podcast to talk about the EWG, along with Dr Andrea Love, another amazing science communicator (she’s on Substack, as well as Instagram and Threads as @dr.andrealove).

• Current favourite drink: half apple juice, half soda water. (Is this just cheap DIY Appletizer? Maybe.)

• Current favourite app: LocalSend. If you ever need to send big files from an Apple device to a Windows or Android device (or vice versa), this is the smoothest method I’ve found so far!