My New Go-To Sunscreen For Outdoor Workouts: CoTZ Face Prime & Protect SPF 40

Living in Texas, you come to have very strong opinions about two personal care staples: deodorant (as in: what deodorant can hold up all day when it’s 105 degrees outside?) and sunscreen (you can literally get a sunburn while in your car and stuck in traffic, folks!).

The search for the perfect sunscreen becomes even more complicated when you have to take other lifestyle factors into account — for instance, when you spend a lot of time exercising outside.  As a member of Camp Gladiator, the largest outdoor group fitness program, I spend countless days outdoors sweating up a storm — whether knocking out burpees and squat jumps, running with 20 lb. sandbells, or flipping tires across an empty parking lot. Yes, my makeup-loving, fashion-obsessed, 5’0″ self  likes her workouts to be hardcore!

Sunscreen, of course, is an absolute necessity when exercising outside, but I often find that I’m pickier than Goldilocks when trying out porridge at the three bears’ house. Nowadays, I find myself gravitating towards mineral sunblocks as opposed to chemical sunscreens. Why? Well, chemical sunscreens make me a bit uneasy for a number of reasons. First, you never truly know how “safe” chemicals are — oxybenzone, for instance, was once deemed safe and is now considered harmful due to studies that suggest it could disrupt the hormone system. Second, these chemical UV filters  can cause irritation (particularly if you have dry or sensitive skin). Remember: chemical sunscreens work by absorbing UV rays and then neutralizing them, triggering a chemical reaction that converts UV rays into heat on the surface of the skin before releasing that energy. This chemical reaction, in and of itself, can lead to inflammation. Third, a lot of chemical sunscreens can wind up clogging your pores, leading to breakouts. Fourth, if you’re prone to sweating, then you know that, when chemical sunscreens wind up in your eyes, the stinging can be unbearable — to the point where you’re temporarily blinded.

For all these reasons and more, I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect mineral sunscreen. But that quest has also been a bumpy one. Way too many mineral sunscreens feel uncomfortably heavy and thick, and they make your skin appear oily and shiny — and not in that dewy, fresh-faced way. Another con associated with mineral sunscreens? They leave an unseemly white residue behind that looks like you’ve slathered your face with Elmer’s glue or industrial-sized chalk. Clearly, neither of these are desirable attributes, and yet they’re frustratingly common.

Enter the CoTZ Face Prime & Protect SPF 40 ($23.99 at Ulta.com), a really lightweight sunscreen that contains only two minerals sunscreens, titanium oxide and zinc oxide, which work together to deflect the sun’s rays, providing full spectrum protection. Unlike so many other mineral sunscreens I’ve tested out, this one has a delightfully light, almost mousse-like consistency and it blends into skin seamlessly and effortlessly. It’s easier to blend this sunscreen into my skin than it is to apply a tinted moisturizer. How amazing is that?! Moreover, this sunscreen has a lovely mattifying effect so it actually keeps my complexion from looking oily and greasy — even after a calorie-scorching workout in the scorching heat.

The CoTZ Face Prime & Protect SPF 40 sunscreen is available in both tinted and non-tinted versions. I find myself gravitating towards the tinted alternative since it offers just enough coverage so that I can roll up at my workouts  feeling confident because any redness or irritation is minimized — all while letting my skin breathe freely. It’s just a touch of coverage, so it’s nothing like wearing makeup to exercise, but it does color-correct the skin and provide just a subtle veil of sheer color.

I also love that, even when I’m sweating profusely, this sunscreen won’t completely melt off, and it never winds up in my eyes! So often, I’ve had to take a brief time-out to pour water in my eyes because the sunscreen I was wearing seeped into my eyes; this one, meanwhile, has never once produced such an inconvenience.

Here’s a photo of me on my way to a workout — completely bare-faced, except for the CoTZ Face Prime & Protect SPF 40:

And here’s a pic of me after completing my workout (that’s my awesome trainer next to me):

As you can see from the pic, my complexion doesn’t look greasy or oily — even though, by this point, my tank top was drenched in sweat (the sign I’m holding is covering that enormous wet patch) and my hair felt like a wet mop. And, you can also see, I don’t look even the least bit flushed or sunburned — even though it was already over 80 degrees outside and we were working out in an area with very little coverage in terms of trees.

And did I mention the sunscreen never got in my eyes? Not once! And during this particular workout, we were doing insane feats like slamming fire hoses on the ground and then throwing them over our shoulders and running with them trailing behind us.

I now keep a tube of this sunscreen in my gym bag at all times and another one on my bathroom countertop since I love applying this sunscreen prior to putting on makeup. Not only does it give skin a matte finish, but it helps to fill fine lines and to shrink pores, creating an even canvas so that your foundation can glide across with ease. In fact, it contains dimethicone — the same ingredient you’d find in popular primers like Smashbox’s Photo Finish Primer or MAC’s Prep + Prime Skin — which helps to protect and condition the skin.

Make sure to check it out!