The Best Mineral Sunscreens of 2024

I fell almost as hard for Sun Bum Mineral SPF 50 Sunscreen Lotion as I did for Hawaiian Tropic, for its lightweight texture and ease of application—attributes it shares with the best overall sunscreen. Sun Bum’s scent is also pleasant, a very coconut-forward aroma. In the end, what made this option fall short is the fact that it left a slight white cast on my skin. It wasn’t as noticeable as many products, and I could only spot the traces of white upon close inspection in a mirror, but it was more evident than the top pick.

Unlike many mineral sunscreens, Australian Gold Botanical SPF 50 Mineral Lotion has a light-as-air texture, which translates to a seamless application and reapplication experience—no elbow grease necessary. The hassle-free application process is enhanced by the subtle scent of lavender. It also left no noticeable white cast—I was sure we had a winner here!

But they say that all good things must come to an end, and my 10/10 experience with this sunscreen was downgraded a bit as soon as I poured water over it at the end of the day. It pilled up in small little balls, suggesting that it might not be most aesthetically pleasing to wear while taking a swim in the pool (though it has an FDA-approved water-resistance claim of up to 80 minutes).

The Alba Botanica Sunscreen Lotion also earned a spot towards the top of our list, thanks to its lack of a white cast and subtle, oatmeal-like scent. It won me over when I poured water over it once the day was over and I saw no change from the water, yet it washed off my body in the shower without a fuss.

Though the wear experience was anything but uncomfortable, it fell short when it came to reapplying it for a second and third time. The Alba Botanica’s thick formula was hard to rub in, and it felt as if I was furiously rubbing hard toothpaste into my skin. Still, despite this tedious task, the sunscreen did not leave a trace of a white cast once you put in the elbow grease to get it to absorb.

Blue Lizard may be a popular drugstore sunscreen brand, but its Sensitive Mineral Sunscreen with Zinc Oxide barely made our top 5. Starting with the plus sides of this formula, it has a lightweight texture that feels relatively comfortable on, as compared to the later sunscreens on this list. It also gets the greenlight for resisting water after withstanding a dousing from a bottle of water post-three layers of wear.

As for its pitfalls, I found it difficult to rub into the skin when it came time to reapply for a second and third time. This was another instance in which I had to use some hardy elbow grease to get it to absorb. It also possesses a chlorine-like smell. The aroma isn’t strong enough to take over a whole room, but I noticed its presence linger throughout the entire day. The final disappointment with this formula is its noticeable white cast, which in my case lightened my olive-toned complexion one or two shades. What’s more, sloughing off three layers of this sunscreen turned out to be a trip, but not in a good way. In addition to body wash, I also employed my go-to body exfoliator—the Dove Exfoliating Body Polish Scrub—to reclaim my skin from this sunscreen. Unfortunately, I could still feel a film the next day, and it took a second shower with some persistent scrubbing to fully remove it.

Another drugstore stable, the Cetaphil Sheer Mineral Sunscreen Lotion offers a comfortable wear experience, thanks to its lightweight, veil-like finish. I also appreciated that it didn’t take an intense amount of rubbing in the shower to get it off my skin.

However, it may be difficult to get past its pungent chemical smell. If I had to choose one thing that its smell comes close to, it would be Elmer’s Glue. If you like to be reminded of the pasty stuff that you used during arts and crafts in kindergarten, more power to you. But if not, then this may not be the sunscreen for you, given that its scent has the capability of filling up a room. The formula also got a demerit in the white-cast department, as it made my skin look one to two shades lighter.

The La Roche-Posay Anthelios Mineral Sunscreen Gentle Lotion suffers from many of the things that deter one from reaching for a mineral sunscreen in the first place. The only real plus I found was its middle-of-the-road texture, which was neither too heavy nor too lightweight. It also left relatively little white cast, being only noticeable around the hair follicles on my forearms.

Unfortunately, there was a lot I despised about this formula. Its unpleasant smell—which I thought resembles the aroma of rotten eggs—was a ghastly first impression that never vaporized, instead following me wherever I went. Its application process required a lot of hard-core rubbing both the first time around and during subsequent coats.

The Thinksport Mineral Sunscreen is one of the handful of sunscreens on this list that doesn’t have a strong scent, which most would consider a pro. But it sits in the middle of the list because it embodies many of the classically terrible mineral-sunscreen characteristics.

The application process was frustrating from the start: A full five minutes of intense rubbing was needed to work it into the skin, leaving a visible white cast nonetheless. This arduous affair continued when applying both the second and third layers. Its reaction in the presence of water also proved concerning, as it pilled up dramatically during my dousing test (though it meets the FDA rules for water resistance).

In a nutshell, my experience with the Neutrogena Sheer Zinc Mineral Sunscreen Lotion was a disaster. The only thing worth praising was its lack of a fragrance—it’s hard to object to something that simply isn’t present.

What follows is everything I dread wearing sunscreen. Its runny texture is basically a mess waiting to happen. In turn, the sunscreen left streaks of white on the skin in an instant, quickly showing itself to be another formula that required some serious rubbing skills. Its difficult nature extended to removal as well, when it resisted all my efforts of washing it off with body wash and a body scrub. In fact, the white cast that turned my skin into a light-fair shade stayed intact the next day. Another shower ended up being the solution to getting rid of it.

It was love at first touch with the Banana Boat Sensitive Mineral Sunscreen Lotion, courtesy of its creamy texture and lack of a scent. But things quickly turned sour when I attempted to rub it into my skin—an arduous undertaking not for the faint-hearted. Points also got deducted after noticing that three layers of wear produced a white cast that shrouded my entire arm in a light film. The formula continued on a downward spiral when it pilled up as I poured water over it at the end of the day.

From the start the Badger Sport Mineral Sunscreen Cream was a mixed bag. It lacked any fragrance—a positive—and as I finished applying the first layer, I noticed a dewy finish that I didn’t mind. But the honeymoon period quickly ended as I reapplied for a second (and third) time and it took five-plus minutes of hardy rubbing to blend into my skin. And it really wouldn’t: After three layers, my arm adopted a much lighter skin tone.

They say looks can be deceiving, and that’s what happened during my first encounter with the Aveeno Positively Mineral Sensitive Skin Daily Sunscreen Lotion. The thin texture of the lotion that came out of the bottle initially made rubbing it into the skin felt like a dream. Yet that’s where the fairytale ends, as the Aveeno left behind an ashy white film, made worse with subsequent applications and that no amount of water, body wash, and exfoliator seemed to remove.

EltaMD is another brand that’s made a big name for itself in the sunscreen world, but its UV Active Broad-Spectrum SPF 50 did not impress me. For starters, it has a dry, matte finish that during application felt not unlike rubbing chalk dust on my skin, paving the way for an uncomfortably heavy wearing experience once on. This unpleasant sunscreen encounter didn’t meet its end in the shower, despite the fact that I reached for both a body wash and body exfoliator to slough it off my skin. One more shower the following day ended up being the remedy to getting rid of it once and for all.

If you know your sunscreens, chances are you’ve heard of Supergoop, a popular sunscreen brand that has been lauded by many for its impressive formulas. The brand’s interpretation of a body mineral sunscreen, the Play 100% Mineral Lotion, however, was a resounding fail for me. You could say my experience with this formula shared some similarities to a messy art project. It didn’t blend easily into the skin like the brand so proudly proclaims. Despite lots of intense rubbing, the sunscreen left remnants of its pasty white texture on my hands after both rounds of reapplication. This sticky saga dragged on to the shower, proving once again that washing off some mineral sunscreens is a whole other burden in itself.

Perhaps Coppertone is trying to pull a fast one in naming this product “Pure and Simple.” In fact, it’s a sunscreen catastrophe. The formula had a runny, water-like consistency that got all over the place as I applied it and stained my hands each time I reapplied it. As a result, it also stained some of my household items, including my couch, desk, and the keys on my computer. (Understandably, these are not normal furnishings to worry about when wearing sunscreen, but I can’t imagine car upholstery, beach chairs, or towels and swimsuits would fare any better.) The icing on the cake of this mess of a sunscreen is that it left a ghost-like white cast on my arm.