As you may be aware from my previous posts I have had a small relationship with Bioderma and recently attended one of their skincare workshops, so when they asked if I would like to take some of their newest SPF range Photoderm on holiday this year I was excited.

A good SPF whilst you are exposed to harmful rays of the sun is very important, I would hope this is obvious but you would be surprised how many people "chance it" or think that SPF prevents you tanning. I know crazy right!

SPF is always a key step in my skincare regime but when on holiday in hot temperatures with full sun exposure, the whole body comes into play and it isn't just me I have to think about protection for either, it is myself, my daughter and my husband too. What am I protecting our skin from? Harmful UVA & UVB rays which lead to premature ageing of the skin, skin cancer, skin cell damage and sunburn.

The brands that usually come away with me are La Roche Posay, Soltan (Boots) & Hawaiian Tropics. Although they all do the protecting job, they didn't tick all the boxes for my families skin needs, so a new brand was a breath of fresh air and I had something for comparison.

Bioderma Photodem MAX 50+ Sun Mist‍

Now this was my favourite product out of the four we used and I didn't even use it on myself. As it was a very high protection I knew it was suitable for my daughter and it really was a blessing. Firstly it can be applied to wet or dry skin with waterproof protection for the usual up to 2 hours. When it was a sun cream top up time, my daughter didn't have to sit and dry, then wait for the cream to absorb before she went back into the water AMAZING! This saved a lot of tantrums and we all know on holiday happy children = happy parents!

The formula is dispensed as a very light spray mist, suitable for face and body, leaves no white residue and didn't stain clothing (which some oil based sun lotions can). Out of one can I got roughly 3.5 days of use on 1 childs body and at RRP £17.00 per can I found that to be reasonable. I mean can you even put a price on tantrum free sun lotion applications? It is the dream!

Bioderma Photoderm Bronze Spray SPF 30

A sun cream with built in technology to to help extend the skins natural tanning process for maximum bronzage. This sun cream also contains Vitamin E (a good skincare ingredient) which helps form an antioxidant barrier against external aggressors and prevent inflammation. How I can tell this sun cream and brand worked for me better than other brands I have used, is that I always get prickly heat badly on my arms, on holiday every destination, every year no matter the temperature, I get prickly heat! I always just presumed I must be prone. This year however, despite being in the hottest climate I have ever experienced (temperature 40 degrees plus every day) I never got prickly heat, not once! I used this Bioderma sun lotion first and its the only thing I have done different to other holidays so it must have built a defense right?  

The texture was a light milk dispensed out of a spray nozzle, easily absorbed and no white residue or staining to clothing.

The only thing that I failed to notice was if it helped me tan deeper than usual. One bottle lasted me and my husband 2 days and the RRP is £20.00.

Bioderma Photoderm Kids SPF 50+

Ok so this was a new brand for my daughter, she is 8 and had used Boots Soltan since she was born. Last year however, on the second day of our holiday, she burnt badly (her whole back) despite me following instructions and using as I always had done. I had noticed that they had rebranded the suncreams packaging and that the formula was different as it stained her clothing but presumed it would still give her the 5 star protection, she had never burnt before. Safe to say it didn't. I threw all the Soltan away I had with us and paid ridiculous amounts for Ambre Solaire whilst I was still on holiday. Safe to say we was very open minded to trying s new sun care range for her.

This Bioderma Sun Cream protected my daughter well! It is water proof even after bathing, full of amino acids to help strengthen the skins natural protection barrier and it absorbed well. My only one bug bear is that it left a white cast and was quite thick. To be fair though most high factor sun lotions do this and for a child I would rather be able to see that she is smothered in SPF so I was happy with this. She however, preferred the fine mist spray and practically begged me for it! This 200ml bottle lasted 5 days on one child and RRP £17.80 so good value!

Bioderma Photoderm Aftersun Milk

At 500ml this is a big daddy of a bottle, but it lasted my whole family of 3 an 11 day holiday and I have been using on myself for the last 2 weeks since we have returned and there is still some left! crazy huh? The milk is so light a little goes a very long way! I kept it in the fridge so it was cooling and calming after a hot day in the sun. None of us experienced any peeling of any kind and our skin was moisturized and hydrated. The lotion is not just designed to calm the skin after sun exposure it also has built in technology to prolong your tan once you are home from your holiday. Now my tan has of course faded but considering it hasn't seen any sun for 2 weeks due to the UK's miserable grey weather I still have a pretty good colour!

Other key benefits of this lotion is that it protects against premature ageing, activates the skins natural defense shield and protects against cellular damage. RRP £16.10 and you certainly get your moneys worth.

I am super impressed with Bioderma, their sun care has now taken my personal number 1 sun care brand spot.

I hope you enjoyed reading this and if you have any questions please feel free to message me either here, by email or on Instagram.

Kisses

Nicola XXX

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