La Roche-Posay Anthelios Tinted Mineral Sunscreen for Face SPF 50, Light

Why it's worth it

A sheer, tinted mineral fluid that reads as skin rather than makeup. The iron oxides that give it color also block the visible light tied to melasma, so it does double duty on uneven tone, and the four shades get closer to a match than most tinted sunscreens manage.

Tinted mineral sunscreen is the fix for the white-cast problem, and this is the one to start with. The pigment cancels the chalk, and the finish lands between matte and glowy — closer to a light tinted moisturizer than a foundation. Plenty of owners skip foundation entirely on the days they wear it. Blending takes about ten seconds, which is the real test of a tinted SPF.

The tint does more than hide the cast. A study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology found that tinted sunscreens with iron oxides prevented visible-light-driven pigmentation far better than untinted mineral formulas. Ordinary indoor lighting and your screens sit in that part of the spectrum. If you have melasma, or marks that never quite fade, that's the strongest argument going for a tinted sunscreen.

From our review of 7 mineral sunscreens for face, by Sarah Wright, Editorial Associate

What we like

• +Tinted mineral sunscreen is the fix for the white-cast problem, and this is the one to start with
• +The tint does more than hide the cast
• +Four shades isn't a foundation range, but it beats the single beige most tinted sunscreens offer
• +It's built for sensitive skin and the Skin Cancer Foundation recommends it, which is a reasonable proxy for gentleness if your…

What to know

• –The filter here is titanium dioxide, not zinc
• –It's the greasiest of our picks in the first minute, and it has a faint, slightly odd scent that some people notice and some…