I’ve been waiting and waiting for so long… Finally I received it from Althea for review. Petal Velvet Sunaway with SPF 50+ PA++++ is the latest addition to Althea Exclusive range of products. You know how I can’t live without sunscreen. When I found out about this new product, I was looking forward to it.
First impression…
This bottle is 55ml, that’s rather huge. Love the simple and minimalist design of the bottle. Before I go into details, this product requires you to shake well before use. Not easy to shake though. I’m guessing the sunscreen is filled to the brim inside the bottle with little space to shake the liquid inside to blend. So… Shake all you can! Otherwise you will get both transparent and white liquid coming out. Once you shake it well, it will look like what you see on my palm.
The smell of the fragrance is rather strong. If you like the smell of Geranium/Lavender/Rose, then you might like it. However, the smell won’t linger on for too long, it will go away pretty quickly.
Key ingredients:
1. Damask rose extract can deeply hydrate and sooth irritations, leaving the skin feeling healthy.
2. Geranium oil to provide the skin with a radiant boost and help in acne healing.
Full ingredients:
WATER, CYCLOPENTASILOXANE, ZINC OXIDE, DISILOXANE, PROPANEDIOL, TITANIUM DIOXIDE, DICAPRYLYL ETHER, METHYL METHACRYLATE CROSSPOLYMER, PELARGONIUM GRAVEOLENS FLOWER OIL, SALVIA OFFICINALIS (SAGE) OIL, POGOSTEMON CABLIN OIL, CITRUS AURANTIUM BERGAMIA (BERGAMOT) FRUIT OIL, ROSA DAMASCENA FLOWER EXTRACT, PEG-10 DIMETHICONE, STEARIC ACID, ALUMINUM HYDROXIDE, VINYL DIMETHICONE/METHICONE SILSESQUIOXANE CROSSPOLYMER, SODIUM CHLORIDE, TRIETHOXYCAPRYLYLSILANE, 1,2-HEXANEDIOL, SORBITAN CAPRYLATE, GLYCERYL CAPRYLATE, POLYGLYCERYL-6 POLYRICINOLEATE, ETHYLHEXYLGLYCERIN, BUTYLENE GLYCOL, ETHYL HEXANEDIOL, CAPRYLYL GLYCOL
My verdict…
Non air-conditioned and humid environment: It took quite awhile to absorb. A little sticky on the surface of the skin. The skin doesn’t look matte, not too shiny, just like flower petal, I guess. Sebum control was quite a surprise! I tried blotting my face with one layer of facial tissue after 6 hours, it didn’t soak up the tissue, just a little. The layer of slight stickiness stayed throughout the day but no feel of it clogging your pores or making your skin feel suffocate. No dry patches too after a long day. The stickiness can only be felt if you touch your face.
Air-conditioned and dry environment: It absorbs immediately, soft to touch, no sticky feel. However, it also doesn’t give you the matte look. No dryness at the end of the day and no oily face too! I guess it works well in air-conditioned and dry environment. However, once you are no longer in air-conditioned room, out in the usual Malaysia’s humid weather, the stickiness can be felt. So it’s great for those working in the office. As I mentioned before, even though you are not exposed to the sun, you are exposed to blue light from your phone, computer screen, or glass and steel components that can reflect UV in your surrounding. If you don’t protect your skin from that, you will develop premature pigmentation or worsen your pigmentation.
I did not use any makeup for the above two situations. It is applied after moisturizer as my last step of day-time skincare routine. Love the awesome sebum control, I am not that fond of the stickiness.
Fear not! Pair it with Petal Velvet Powder, that will solve the stickiness issue. In fact, any face powder will do the trick too.
Petal Velvet Powder, has been in Althea Exclusive for quite awhile. Recently, in conjunction with the 3rd year anniversary of Althea, a new shade was introduced. So they have 3 shades now for you to choose.
The key ingredients are:
1. Althea seed extract which is rich in antioxidants can protect the skin from externality and ensure it stays nice and hydrated.
2. Polyphenols keeps the skin protected from UV rays.
3. Saponarin repairs damaged cells and restores elasticity to aging skin.
The powder is lightweight and smell really good. Puff is included. You can also apply it with brush.
From left to right: #0 Translucent, #23 Warm Beige, #Pink Lavender
What are the differences? Refer to the image below from Althea, I believe it can cover all your questions:
Full ingredients:
PETAL VELVET POWDER #0 TRANSLUCENT – SILICA, MICA, VINYL DIMETHICONE/METHICONE SILSESQUIOXANE CROSSPOLYMER, DIMETHICONE/VINYL DIMETHICONE CROSSPOLYMER, METHICONE, HIBISCUS SYRIACUS SEED EXTRACT, HYDROGENATED LECITHIN, 1,2-HEXANEDIOL, GLYCERYL CAPRYLATE, MALTODEXTRIN, FRAGRANCEPETAL VELVET POWDER #23 WARM BEIGE – SILICA, MICA, VINYL DIMETHICONE/METHICONE SILSESQUIOXANE CROSSPOLYMER, DIMETHICONE/VINYL DIMETHICONE CROSSPOLYMER, METHICONE, HIBISCUS SYRIACUS SEED EXTRACT, HYDROGENATED LECITHIN, 1,2-HEXANEDIOL, GLYCERYL CAPRYLATE, TRIETHOXYCAPRYLYLSILANE, MALTODEXTRIN, FRAGRANCE, IRON OXIDES(CI 77492), IRON OXIDES(CI 77491), IRON OXIDES(CI 77499)
PETAL VELVET POWDER #PINK LAVENDER – SILICA, MICA, VINYL DIMETHICONE/METHICONE SILSESQUIOXANE CROSSPOLYMER, DIMETHICONE/VINYL DIMETHICONE CROSSPOLYMER, METHICONE, LAVANDULA ANGUSTIFOLIA (LAVENDER) EXTRACT., HYDROGENATED LECITHIN, ETHYLHEXYLGLYCERIN, GLYCERYL CAPRYLATE, ALUMINUM HYDROXIDE, TRIETHOXYCAPRYLYLSILANE, FRAGRANCE, ULTRAMARINES(CI 77007), RED 30 LAKE(CI 73360), IRON OXIDES(CI 77491), IRON OXIDES(CI 77499)
Let’s see how it looks on my face on top of Sunaway. There’s no foundation or concealer or any makeup on my face.
From left to right, my verdict, not sure you can see the difference or not:
#0 Translucent – No coverage, transparent.
#23 Warm Beige – Minimal coverage, can even out skin tone. Not suitable for very fair skin but it’s ok for me.
#Pink Lavender – I had problem taking a sharp and clear photo of my face, the camera just couldn’t focus!!! Some how the powder can blur out imperfection until my camera couldn’t really focus on my face hahaha… Not much coverage too but gave the skin an illusion of healthy pinkish glow.
It can be used as makeup setting powder because it has sebum control properties and translucent enough. However for me, I will just use it own its own after sunscreen and then follow with a bit of highlighter on the key areas, blusher, eyebrow pencil, eye shadow, lip balm and that’s it. I don’t use foundation/CC/BB or concealer.
I guess you can also mix the powder to come out with new shade that might do wonder or more suitable to your skin tone. Add in #Pink Lavender to give some glow.
Overall, they are good and very affordable. No harm trying it out. The sunscreen broke me out a little on the first time(likely due to my skin condition lately) but not anymore after subsequent use. If you don’t like the feel on your face, no worries too as you can just use it on your body, no harm. That’s what I normally do if I happened to buy new facial sunscreen that I don’t like after using it on my face. It’s all about trials and errors to find the most suitable products for your skin.
Then again, I must emphasize that the sebum control is two thumbs up!! Stickiness issue can be solved with face powder.
As for white cast issue that some people might experience with other sunscreen, I can’t say anything on that because I’ve never purchase any sunscreen that gave me white cast experience. Maybe I’m just lucky. If you do experience such problem with other sunscreen, then maybe you can try this out.
If you would like to try it out, get the Petal Velvet Sunaway & Petal Velvet Powder now at Althea at only RM47.20(original price is RM59.00). If you want to just get the Sunaway, then it’s now priced at RM38.70(original price is RM43.00)
Last but not least, they are all cruelty-free.
