Neutrogena just became the second U.S. brand—and the first at drugstores—to launch sunscreens with bemotrizinol (BEMT), the newly FDA-approved SPF filter to know. As of today, you can preorder the brand’s two new offerings: the Clear Face Sunscreen SPF 60 ($17) and Ultra Sheer Daily Face Sunscreen SPF 70 ($17), both of which hit shelves next month.
What you can expect from both formulas, according to the brand, is an invisible finish and broad-spectrum protection. The Clear Face version is oil-free and mattifying for acne-prone skin, with pore-refining niacinamide worked in, while the Ultra Sheer Daily version stays remarkably light on skin despite boasting SPF 70, thanks in part to added peptides. Both are formulated with the just-approved filter, of course, along with nourishing vitamin E.
In case you missed it, the FDA approved bemotrizinol—a broad-spectrum UV filter already common in European and Asian sunscreens for years—on June 10, making it officially able to hit shelves in the United States as of August 9. From there, the race was on. Ultra Violette was the first to launch a bemotrizinol sunscreen in the States on August 31, and Neutrogena now makes it the second. Notably, BEMT is the first new sunscreen ingredient the FDA has approved for the U.S. in over 25 years.
Omaha, NE dermatologist Daniel Schlessinger, MD, calls bemotrizinol “a welcome expansion” to the sunscreen filter market, but not necessarily revolutionary; it isn’t potent enough on its own to create the high-SPF products most consumers want, so expect to see it combined with “old” ingredients such as avobenzone, homosalate or zinc oxide. Neutrogena’s new Ultra Sheer Daily SPF 70, for one, pairs it with avobenzone and homosalate.
Still, needing partner ingredients doesn’t mean bemotrizinol isn’t a meaningful upgrade. “It absorbs efficiently across both UVA and UVB wavelengths, is highly photostable and can help stabilize other filters,” says cosmetic chemist Kelly Dobos. That combination, she explains, gives brands “much more flexibility to build high-SPF, truly broad-spectrum products without relying on large amounts of avobenzone or inorganic filters like zinc oxide and titanium dioxide that leave a white cast.”
Ready to try one or both? Pre-order Neutrogena’s new formulas below before they hit shelves next month.
Shop Neutrogena’s New BEMT Sunscreens
Neutrogena
Clear Face Sunscreen SPF 60
PRE-ORDER NOW – $17
Neutrogena
Ultra Sheer Daily Face Sunscreen SPF 70
PRE-ORDER NOW – $17
