Kosas Just Dropped a Makeup-Enhancing Sunscreen

Sure, we're currently in the throes of April's showers, but one thing is for certain: the days are getting longer and spring is finally here. Although the weather outside is overcast, you still need to wear sunscreen to protect your skin against the harmful UV rays that peer through the clouds. If, however, you'd rather watch paint dry than apply thick, goopy sunscreen to your face that'll leave behind a whitecast, then you'll want to consider Kosas's latest launch: the DreamBeam Comfy Smooth Sunscreen ($40), a mineral sunscreen formula that's lightweight, radiance-boosting, and leaves no white tint behind.

Ahead, all the details on DreamBeam, plus our honest review.

The Inspiration

As it turns out, even beauty pros have a hard time wearing sunscreen day in and day out, which is what inspired the Kosas team to develop a formula that SPF haters can fit into their daily routines. "I have always had a tough time with SPFs," Sheena Zadeh-Daly, Kosas's founder, tells Byrdie. "Unfortunately, I’d often skip it because it clogged my pores, broke me out, or didn’t look good layering under makeup."

Zadeh-Daly notes that she didn't just want to create something that wouldn't interfere with her makeup application, but that actually made it even better. "I also wanted it to actually enhance makeup and have a silky sensorial application experience so you’d look forward to putting it on each day." The silky, lightweight formula works with your makeup, not against it.

The Formula

The DreamBeam Comfy Smooth Sunscreen is a radiance-boosting sunscreen with a mineral formulation and SPF 40 PA++++. Although mineral sunscreen is the creme de la creme of sun protection for sensitive, melasma-prone, and breakout-prone skin, it can also be associated with a white cast. The DreamBean Comfy Smooth Sunscreen has a slight a peachy-pink hue that neutralizes the blueish-white tints that occurs naturally in zinc oxide.

Kosas DreamBeam Comfy Smooth Sunscreen $40.00

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White cast aside, though, mineral sunscreen is notorious for having a thick and chalky texture that can be difficult to implement into a daily routine. "I knew that the main priority for an SPF product would be protection from harmful UV rays, however I needed DreamBeam to be more than just that," says Zadeh-Daly. "It absolutely had to have a formula that melts into the skin so makeup applies smoothly and seamlessly, and that’s super lightweight so that it’s never sticky or greasy." Instead, the DreamBeam Comfy Smooth Sunscreen contains reflective properties that glide onto the skin for a glowy finish that can be worn alone or under makeup.

And you won't have to worry about goopy squirts of sunscreen during application. Zadeh-Daly tells Byrdie, "The team and I also obsessed over picking the perfect needle-nose applicator to provide just the right amount of product—with no annoying dribbling or mess."

Furthermore, Kosas is known in the "clean" beauty world for making makeup with skin-enhancing actives, so it comes as no surprise that the brand's first SPF-makeup hybrid includes a medley of ingredients that care for the skin. Inside you'll find ceramides to nourish the moisture barrier, peptides to help smooth out fine lines and wrinkles, hyaluronic acid to flood the skin with water, and allantoin to soothe the complexion. And, as with all of Kosas's products, this formula abides by the brand's "clean" list, and is vegan, cruelty-free, and gluten-free.

The Review

"This is definitely my new daily SPF. The precise applicator makes it super easy to measure out the amount you need (two fingers’ length, as a general rule of thumb) without making a mess, and the formula is delightful to wear. It melts right into the skin, layers well under makeup, and doesn’t leave me feeling like a greasy oil-slick. For a mineral sunscreen, this is a super impressive, wearable formula." —Holly Rhue, Associate Editorial Director