The Dermalogica Daily Defense is a moisturizer, sunscreen, and antioxidant cream in one. This stuff is a real workhorse. However, as I mentioned in the video, I’m concerned about a few ingredients in this, and I hope that this text review can explain it more eloquently than my off-the-cuff video.
Before I get into all that, though, let’s talk about what’s good with the Dermalogica Daily Defense. As a pure moisturizer, this is top of the line. There are no added fragrances (which you should always look out for–added fragrance will dry your skin, which is not what you want a moisturizer doing), it contains antioxidants to repair skin, and it has what they call “UV Smart Booster Technology” which apparently helps with skin aging. I can’t confirm or deny that, as I’m in the middle of an anti-aging experiment right now, and didn’t use this enough to test its ability in that realm. However, as a moisturizer, it’s one of the better ones on the market.
Now, the inescapable bad part: the Dermalogica Daily Defense’s ingredients. This moisturizer advertises itself as a UV protectant with SPF 15 (note: this definitely smells like sunscreen until it absorbs into your skin, then it dissipates). Great! Sun protection is exactly what you want. Specifically, you want photostable UV protectant because it will hold up in the sun for a longer time. To determine if a product is photostable, you need to check out the ingredients to see what it consists of.
The two main UV protectants are Avobenzone (3%) and Octinoxate (6.5%). Off the bat, it’s not looking great. Avobenzone is highly unstable, and when it’s paired with Octinoxate, it’s even more unstable. There are a few other sunscreen filters that can help increase the photostability of the Avobenzone/Octinoxate combination, most commonly Octocrylene, which isn’t present here. However, the Dermalogica Daily Defense does have Octisalate (3%) and Oxybenzone (3.5%), both of which are sunscreen filters. However, I’m not sure if they help remedy the Avobenzone/Octinoxate duo–I’m a law student and philosophy major, hardly a chemist. However, as I say in the video, I can’t imagine that a solid company like Dermalogica would have a photo-unstable sunscreen–but stranger things have happened, I suppose. Bottom line: I’m not sure if this is photostable or not, there’s good grounds to say no, but I’m just not sure.
If you’re not really concerned about ingredient lists, and you’re just looking for a great moisturizer, this might be for you. If you’re a stickler for this stuff, just add a sunscreen you know is photostable (and stronger than 15 SPF). This moisturizer is pretty solid and sells for $36, which is higher than some, but right on target with the quality. You can probably find it cheaper elsewhere, but Dermalogica has a lot of third-party sellers who often sell expired products for cheaper, so watch out for that.
For more information, watch the video review below. If you liked it, be sure to subscribe to our channel on YouTube so you don’t miss out on future reviews.
