Neutrogena Brings FDA-Approved BEMT Sunscreen to Drugstores
Neutrogena launches the first drugstore sunscreens with newly FDA-approved bemotrizinol: Clear Face SPF 60 and Ultra Sheer Daily SPF 70, both $19 on Amazon now.
Updated
The takeaway
- Neutrogena is the second U.S. brand and first at drugstores to launch sunscreens with bemotrizinol (BEMT), the first new FDA-approved sunscreen ingredient in over 25 years.
- Clear Face Sunscreen SPF 60 and Ultra Sheer Daily Face Sunscreen SPF 70, both $19, are on Amazon now and hit shelves next month.
- The FDA approved bemotrizinol on June 10; it became available for U.S. shelves August 9, with Ultra Violette launching the first BEMT sunscreen in the States on August 31.
Neutrogena is now the second U.S. brand—and the first available at drugstores—to launch sunscreens containing bemotrizinol (BEMT), the newly FDA-approved SPF filter. Both products are available on Amazon as of today: Clear Face Sunscreen SPF 60 ($19) and Ultra Sheer Daily Face Sunscreen SPF 70 ($19). They hit physical shelves next month.
According to the brand, both formulas deliver an invisible finish and broad-spectrum protection. The Clear Face version targets acne-prone skin. It is oil-free and mattifying, with pore-refining niacinamide. The Ultra Sheer Daily version stays remarkably light on skin despite its SPF 70, thanks in part to added peptides. Both formulas contain vitamin E alongside bemotrizinol.
The FDA approved bemotrizinol on June 10, clearing it for U.S. shelves as of August 9. BEMT is the first new sunscreen ingredient the agency has approved in over 25 years. The filter has been common in European and Asian sunscreens for years.
The launch race started immediately. Ultra Violette became the first brand to bring a bemotrizinol sunscreen to the States on August 31. Neutrogena now makes it two.
Omaha, NE dermatologist Daniel Schlessinger, MD, calls bemotrizinol "a welcome expansion" to the sunscreen filter market—but not necessarily revolutionary. The ingredient is not 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 Ultra Sheer Daily SPF 70 pairs it with avobenzone and homosalate.
Needing partner ingredients does not diminish the 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."
Consumers can add one or both formulas to an Amazon cart now, ahead of the drugstore rollout next month. The move signals how quickly the first new U.S. sunscreen filter in more than two decades is moving from regulatory approval to mass-market availability.
Source: NewBeauty; Source: amzn.to
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Staff writer covering media and advertising at Eurasian Beauty Journal.
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