Super hyped brand Ultra Violette’s body moisturiser with SPF50: is it good?! Including a wear test, ingredient and filter spotlight, comparison and our handy checklist! Read on for the Ultra Violette Extreme Screen Hydrating Body & Hand Skinscreen SPF50 review.
Let’s give it up for our third Ultra Violette review! You’ll find an in-depth review of ingredients, comparisons, wear tests and our handy quick-view checklist below!
The brand
Launched in 2019 by two female founders, packaged alluringly, already sold at Sephora and SpaceNK, a revenue of 2.5 Mio in 2020 (during a pandemic). (Both have worked together at Australian beauty retailer Mecca.) Yup, sunscreen has become mainstream, or, as the two Ultra Violette founders call it, “selfcare”. Right now the brand offers six different sunscreens, including a lip balm with SPF.
Here’s what the brand wants to do:
SPF which politely considers your other skincare and makeup products, feels comfortable enough to wear daily, and contains skin-sweetening ingredients. (…)
Australian made, slayed and TGA approved, they won’t pill, ball or shine. And they come with a bonus dose of powerful native antioxidants that fight free radical damage.
Ultra Violette
Description
Make way for Extreme Screen, our super hydrating body and hand skinscreen! She’s SPF50+, gives good glow and is 4 hours water and sweat resistant (…). (…) our super-light skinscreen that’s hydrating enough to fill in for your boring old body moisturiser (…), with SPF50+ protection and a lil shimmery sheen thrown in for good measure.
Ultra Violette
- More: Clean Screen review
Ingredients
Humectants and volatile silicones for that moisturizing skin feel. Some goodies, but honestly, they’re super low on the ingredient list. HIGH up on the ingredient list though? Perfume and glitter. Let us get that out of the way quickly: Astrid and I both like the fragrance, actually. (We both own a tube and will give both our opinions below.) I would buy a simple body lotion fragranced with it immediately. (Think Bronze Goddess or a similar “sunscreen perfume” with a base of coconut and white flowers.) It’s just TOO MUCH!!!! If you’re using it on your whole body, I can guarantee that everyone in your vicinity at the pool or beach WILL smell it. If I use it only on my hands, it’s still wafting around me for a noticeable time.
And the glitter – well. It’s rather noticeable in the sun, and I’ve to say I haven’t seen something as superfluous since Peter Jackson made The Hobbit a trilogy.
Your mileage will vary, obviously.
Astrid: I have to preface is by saying that I am less sensitive to perfume scents (which means I’m less prone to care about scent undertones). So, if you think you are sensitive to scents, take Dorit’s advice. If you are not, well then, I don’t think it’s overly heavy at all and I stopped noticing it the moment I walked out of my door.
Full Ingredient List
Active Ingredients: Octocrylene (8.00% W/W), Homosalate (10.00% W/W), Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane (3.00% W/W), Octyl Salicylate (5.00% W/W) Inactive Ingredients: Aqua, Cera Alba, Isopropyl Palmitate, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cyclopentasiloxane, Cyclohexasiloxane, Ceteareth-20, Parfum, Hydroxyacetophenone, Carbomer, Saccharide Isomerate, Benzyl Alcohol, Phenoxyethanol, Mica, Sodium Stearoyl Glutamate, Triethanolamine, Titanium Dioxide, Tocopheryl Acetate, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Citric Acid, Sodium Chloride, Iron Oxide
Hover the mouse / tap over an ingredient for short explanation. Read more on INCIDecoder.
Sunscreen Filters
| Sunscreen Filter | Type | Spectrum | Remarks |
| Octocrylene (8.00% W/W) | chemical / organic | UVB & UVA II with peak at 304 nm | quite photostable (loses 10% protection in 95 mins), used to stabilize other filters (eg Avobenzone), often used to improve water resistance of products. |
| Homosalate (10.00% W/W) | chemical / organic | UVB with peak at 306nm | Not a strong filter (SPF 4.3 at 10% concentration), not photostable (loses 10% protection in 45 mins), used with other filters to solubilize. |
| Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane / Avobenzone (3.00% W/W) | chemical / organic | full UVA protection | not photostable |
| Octyl Salicylate (5.00% W/W) Octisalate / Ethylhexyl Salicylate | chemical / organic | UVB (280-320 nm) with peak at 306 nm | not a strong filter, used with other filters to solubilize. |
Extra Features
Glitter and fragrance. Enough said. And again, where are the “powerful native antioxidants” that were promised to me?!??!
The packaging was a bit confusing to me (the cap can’t be removed, but screws up to reveal the opening). Other users have reported leakage in bags. I haven’t toted it around with me yet to report on that.
Sustainability
Not really any extra sustainable features. They don’t use palm oil, and (thankfully) don’t claim their products are reef safe (there’s a lot of misinformation floating about that).
Application
Ultra Violette says to use at least 5g for each limb. Which means, for your whole body, you’d need around 30ml (limbs plus torso). A 150ml tube would be good for 5 complete uses?!
The good news: it’s sweat and waterproof for four hours. (I’d still reapply after a longer swim.)
Finish
Here’re the good news! It does neither ball, nor pill, nor have a white cast. Yay.
Here’re the less good news: for me, it gives me a too noticeable skin feel. It doesn’t feel heavy per se, but it’s also not totally weightless, which is actually a requirement for me when I wear an SPF all over. Now, you could technically split words whether this leaves a moisturized or sticky feeling on your skin. Me, I don’t want to moisturize my body in the morning. I find that icky. (I mean, you have to put on at least some clothes over it.)
On my hands, though, I love it: I suffer from dry cuticles and as a hand cream, it’s not enough for me. Also, while it’s not moisturizing enough, I leave sticky finger prints everywhere. Ahem. Worst of both worlds.
Astrid: This makes the skin feel super moisturized, borderline sticky. I wear it mostly on parts where sun exposure would hit. For example, I will wear sunscreen all over my legs only when I wear shorts. Otherwise, I’ll only put it on my ankles and feet. My skin gets dryer in summer, so for the longer wear time I find the extra silky moisture is very good. However, I later realize that for a run / sports, this is just too much. The scent, the glitter, and stickiness. Uff.
Comparison
My own go-to body sunscreen is dm’s own brand sundance SPF30 Sensitiv Sonnencreme, which comes only with an SPF30, alcohol but no fragrance, and a very very light risk to leave slightly white streaks on you. The skin feel is IMO much better. (The filters contain very stable, safe and reliable ones like Uvinul and BMDBM that aren’t allowed in AUS.) It’s also 3,45€ for 200ml.
The other good news: It holds up really well in the sun. No sun burned in the areas where I used Ultra Violette, vs slight sun burned with Garnier’s Ambre Solaire.
Astrid: Currently I have two SPF body lotions on hand. This, and Garnier’s Ambre Solaire Eco-Design SPF50 (reviewed here). I originally thought I like them equally, until I realized I reached out for the Garnier one way more often. It might be because I like the scent better (Garnier’s watermelon vs Ultra Violette’s coconuty – I don’t like coconut smell btw), the finish on the skin, or the big point: PRICE.
I could see myself reaching for Ultra Violette Extreme Screen whenever I want to feel pampered though.
Check List: Ultra Violette Extreme Screen Review
White Cast: no
Reapplication: yes
Sports / Active Lifestyle friendly / waterproof yes
Texture ok
Repurchase no
Finish moisturized skin, borderline sticky
Works as claimed?
Yes. It’s definitely hydrating. Astrid and I are divided whether the texture is really lightweight or not, which shows how personal such things are. (I don’t find it truly lightweight, Astrid finds it rather light.)
Rating
I’m really unsure about this one, because I can’t see the occasion to use this. For me, it’s too sticky to wear at the beach, too fragranced to wear at the pool (anyone who has ever gotten a mouthful of heavily perfumed water after swimming behind a very perfumed person knows what I mean) and too sparkly to wear out and about. Also, whenever I wore this while running errands, I was afraid to get it on the car upholstery. Maybe at a pool party?! (Never been to one.)
In the end, though, we both find it much too expensive while there’re also great options out there for which you’ll pay drugstore prices.
Astrid: I agree with Dorit’s rating, although for me it’s more borderline good. I’m neutral with the fragrance (I might be the unknowingly fragranced person swimming in front of her), the sparkle is there, but on my skin tone I can’t really get it to show unless I’m on direct sunlight (imagine the Cullen family), and I appreciate the fact that it’s a good sunscreen, with a big downside of hard to get and the price point.
Should you get it? I’d say if you’re curious and you don’t mind the price, try it out. It’s a good product, and you might like it more than we do!
Price & Availability
Available at Sephora US and AUS, SpaceNK and Cult Beauty.
It’s rather pricey: 31€ for 150ml.
Please note that this review is not sponsored in any way. We buy products ourselves, with our own money, and don’t accept exchanging goods, or money, for reviews. We are completely independent, and our reviews reflect that.
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