An incredibly affordable sunscreen with high UVA protection that’s supposed to feel like a moisturiser?!?! I mean, sign me up! But – does Altruist Sunscreen SPF50 hold up to its promises? Let’s test it thoroughly.
The brand
“It is our mission to reduce the incidence of skin cancer through the increased use of quality sunscreen together with better education and awareness.”
Well, THAT is a mission statement we can get behind and applaud!
Dermatologist and skin cancer specialist Andrew Birnie founded the brand in 2015. 10 pence of each tube go towards charity projects for children with albinism in Africa.
On top of that, they donate a lot of sunscreen to people with albinism in Africa. (In 2019 it was £65,000 worth of sunscreen!)
Altruist Sunscreen SPF50 description
The sunscreen itself was formulated in Germany, and is supposed to be:
“For sensitive skin; fragrance free with a low risk of allergy. Suitable for daily use on face, body and children. Water resistant. (…) with 5 star Ultra UVA rating (PPD 39). Altruist suncreams have a broad range of photos table UV filters, including the world’s most advanced filter: Tinosorb A2B. (…) This sunscreen contains spf 50 protection and is fast absorbing, non-sticky – feels like a moisturiser.”
This STILL sounds great. Here’s one thing, though: Altruist has a couple of products that might’ve been a better fit for me: I basically want a skin-like finish and an undetectable finish. The Face Fluid, for example, sounds like it might be more wearable on the face, while the SPF50 Sunscreen might be better as a body sunscreen. The only thing is: in Germany, Altruist is solely available at Amazon.de, and they did only carry the SPF50 Sunscreen. (Altruist has a much bigger line-up. I don’t know why it’s not readily available on Amazon.)
Ingredients
Fragrance-, alcohol denat. and paraben-free. Which is nice, sure, don’t get me wrong – but it also lacks a bit pizzazz. (Well, it IS cheap.) Antioxidants? Nope. Soothing ingredients? Nah. It’s a no-frills sunscreen that puts its strength into its filters. (See the full ingredient list here.)
Filters
| Sunscreen Filter | Type | Spectrum | Remarks |
| Octocrylene | 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 |
| Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane / Avobenzone | chemical / organic | full UVA protection | not photostable |
| Octisalate / Ethylhexyl Salicylate / Octyl Salicylate | chemical / organic | UVB (280-320 nm) with peak at 306 nm | not a strong filter, used with other filters to solubilize |
| Titanium Dioxide (nano) | physical / inorganic | UVB & UVA II – less good at UVA I | possible white cast |
| Ensulizole / Phenylbenzimidazole Sulfonic Acid | chemical / organic | strong UVB protection (280-320nm) range with its peak protection at 306 nm | Not oil but water soluble, ideal to create light, oily skin compatible formula. Fairly photostable and can be used to protect other less stable UV filters (eg. avobenzone). Approved worldwide and can be used up to 4% in the US and up to 8% in the EU. |
| Tinosorb A2B / Tris-Biphenyl Triazine | chemical / organic | most efficient UVB and UVA2 filter | highly photostable and has high SPF performance at low concentrations, only available in the EU (as 2016) |
| Diethylamino Hydroxybenzoyl Hexyl Benzoate / Uvinul A Plus | chemical / organic | high UVA protection (320-400 nm) with peak protection at 354nm | high photostability, can be used up to 10%, available elsewhere but the US & Canada |
| Bis-Ethylhexyloxyphenol Methoxyphenyl Triazine / Tinosorb S | chemical / organic | broad-spectrum (UVA & UVB, 280-400 nm, peak at 310-345 nm) | very photostable, available everywhere but the US |
Sustainability
The sunscreen is supposed to be cruelty free, coral friendly, and vegan (according to EU
laws). In 2021, 49% of all packaging was made from recycled plastic.
Application
My AM skincare routine is rather basic: a toner, a serum, and (maybe) Paula’s Choice’s CBD Milk, a very thin fluid. Sometimes I even skip that.
Texture-wise, Altruist’s Sunscreen is like a sunscreen of ye olden times. It’s THICK (and not the good kind). One finger length is enough of product: that amount equals roughly 1/4th tea spoon or 1.4ml.
And here’s the tea – directly after applying, this stings my eyes like hell and it’s incredibly hard to evenly spread because it starts to pill very quickly. I’ve absolutely no idea why this is described as “fast-absorbing” and “non-sticky”. None of this is true for my sensitive combination skin.
Finish
As a makeup base
It gets worse.
Sticky, oily looking, with a detectable film on my skin: it also has a white cast, and is absolutely not usable as a base for makeup application. I CAN make it work, depending on what products I use: just a toner and serum as base, and then blot (even my super weapon, Paula’s Choice’s Shine Stopper can’t turn this into a decent base for foundation). And blotting is not ideal when it comes to sunscreen. It works better with a matte liquid foundation or a powder foundation.
It is, in short, super finicky and time consuming when I use it on my face. Lightweight? Forget about it.
As a body sunscreen
In my not so humble opinion, this is not a face moisturiser, however it’s marketed. I think, though, that it would make a good body sunscreen (I couldn’t test it as such yet, because, well, winter in Europe) AND a very, very good hand cream with SPF.
I often get asked if I know of a good hand cream or lotion with a high SPF that’s easily available and affordable. Strangely, those are hard to find. Until now, because Altruist is a very, very good one: it sinks in – well, not quickly, but during a decent timeframe, it doesn’t dry out my hands and I don’t leave finger prints all over. Ladies and gentlemen, if you ever wanted to protect your hands from UV rays: this is it.
Comparison
I usually stay far away from sunscreens like that (until my curiosity and hope for a high UVA protection wins): but its texture reminds me a bit of Garnier’s Anti-Age Super UV (that I also didn’t like), or maybe even Ultra Violette’s Extreme Screen Body & Hand SPF (sans sparkles). When it comes to body sunscreen, Garnier’s Eco Designed Protection Lotion that we both loved is (incredibly!) lighter in texture and skin-feel.
Checklist
Rating
Not for me.
The only thing this one has going for me is the high UVA protection and the price. I guess it’ll make a very nice body sunscreen for an astonishing price, though – and I really like to use it as a hand cream.
Availability & Price
Altruist is affordable with a capital A. 14€ will get you TWO tubes of 100ml each. Generally speaking they’re available through Amazon, although in the UK, they’re available in physical stores as well.
Swedish brand grüum has a cooperation with Altruist: they’ve repackaged the same SPF in their chic packaging (and sell it slightly more expensive). But: that means that they’re easily available via Beautybay, Douglas, Lookfantastic.
Please note that this post 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.
Thank you for sharing this information.
But I had one doubt in my mind I see the skin change in the blog images but these products will work on every type of skin?
Hi Kirti, I honestly don’t think that Altruist SPF50 will work on every type of skin. I do think the white cast will get more pronounced the darker your skin is, and also, I wouldn’t recommend this one for oily skin types. HTH!