No matter that summer is over in my neck of the woods, we do wear sunscreen the whole year, don’t we?!??! Enjoy my Tocobo Watery Sun Cream review!
The Brand
Tocobo is a Korean skincare brand that was founded in 2018 with a mission to provide high-quality and effective skincare products that are gentle and safe for all skin types.
‘TOCOBO is always challenging the status quo.
Tocobo
Our designs seek to innovate current trends.
Modern art, nature, and philosophy are the foundation of our inspiration.’
Tocobo Watery Sun Cream review: Description
Comfortable feeling like skincare: The mild, natural-derived formula absorbs moisture and softly without cloudiness (sic), providing a refreshing finish without stickiness.
Recommend this to anyone
– Skin that is usually sensitive and easily sensitive
– Skin with makeup lifted due to sunscreen
– Looking for a moist and light sun cream without white cast
– When you need a sun cream with safe ingredients
Tocobo
What it is
Tocobo Watery Sun Cream is a Korean sunscreen that I’ve been seeing more and more since the beginning of the year. It’s manufactured by Kolmar, a very reputable Korean sunscreen manufacturer, and has an astonishing filter combo with an astonishing finish.
I’ll add right here that I find their marketing claims both stupid and annoying (‘natural-derived’, ‘safe’), and their brand description a word salad I sat in front of and was stunned by its weirdness (what’s modern art to do with sunscreen?), but let’s look at the product itself.
Ingredients
Water, Dibutyl Adipate, Propanediol, Ethylhexyl Triazone, Terephthalylidene Dicamphor Sulfonic Acid, Polyglyceryl-3 Distearate, Niacinamide, Tromethamine, Cetearyl Alcohol, 1,2-Hexanediol, Diethylamino Hydroxybenzoyl Hexyl Benzoate, Pentylene Glycol, Polysilicone-15, Vigna Radiata Seed Extract, Gossypium Herbaceum (cotton) Extract, Sophora Flavescens Root Extract, Rheum Palmatum Root/Stalk Extract, Scutellaria Baicalensis Root Extract, Phellodendron Amurense Bark Extract, Oenothera Biennis (evening primrose) Flower Extract, Ulmus Davidiana Root Extract, Pinus Palustris Leaf Extract, Pueraria Lobata Root Extract, Sodium Hyaluronate, Gossypium Herbaceum (cotton) Seed Oil, Polymethylsilsesquioxane, Sodium Polyacryloyldimethyl Taurate, Glyceryl Stearate, Bis-Ethylhexyloxyphenol Methoxyphenyl Triazine, Potassium Cetyl Phosphate, Glycerin, Glyceryl Stearate Citrate, Inulin Lauryl Carbamate, Ammonium Acryloyldimethyltaurate/Vp Copolymer, Ethylhexylglycerin, Adenosine, Butylene Glycol, Tocopherol, Fragrance
Tocobo
Notable ingredients
Fragrance: slightly herbal, and right at the end of the inci list it doesn’t bother me much.
This has a whopping amount of Niacinamide (IF I had to guess, I’d say between 5 and 10%, but that’s guesswork that stems from it being on the inci list quite up high between the sunscreen filters, don’t quote me on that): keep that in mind if you use other products with niacinamide in your routine.
Hyaluronic Acid is always nice, as well as the antioxidants (always great to find in a sunscreen).
Filters
| Sunscreen Filter | Type | Spectrum | Remarks |
| Ethylhexyl Triazone / Uvinul T 150 | chemical / organic | photostable UVB filter | oil soluble, odorless & colorless powder, available everywhere except the US & Canada |
| Terephthalylidene Dicamphor Sulfonic Acid / Mexoryl SX / Ecamsule | chemical / organic | UVA, peak absorbance at 345 nm | L’Oreal exclusive, water soluble |
| Uvinul A Plus / Diethylamino Hydroxybenzoyl Hexyl Benzoate | chemical / organic | high UVA protection (320-400 nm) with peak protection at 354nm | high photostability, can be used up to 10%, available everywhere but the US & Canada |
| Polysilicone-15 / Parsol SLX | chemical / organic | UVB (290-320 nm), peak at 312 nm | Colorless to pale yellow liquid with nice and non-shiny finish. Can stabilize Avobenzone and works well with Ensulizole |
| 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 brand is supposedly vegan and cruelty-free, claims it’s ‘reef-friendly’ (I know, I know), and doesn’t mention any sustainable practices at all.
Application
The Watery Sun Cream comes out of the tube as a light, lotion-like gel-cream. Its smell dissipates very quickly, so don’t worry about having to smell it for the whole day. It feels very refreshing during application. There’s just a tiny bit of weirdness: when its properly dried down (that takes a while), you realise you very effectively glued your baby hairs and eyebrows in place. Nothing that a brush can’t cope with, of course, and it makes me happy to see proper film-forming, but – just a bit weird.
It also stings my skin a bit upon application, but that is because my skin right now is overly sensitized from using Tretinoin, and I wouldn’t draw conclusions from that apart from Tret being a bitch.
It also doesn’t sting my eyes or does similarly annoying things – no white cast, no anything.
Finish
I’ve used a lot of weird product combos layered underneath the Tocobo Watery Sun Cream. (Because – Tret.) And I’m happy to report that absolutely nothing has made it pill. Right now, I do use a variety of toners, serums AND moisturizer underneath my SPF. Drying down takes a while, depending on what you layer underneath.
Similarly, the finish depends on your base: velvety (true velvet, not skin-like) when you use a light base, more bouncy-glowy-tacky with a heavier moisturizer underneath. I can feel my skin getting drier underneath during the day, but again, it’s Tret, and not my usual reaction. I guess without Tret I’d unequivocally love the finish and texture, and would be curious to see how it fares in the heights of summer.
Makeup Application
This works simply great as a (somewhat) sticky primer, and makeup of all kinds works great with a Tocobo base.
Comparison
I honestly don’t really know what to compare it to: Beauty of Joseon and Skin1004’s sunscreens have a much tackier finish, even if their texture is comparable. It’s also very different to the Euro sunscreens with alcohol: Those either yield a true skin-like, traceless finish, or a very glowy one.
Paula’s Choice Youth-Extending sunscreen finish miiiiight be similar, but honestly, Tocobo’s finish is a class on its own (at least in this Fall weather, on my dry-ish skin – it might be different in the height of summer).
Filter-wise: oh la la! I was seriously impressed. This one has IMPRESSIVE filters, and a great coverage of UVA and UVB wavelengths. (Sadly, I don’t know its PPD.) For me, it combines the best of both sunscreen worlds: the extracts and antioxidants plus the pleasant formula and finish from Asian sunscreens, with the new Euro filters.
Tocobo Watery Sun Cream review: Checklist
Tocobo Watery Sun Cream review: Rating
There’s just one thing I don’t like when it comes to Tocobo’s Watery Sun Cream: the marketing. They jump on that clean and reef-safe bandwagon, which I don’t only hate, but also is incredibly lazy. You did find nothing else to market the product?!
It’s cost-effective, has great filters, and will work on a variety of skin types. It also is an incredible forgiving base that you don’t have to baby.
I can totally understand the hype.
Availability & Price
And here’s the pics that gave me wet shoes. The waves came a bit quicker than I thought! (And nearly took the tube with them. – All pics shot on Crete.)
50ml are between 10 and 16€ at A-Beauty retailers like Stylevana, YesStyle and so on. Be careful when you buy on Amazon (fakes galore).
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.
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