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Mineral Sunscreen Review: Kiss My Face Kids Natural Sunscreen

Looking for a reef-safe sunscreen that uses only zinc oxide as an active ingredient? You may want to keep looking!

Safe Natural Mineral Sunscreens that are just awful. Over 100 brands tested by one family.

With over 100 natural mineral sunscreens tested by my family of six in the past 10 years, we’ve had our share of miserable failures. White out? Paint drying? Sticky, chalky, makes you look like an alabaster statue or Casper the ghost?

I will tell you this: it’s entirely possible to find a zinc oxide sunscreen that is reef safe, really works, and goes on smoothly.

This brand is not one of them.

Read the full review below to find out all of its transgressions, and then be sure to go to my ultimate guide to natural mineral sunscreens to find a safe sunscreen that really works.

Kiss My Face Kids Natural Mineral Sunscreen SPF 30
Overall
1.8
  • Ease of Application
  • Clean Ingredients
  • Water Resistant
  • Effectiveness

Details:

Kiss My Face Kids Natural Mineral Sunscreen Review Note: There is a Kiss My Face version that made a much higher list!! The “organics” is far better!

Price Range: $$$$

EWG rating: 3

SPF: 30

Active ingredient(s): titanium dioxide 6%, zinc oxide 6%

Other ingredients: Aqua, aloe barbadensis (aloe vera) leaf juice, helianthus annuus (sunflower) seed oil, acrylates copolymer, lecithin, glycerin, xanthan gum, glycine soja (soybean oil), cocamidopropyl betaine, cocos nucifera (coconut) oil, butyrospermum parkii (shea) butter, camellia sinensis leaf (green tea) extract, daucus carota sativa (carrot) root extract, agaricus bisponus (mushroom) betaglucan, tocopheryl acetate (vitamin E), olea europaea (olive) oil, retinyl palmitate (vitamin A), phenoxyethanol, …

Antioxidants added: sunflower seeds oil, green tea leaf extract, Vitamin E

Where to purchase: Amazon

Ease of application: – major problems rubbing into even slightly moist skin

Scent: neutral, neighbor girl didn’t like it, kind of smells like cooking oil

Water resistant? Unlikely. It immediately made white streaks when wet (like it was running off the skin) and the reviews on Amazon say “not resistant.”

My experience: I thought this one was lovely on the first attempt, one of our first semi-warm days at noontime. It rubbed right in really well. But the second time we used it, it was a little bit warmer. We learned that if the skin is even slightly moist from sweat, Kiss my Face turns into little balls, flakes, and solid pieces of yuck, especially on the face, ironically! Once that happens, it’s hard to even get the chunks back off the skin.

The ingredients include soybean oil, which is definitely not my favorite particularly considering allergies, and phenoxyethanol, which I researched a few years back on another sunscreen on this list. I found that it’s sort of natural, sort of not, probably not toxic, but so much less “natural” than real ingredients not made in a lab, of course. It’s a 3 or 4 at EWG, which is okay but not the best. Kiss my Face also includes cocamidopropyl betaine, rated 4 at EWG, and lecithin, ringing in at a 3.

PLUS no sunscreen should ever include synthetic Vitamin A. Many studies (cited above in this post) link it to major health problems in the sun…which is where we wear sunscreen. Ouch. (2020 UPDATE: Most current version does not contain Vitamin A.)

After all those negatives…why bother? This one is off my list.

Pros

  • Hmmm …

Cons

  • contains synthetic vitamin A, among other sketchy ingredients
  • impossible to put on skin that is even slightly moist
  • contains soy
  • not water resistant

Wondering if this one is the very best natural sunscreen for your family?

I organized alllll the sunscreens we reviewed in each one’s recommendation category – one page, at-a-glance to find out what is safe to buy AND works! Print it or save to your phone for reference!

The guide also includes answers to questions people ask me all the time:

  • Which brand rubs in the clearest?
  • What’s the best for all day outdoor sports?
  • How do I save money on natural sunscreens?
  • What looks good on ladies’ faces?
  • Is there an option that is FAST to apply to wiggly kids?

I’ll send a copy to your email so you can see it right away and find it again later!

Have you tried this sunscreen? Was your experience similar to mine?

Unless otherwise credited, photos are owned by the author or used with a license from Canva or Deposit Photos.