Kose Suncut UV Milk – reformulation comparison

Hello everyone! This will be more of a first impression because I think a lot of ppl are curious about the reformulated 2024 version of the Kose Suncut UV Milk before purchasing. I'll update the post after wearing it for longer than a day and test it out in different environments and under makeup.

If you want a TL;DR: It's better than the "old" 2023 formulation. More silky, lightweight, liquidy, sinks in way faster and I think has an even more matte finish.

My skin type and climate: oily skin (not too much but still), dehydration issues, acne-prone. I live in Central Europe so the climate is mild, no extreme heat or humidity, on the drier side I'd say.

What I'm looking for in a sunscreen: matte or velvety finish. Never glowy, never "natural finish" (those are usually still too glowy for my liking). I think because I have problematic skin with PIE and a pimple here and there I just look greasy and unwashed. I don't need the sunscreen to stay matte all day long, I just want for the oils in my T-Zone to look manageable and not greasy. I don't mind blotting or powdering.

Review: So the old formulation was basically my first "matte" sunscreen I've tried after all of the other hyped ones which were always shiny. I also refuse to pay more than 10 euro (give or take) per 50ml of sunscreen – I just feel like with the amount of good sunscreens out there there's simply no need (though the Dr. G sunscreen is making me rethink that a little bit).

I wore this today without any makeup and not much running around outside. I'll update the review when I wear it a couple more times.

The old formulation was fine, but it still felt a little bit heavy and it wasn't all that matte as some ppl claimed it to be. Plus it smelled quite a bit of alcohol, which I didn't mind that much but some ppl might have, and it sometimes stung my eyes by the end of the day. All in all, I was willing to go back to it if I haven't tried anything better but it was not my HG.

I feel like the new formulation fixed all of the issues I've had with the old one. It's still a hybrid sunscreen, but personally I haven't had any whitecast issues either with the old one or the new one. I'm an NC12 in MAC so maybe someone with a darker skin tone would have issues. It's much more matte now, like I didn't have the need to blot at all with the small amount of oils that came through. Normally I'd be pretty oily without any sunscreen on. If you thought the old one wasn't matte enough, then I recommend trying out this one. It's also more lightweight and sinks in faster.

Now for the negative. The size is now 10ml smaller. It used to be 60ml, now it's 50ml. The price on Stylevana is still the same though, it's still around 8,5 euros so I'm not complaining too much. Another nitpicky thing is that the smell stayed the same.

They added some extra sunscreen filters for better protection and it's more durable now and they recommend using it for aquatic activities. It's supposed to be resistant to ocean water – whatever that means.