ince we know enough skincare accounts haven’t told you already, your skin’s the largest organ in your possession, and like every organ big or small, it falls on your capable shoulders to protect it. Like everyone else who cares about their skin, we’ve done it all – double cleansing (and it is the way forward, friends), seven skins (you do seven layers of essence) using one exfoliating acid in the day, another in the night (BHA in the day, glycolic at night)…and frankly, it gets a bit much.

Yes, there are days you will look forward to watching the right creepy movie while applying seven layers of toning essence (here, let us plug Primary’s Jasmine Dew Mist), but there are more days when washing your face before bed is a task and a half. So what’s a good way to make sure your skin is still cared for, without the bells and whistles? Because a complicated skincare routine is fun and for sure a good investment, but it’s just not sustainable.

So we simplified it for ourselves. Double cleanse at night, moisturize, and make sure to wear sunscreen during the day. For this, we have trial-and-errored our way through several locally available options, just for you. Here’s our verdict.

Sun Block

This is the sunscreen you’ve seen most in your life, at your local pharmacist’s as well as in your mom’s handbag. The deal with physical sunscreens is that they leave a visible white cast on your skin, which can be off-putting, but you just have to let the cream sink in and then pat it down to no cast. Regular use of this whether we were indoors or out; on overcast days or really hot and sunny ones did result in visibly better looking skin. The price is also quite easy on the pocket. The only downside is that some ingredient in this makes eyes water relentlessly so it isn’t great for using around the eye area.

Sun Coat Gel

Super runny, sinks in easy, layers well with moisturizer and makeup. No big complaints with this one, except it is a chemical sunscreen so we’d recommend switching up between this and your physical sunscreen.

OG Organix Every Day Is Sun Day Hydrating Mineral Sunscreen

This one we had high hopes for. If your sunscreen is packing essential skincare ingredients, that is basically the answer to simplifying daytime skincare right there. Moisturizer with SPF is great, but doesn’t quite provide the kind of coverage you’re looking for.

The OG Organix Hydrating sunscreen is meant for normal to dry and dehydrated skin, and so we will assume is good for mature skin, as well as winter months. However, upon application the hydrating elements start sweating and we can’t quite decide if the sunscreen is still on or we need to reapply right away. The other issue is, if you rub the cream right in instead of letting it set a bit, it pills quite a bit, and flakes into eyebrows and lashes. Apart from that, we think this might just be the ticket to daytime SPF come December. The sunscreen is also available in a formulation for oily and acne-prone skin, as well as tinted formulations.