FAQs

What is Skinnies?

Skinnies is revolutionising sunscreen as we know it! It's very different to the white and sticky sunscreen you may have grown up with. Skinnies is like a balmy, cocoa butter gel and glides on clear, due to its waterless technology. It dries fast, isn't greasy and feels amazing on your skin.

What do you mean by 'Skinnies contains no water'?

Normal sunscreens contain 50-70% water (which doesn’t protect you from the sunshine!). Having water as the main ingredient in sunscreen means you have to slop lots on, it’s white and greasy, you have to wait 15-20 minutes for the water to evaporate and you need to reapply often. Skinnies is not diluted with water so it’s like a concentrate. It’s super effective and a little goes a long way.

What is Organogel?

Skinnies Organogel forms a thin layer on top of your skin holding the UV filters in place so Skinnies does what it should, where it should. There’s no wait time for dry down or evaporation. It provides instant broad spectrum UV protection.

How do you use Skinnies?

Skinnies is great for face & body. Use Skinnies thoroughly and sparingly for instant long lasting UV protection. A pea size blob will cover your face, neck and ears. The industry recommended amount of normal sunscreen for your whole body is a shot glass (30ml).

With Skinnies you use a teaspoon amount (around 6ml) for your body - 5 times less than typical sunscreens! Check the water resistance rating and reapply if you’re in the water for extended periods or if you towel dry yourself.

What’s in it?  

Skinnies is made with minimal ingredients for maximum efficacy. All ingredients rate well on EWG and Paula’s Choice. There are no ingredients of animal origin so it’s safe for vegans. We’ve opted for chemical UV filters as well as physical to make sure Skinnies protects you from UVA and UVB rays (it’s broad spectrum) and leaves your skin clear and not white. 

What’s not in it?

Skinnies does not contain: water, parabens, preservatives, alcohol, thickeners, emulsifiers, nano-particles, fragrances, mineral or paraffin oil, di-methicone or silicones.

Is it normal for the formula to initially be thick?

Yes, the gel inside the tubes can sometimes be thick on the initial squeeze. A handy tip is to give the tube a couple of squeezes on the sides with the cap on to help meld the gel inside and soften it a bit before you do the first squeeze.

Another handy tip is to pop your Skinnies into the fridge for 2-3 days, as this sometimes helps reset the gel inside. Skinnies responds nicely to heat/cold.

Is Skinnies good for sensitive skin and babies?

Skinnies is good for sensitive skin and babies (we recommend a patch test). It’s non-comedogenic for people with acne and oily skin and we use it directly over our kids’ eczema without complaint.

By removing the water we’ve eliminated a lot of ingredients that cause skin irritation! A lot of people tell us they can use Skinnies when they react to other sunscreens.

We always recommend a patch test for sensitive skin types and especially for little people.

Is Skinnies safe for people with acne or eczema?

Yes! Skinnies is non-comedogenic so it won't clog your pores or cause acne. We still would recommend you patch test before use however.

Skinnies products are oil based, but being waterless you don’t need to slop on a lot - so even oily skin, with a small amount applied thoroughly it will feel great. We tend to say if it’s feeling greasy you have used too much!

Skinnies is safe for people to use with eczema. We have had countless parents write in expressing how happy they are that they have found a brand that doesn't cause skin flare ups with their childrens eczema. The founders of Skinnies, Olly and Martha, also used the range on their kids eczema with no complaint.

Is the Skinnies range natural?

The entire Skinnies range is made with natural ingredients but none of our products are 100% natural.

Is Skinnies considered 'reef-safe'?

Yes, Skinnies contains no nasties and is 100% reef-safe by the Hawaiian reef safety act!

Is Skinnies tested on animals?

Absolutely not. Testing on animals is not something we condone. Skinnies is only ever tested on humans who are both willing and happy about it!

We also sometimes get asked if Skinnies is okay to use on your pets pink noses!  Whilst Skinnies is a fantastic sun care solution and we are always confident in its abilities we do not test on animals so would not recommend using this product on your animal and instead opt for a dog-specific SPF. Skinnies is formulated for us two-legged friends!

Can vegans use Skinnies?

There are no ingredients of animal origin in any products in the Skinnies range so it is absolutely safe for vegans.

Is Skinnies gluten-free?

None of the Skinnies products contain any raw materials that are sources of gluten, or derived from other materials that are sources of gluten.

Is Skinnies tested to make sure it works?

Skinnies complies with the AU/NZ standard 2604:2012 and AU/NZ standard 2604:2021.

Skinnies is independently tested for SPF efficacy, broad spectrum and water resistance.

Skinnies products are made to comply with sunscreen standards around the world namely USA, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Our products are independently tested by Eurofins, a reputable third party testing facility.

Where is Skinnies made?

Skinnies is proudly made in Auckland, New Zealand in a GMP facility. 

Is Skinnies a friend of the environment?

Our driving sustainability goal is to not waste water, and by not using water in our products we save over 100,000 litres per year. We also reduce carbon miles with less packaging and lower logistics footprint with smaller packages.

We are reducing our carbon footprint by using sugar cane packaging that captures CO2 during the manufacturing process.

We work with suppliers to use ingredients with minimal aquatic toxicity considering our biodegradation impact in water ways.

We’re an environmentally friendly lot at Skinnies and encourage you to be as well. There are many ways our oceans are polluted and impacted, not least by rubbish, plastic, run off, emissions and global warming contributing to rising ocean temperatures. This temperature change and rubbish causes most of the damage to coral reefs in our precious oceans.

Are Skinnies tubes recyclable?

We recommend checking with your local recycling facilities. Our Sugarcane tubes are a plant-based plastic that captures CO2 during the manufacturing process.

Sugarcane-based plastics are physically and chemically identical to traditional plastic, therefore Sugarcane can be recycled in the same chains used for recycling traditional PE materials. However a lot of cosmetic containers are not recycled in New Zealand through large recycling facilities.

There are some good programmes setup by Terracycle for these tricky to recycle cosmetic containers and they would likely accept your Skinnies tube.

We recommend cutting your tube open and cleaning out to give it the best chance of being recycled, it's also a good way to get every last drop of Skinnies out!

The Sunscreen Standards have updated recently and while Skinnies formulations all pass and comply, there is a wording update required on all packaging.

Water Resistance: NZ sunscreens must now only label as either 40 minutes, 2 hours or 4 hours water resistant (not 80 minutes). So even though Skinnies Sungel SPF30 is tested and rates 80 minutes water resistance, under the new standards this now needs to be labelled 40 minutes water resistance.

The Skinnies KIDS SPF50 remains at 2 hours water resistant and the Conquer SPF50+ remains 4 hours water resistant.         

What are the differences between the Skinnies products?

Our original Skinnies Sungel is SPF30 and our most popular for everyday lifestyle and is 40 mins water resistant! This works super well under makeup too.

The Skinnies Conquer is SPF50+ and is 4 hours water resistant and purpose designed for outdoor adventure and ocean sport. It’s like a balmy cocoa butter gel.

The Kids is also SPF50, it’s a soft honey colour gel with a coconut scent and is 2 hours water resistant. Kids love it because it rubs on clear and won't sting their eyes! Each of the Kids products is the same fantastic formula but comes in fun limited edition packaging options. 

Skinnies - New Zealand made product range (Current Nov 2023)

Skinnies SPF30 Sungel 40 minutes water resistant 

Everyday lifestyle product

Organogel base, Uvinul T150, Neo Heliopan E1000, Uvinul A Plus, Bemotrizinol, Titanium Dioxide, Vitamin E.

Skinnies SPF50+ CONQUER 4 hours water resistant 

Pro protection for extreme and water activities 

Organogel base, Octocrylene 50mg/g, Bemotrizinol 50mg/g, Zinc Oxide 25mg/g, Uvinul A Plus 50mg/g, Vitamin E, Manuka Oil.

SKINNIES LOOKS SPF30 BeautyGel 40 minutes water resistant – Light, Medium & Bronze tints

Everyday UV protection with light tint for face – protects, tints, moisturises, repairs

Organogel base, Uvinul T150, Neo Heliopan E1000, Uvinul A Plus, Bemotrizinol, Titanium Dioxide, Vitamin E, Mica tints, Vitamin B.

SKINNIES SPF50 KIDS 2 hours water resistant

UV protection for adventure loving youngsters

Organogel base, Uvinul A Plus, Bemotrizinol, Octocrylene, Coconut Oil, Aloe Leaf Extract, hypo allergenic Coconut Sweetie fragrance. 

 

	SPF (Sun Protection Factor)	WR (Water Resistance)	Broad Spectrum UVA Rating	Indicative PA Result	Indicative Boots * Rating
Skinnies Sungel	30	80mins	0.564	PA++++	***
Skinnies Conquer Sport	50+	4hrs	0.405	PA++++	****
Skinnies Kids	50	2hrs	0.569	PA++++	****
Skinnies Looks	30	80mins	0.564	PA++++	***

 

Any other questions you have please get in touch with us at hello@skinnies.co.nz or through our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/SkinniesNZ/