Sunscreen & Self-Tanners

Facial fluid, beach lotion, spray and stick:

all of them are sunscreen, but each one is made for a different day. Facial sunscreens are light fluids and gels worn alone or under make-up at the office; the tinted ones stop well short of what you find under make-up. Body lotions come in the bigger bottles packed for the coast, many with a water-resistant claim on the label. A spray covers a back or a child who will not stand still in seconds, though the wind off the Pacific takes a share of it. A stick is small and mess-free, the one that rides in a pocket up a volcano. After-sun gels are for the evening after, beside the everyday moisturisers in body creams and lotions. Self-tanners are the other half: gradual lotions that build colour over several days, and mousses and drops for a faster, darker result, usually with a mitt. A bottle sold as a tanning oil or bronzer often carries a low SPF or none, so go by the label rather than the name.

Mineral filters, water resistance and the SPF number:

the back of the tube settles most choices. For a day on the sand or a hike, most people take the highest SPF on the shelf and carry it for a second coat; for the office, a fluid light enough to wear every morning matters more than the number. Mineral formulas list zinc oxide or titanium dioxide and can leave a greyish film on brown skin, which is why tinted mineral versions exist; chemical-filter fluids go on clear. Water-resistant means tested for a set time in water, not an afternoon in the waves. With self-tanner it is speed against control: a gradual lotion forgives a patchy first go, a dark mousse does not.

A local sunscreen tube against an imported facial fluid:

a tube of locally made or regional sunscreen costs around Q50 to Q70 in Guatemala, while a dermatological facial fluid in a small bottle runs from about Q120 to Q200. Few people cross town for the cheap tube, even sealed. The facial fluids are where passing one on makes sense: someone picked the wrong texture, or bought a second bottle that never got opened. Sealed and well inside its date, it sells at a discount a buyer will notice. Opened, even lightly, it fetches little, because nobody can tell how hot the bag it travelled in got.

Last Semana Santa’s bottle, a separated lotion and an old self-tanner:

an opened sunscreen that went to the beach has spent hours on hot sand, and heat is what ruins it. Find the date stamped into the crimped end of the tube or on the base, and treat a bottle with no readable date as old. Squeeze a little out: lotion that runs watery and then lumpy has separated, and a gritty feel, a yellowed colour or a sharp smell all mean it is finished. Mineral formulas settle, so shake before judging. Fire a spray once to see that it mists evenly; a cracked or sweaty stick has melted and set again. Old self-tanner turns darker in the bottle, smells stronger and tans orange and streaky. A well-known facial fluid priced far below every other listing deserves a question about where it came from.

A spare from the beach bag, or a mousse that came out too dark:

photograph the front, the back label with the SPF and filters, and the date, close enough to read. Say whether it is sealed, and for an opened one, how much is left and whether it went to the coast or stayed in a bathroom cupboard. For self-tanner, give the shade as printed, light, medium or dark, and say whether the mitt comes with it, washed. A buyer coming in from Mazatenango for a sealed facial fluid will want to read the date in daylight before paying, and anyone collecting an opened bottle in the run-up to Semana Santa will ask where it spent the last one.