Sad we didn’t do a deal last Friday? Well, we’re making it up to you with a brand new partner and a really killer one today. Let’s meet Futurenatural, shall we? We love the look and feel of this site, and we dig the attitude too: “We’re not anti-science, we’re not blindly for nature, and we don’t profess to be perfect.” While the store carries many of our favorite staples—Kahina, RMS, Intelligent Nutrients, John Masters and so on—they also have some brands that we haven’t seen anywhere else. And this week’s deal will introduce you to something awesome!

Before we get to that, just one more thing: Futurenatural sells Scotch Naturals, our new favorite nail polish line. If you’re looking for an exciting color for the spring or summer, we HIGHLY recommend you throw one of these into your basket. Okay, that’s it! Onto the good stuff…

Here’s the deal: We’ve been on a face sunscreen kick lately, so with any order over $25 Futurenatural is offering you a free brand-new face sunscreen by ECO (Logical) (from the people who brought you Soleo Organic Sunscreen which—spoiler alert!—is one of our favorites). UPDATE: APPARENTLY THEY ARE NOT AFFILIATED WITH SOLEO–OUR BAD! SOLEO IS STILL ALIVE AND WELL AS A BRAND. This puppy — ECO Logical All Natural Sunscreen Lotion, FACE (SPF 30) — is water-based, is not oily (for those of you who don’t like the slickness of some other screens), absorbs amazingly with no white cast, and wears like a dream under makeup.

Simply enter the promo code ECO checkout to get your freebie.

Recap: Spend $25, get a FULL SIZE free face sunscreen. Boom!

Note: The free product will ship automatically with anyone using the code even though it won’t show up during checkout.

Here’s the complete and awesome ingredient list:

Active Ingredients: zinc oxide 20%
Inactive ingredients: Purified water, Isoamyl laurate, capric/caprylic triglyceride, sorbitan stearate, sucrose cocoate, caprylyl glycol, cetearyl alcohol, cetearyl glucoside, hydroxypropyl starch phosphate, polyhydroxy stearic acid, xanthan gum, cucumis sativa (cucumber) seed extract, rosa canina (rosehip) seed oil, camellia sinesis (green tea) extract.

Happy trails, and have a great (and hopefully sunny) weekend!

P.S. Futurenatural ships to Canada for a flat rate of $20 up to five pounds.

It’s true: I have said nice things about this sunscreen before, but our site was much smaller then, and our book wasn’t even out, and I still love it, and it’s under-covered in the naturals world, so without further ado:

Vive Sana Solar to Power Ultra SPF 40

In my hunt for the perfect sunscreen, I’ve tried a lot and found only a few I really like. I am pale, I am pink, and I am pitta, so sun protection, especially in summer, is a bigee for me. I’d been hearing good thing about Vive Sana Solar to Polar Ultra sunscreen, so I was thrilled when I got my hands on a tube from Spirit Beauty Lounge last summer.

Vive Sana, which has an SPF of 40, calls itself the strongest all-natural sunscreen on earth. Bold! But does it live up to the promise?

Sure seems to. I’ve been using it on and off all year and can say that it stays put under makeup, offers great protection, hasn’t given me any problems (by which I mean zits), and is loaded with skin-friendly ingredients. My beef, if I have to pick one, is that it takes a while to sink in, which means you have to wait a little while when you’re doing your face in the morning, but that’s a concession I’m more than happy to make for a product this clean.

The actives here are zinc and titanium dioxide, it contains free-radical-eating antioxidants like green tea, soothing chamomile, beeswax and some skin-compatible oils. Here’s a complete list:

Active Ingredients: Titanium Dioxide 8.5%, Zinc Oxide 3.5%

Ingredients: Organic Soybean Oil, Organic Safflower Oil, Beeswax, Organic Olive Oil, Organic Avocado Oil, Organic Jojoba Seed Oil, Alumina (natural mineral), Stearic Acid (natural fatty acid), Organic Apricot Kernel Oil, Organic Glycerin, Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E), Sunflower Seed Oil, Ginkgo Biloba Leaf Extract, Oat Kernel Extract, Green Tea Leaf Extract, Chamomile Extract, Raspberry Seed Oil, Natural Green Tea Fragrance.

It’s sold at Nubonau, Spirit Beauty Lounge, and direct from Vive Sana (which also lists other retailers).

Have you tried this screen?

It’s part two of our series! A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending the Natural Products Expo here in So-Cal. This giant trade show is like Disney Land for health buffs—virtually every natural (or so-called natural) brand under the sun has a booth there, where they dole out their samples all day long.

While it was primarily devoted to food, the natural beauty presence at the show has grown a lot. So you can imagine that I got a little excited and a lot overwhelmed as I searched for new brands!

But of all the products I saw at the Natural Product Expo, this sunscreen from an Australian company called Grahams made one of the biggest impressions. Here’s why: This super-clean sunscreen is made up of more than 25% zinc oxide, and yet it leaves NO FILM. Like, none.

Grahams SunClear SPF 30 Natural Sunscreen

First of all, I adore the texture. While it looks like it cream, it applies like a natural oil—which means it’s a little shiny at first, but it absorbs super fast. It feels so hydrating and I’ve worn it a few times now under makeup and for a girl who rarely wears sunscreen (eeks, I know!), I’m feeling like a convert.

One of the main ingredients is rosehip oil, which is a favorite of companies like Pai and Evan Healy, so it’s no wonder this stuff feels good. Here’s the full ingredient list off the bottle:

Active ingredient: 25.9% Zinc Oxide

Ingredients: Capric/Caprylic Triglycerides, Rose Hip Oil, Grapeseed Oil, Sesame Seed Oil, Shea Butter, Vegetable Oil, Vitamin E, Vitamin A, Coconut

Now, a few important notes: Do not use this product if you don’t like coconut oil, or the smell of coconut (both things I happen to love). That’s what Caprylic Triglycerides are, and the addition of actual coconut at the end imparts a decidedly tropical smell—though it’s a very natural one. This ain’t Hawaiian Tropic, I promise. Also, the formulation they sell in Australia contains phenoxyethanol, but the U.S. formulation—which is the one we are recommending—DOES NOT (and the product does not contain water so there are no bacteria concerns). Just don’t get confused when you see phenoxyethanol listed on their site.

Another note: This product is not marketed solely as a face product, and it comes in a fairly large bottle. It is all-purpose, and would be great as a body block and perfect for kids too!

So, where can you buy it here? For now it looks like you can get it on Amazon, but we recommend you call Evolue (310-289-1560) instead, and Jean will send it to you. We were together at the Expo and discovered it together—and she immediately decided to carry it at her shop.

So now you’ve read about two of our favorite screens. What’s your favorite?

We asked you last week if you wear sunscreen every day and we’re pretty sure you broke our record on number and length of comments (if you haven’t yet weighed in, and haven’t yet seen the awesome still of Spicoli, please click here). Now we want to get started, but first a checklist that we are using to consider the performance of a screen:

• It can’t cause zits.
• It can’t cast us in a white glow.
• It can’t be make us look like we’ve been rolling around in vaseline.
• It can’t be overly matte either.
• It has to work well.
• It has to wear well under makeup.
• It can’t smell gross.

Obviously all product considerations produce a sort of mental check list in our minds, but sunscreen is especially tough because there’s a demand for form and function that you just can’t fake. With an antiager, you can’t tell right away if it works (probably because most don’t! Ha.). But if a sunscreen doesn’t work, you’re a sad, burned mess.

To get the ball rolling on our Five Face Sunscreens We Love series, I’ll start with a vegan one.

100% Pure’s Argan Oil Moisturizer SPF 30

I test drove this puppy in New York for a couple of weeks and liked it a lot, but let’s be real: a sunscreen that performs on a girl who spends all day inside in an overcast city isn’t exactly groundbreaking. But I just got back from five days with Alexandra in sunny Los Angeles, where we spent a lot of time outside (for me, anyway), and I am happy to report that it worked like a charm! No burns, no major freckling, nada.

The lotion feels very light. Though it’s technically a moisturizer, it’s definitely too light for me on its own for hydration. I have been using a plumping, hydrating hydrosol and another day cream under my 100% Pure and have been loving it. It’s very cosmetically appealing: it feels light on my face, makeup sits nicely on top of it, and it hasn’t caused any breakouts—all of which made me wonder how good it could possible be as a screen, which is where the ingredients come in:

Ingredients: Active Ingredients: 24.8 % Zinc Oxide

Inactive Ingredients: Organic Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice1, Rgania Spinosa Kernel (Argan) Oil, Rosa Canina Seed (Rosehip Oil) Extract, Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Extracts of: Euphorbia Cerifera Cera (Candelilla Wax), Organic Camellia Sinensis (Green Tea) Leaf2, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf, Origanum Vulgar (Oregano), Thymus Vulgaris (Thyme), Citrus Grandis (Grapefruit Seed) Seed, Hydrastis Canadensis (Goldenseal), Lonicera Caprifolium (Japanese Honeysuckle) and Cinnamomum Zeylanicum Bark (Cinnamon)

Big high five on this one! Stay tuned for the next four. Have you tried one you love?