Reading labels
Retinol vs Retinal vs Retinyl Palmitate: What Is Actually in Your Bottle
They are all called retinol on the front. The back of the bottle tells you which one you actually bought.
Sun protection
Mineral or Chemical Sunscreen: How to Tell Which You Have
Two names on the label answer it. Here is how to find them, and what the difference does and does not mean.
You do not need to guess, and you do not need the brand to tell you. Turn the bottle over and look for two words: zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. If either is there, you have a mineral filter. If neither is, the filters are chemical, and they will be sitting among names like avobenzone, octocrylene or homosalate.
That is the whole test. The rest of this page is what the answer means, and how much it actually matters.
How common each one is
We read the ingredient lists of every sunscreen in Avina’s catalog that publishes one, and identified the UV filters in 1,251 of them.
Just over half of the sunscreens we could read use mineral filters alone, 38% use chemical filters alone, and 11% combine the two in one formula. Mineral is not the niche option it is sometimes framed as.
The filters, by name
There are only so many approved filters, so the list is short enough to recognise on sight.
| On the label | Type | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Zinc oxide | Mineral | The broadest single filter. Covers UVA and UVB on its own. |
| Titanium dioxide | Mineral | Strong on UVB, weaker on long UVA. Usually paired with zinc. |
| Avobenzone | Chemical | The main UVA filter in most Western sunscreens. Needs stabilising. |
| Octocrylene | Chemical | Often present to keep avobenzone from breaking down. |
| Homosalate, octisalate | Chemical | UVB filters. Common supporting cast rather than headline. |
| Tinosorb, Uvinul | Chemical | Newer, very photostable filters. Available in Europe and Asia, not in the US. |
That last row is why a European or Korean sunscreen often feels better than an American one at the same SPF. It is not marketing. The US approved list has not meaningfully changed in decades, so American formulators are working with older filters and have to use more of them.
What the difference actually is
The popular version, that mineral sits on top and reflects light while chemical absorbs into skin and converts light to heat, is mostly wrong on the first half. Mineral filters also work primarily by absorbing UV. The reflection is a small part of what zinc oxide does.
The differences that hold up are practical:
| Mineral | Chemical | |
|---|---|---|
| White cast | Common, worse on deeper skin tones | Essentially none |
| Texture | Thicker, can feel chalky | Usually lighter, more cosmetically elegant |
| Stinging eyes | Rare | More often reported |
| Photostability | Very stable | Varies. Avobenzone needs help; newer filters are excellent |
| Reactive skin | Often the easier option | Fine for most people |
Which one should you use?
The one you will actually put on, in the amount it was tested at, every day. That sounds like a dodge and it is the single most evidence-backed sentence on this page.
A well-formulated sunscreen of either type, applied properly, protects you. A better sunscreen you dislike and apply thinly protects you less than a cheap one you apply properly. Texture and cosmetic feel are not vanity concerns here. They are the things that determine whether the product gets used.
Reasonable tie-breakers: mineral if your skin is reactive or you are choosing for a small child; chemical if white cast is a problem for your skin tone or you wear it under makeup.
The part that matters more than the filter
Nearly every real-world sunscreen failure is a quantity problem, not a chemistry problem. SPF is measured at 2mg per square centimetre of skin, which works out at roughly a third of a teaspoon for a face and neck. Most people apply between a quarter and a half of that, and an SPF 50 applied at half thickness does not give you SPF 25. The relationship is worse than linear.
- Use more than feels sensible. Two fingers’ length laid along your index and middle finger is the usual rule of thumb for a face and neck.
- Reapply if you are outdoors. Every two hours, and after swimming or heavy sweating. Indoors all day is a different situation and one morning application is reasonable.
- Check for UVA protection. In Europe look for the letters UVA inside a circle; in Japan and Korea, a PA rating with plus signs; in the US, the words broad spectrum. SPF alone only describes UVB.
- Do not dilute it. Mixing sunscreen into moisturizer or foundation lowers the protection you get.
A note on the numbers above
Our counts come from matching known filter names in published ingredient lists. Of the 1,886 sunscreens in the catalog that list ingredients, we could confidently identify filters in 1,251. The rest use filter names we do not match, mostly non-US filters and partial lists, so we left them out of the percentages rather than guessing. The split is over what we could read, not over every sunscreen that exists.
Related reading
Sunscreen is the last step of a morning routine, and the order of the steps before it matters more than people expect: see what order to apply skincare in. To read the rest of the label with the same confidence, try how to read an ingredients list.
This article explains how products are formulated and labelled. It is general information, not medical advice, and it cannot know your skin. Follow the directions on your own products, introduce anything new one at a time, and talk to a doctor or a pharmacist about a condition you are treating. Ingredient figures were measured across Avina’s catalog of 24,517 products in September 2026.
Your routine, kept
Knowing the order is one thing. Doing it every night is another.
Avina holds your morning and evening routines, remembers what you completed, and lets you search the same catalog these numbers came from.