d'alba Piedmont Waterfull Tone-Up Sunscreen Serum (1.69 fl oz), SPF 50+

I work in a beach-area hotel, so I’m constantly exposed to the sun. I was looking for a sunscreen that not only protects but also helps even out my skin tone—and this one truly exceeded my expectations. From the first use, I loved it. At first, it looked like it might leave a white cast, but once blended, it absorbs beautifully and matches my skin tone perfectly. It gives a subtle pink tone-up effect, leaving my skin looking even, hydrated, and naturally radiant without feeling greasy. But what really impressed me was this: I was at the beach from around 8 AM until 7 PM, fully exposed to the sun. I applied this sunscreen to my face and neck at about 8 AM. After getting home and showering, my face looked completely intact—no redness, no sunburn, no visible damage. I even uploaded a video showing the results. What shocked me even more is that I used a regular sunscreen on my back, and that area did get noticeably sunburned. The difference was very clear and honestly impressive. After about a week of using it, I can confidently say this is one of the best sunscreens I’ve ever tried. It feels amazing on the skin, works great under makeup, and I will definitely keep using it daily. ✔ Pros: * Strong protection even with long sun exposure * Long-lasting hydration without greasiness * Natural tone-up effect * Fast absorption * No white cast after blending * Great for daily use and under makeup ❌ Cons: * Slight white cast at first, but blends in quickly Honestly, this is hands down one of the best sunscreens I’ve ever tried. I wouldn’t think twice about buying it again.

I want to start off by saying I’m in my 20s, combo skin and acne prone. I’ve purchased the waterfull sunscreen 3 times, and will continue to purchase it. It’s the only sunscreen that doesn’t break me out. I’ve ran the ingredient list through multiple comedogenic checkers and they all came back clear. If you have combo skin, you can probably use this as your moisturizer/spf during warmer months. If you live somewhere that has harsh dry winters, I recommend you wear a moisturizer underneath during the winter. It CAN leave a bit of a white cast, especially if you put too much on your face. I have fair skin so when I rub it into my skin the white cast eventually goes away. For those who have a darker complexion: If you put too much it will probably leave a white cast so I recommend you fully massage it into your face. It also goes beautifully under makeup.

“I really like this sunscreen. It feels lightweight and smooth on my skin and gives a nice natural, glowing finish. It also helps my skin look more even. Great for everyday use.”

Love the idea, in my opinion it doesn’t fit all skin tones. I have a fair to light complexion and it leave a rather pinkish tone on my skin. Makes me look like I’m having a hot flush. Some days I don’t mind it, but I’m not 100% sold on it. One of those products I might or might not reorder. Product in itself is great, still not sure it’s for my skin tone. Scent is pleasant, texture of product is smooth, no white cast left, for a sunscreen. No oily feeling either.

I wanted to try a new sunscreen so I chose this one. I was excited to try it, but if I am being honest when I applied it on I was kind of freaked out about how pigmented it was. It was pinkish/purple at the start of mixing and then gradually turned white. At the end of mixing there was a slight white cast. I have medium to light skin tone by the way. I thought the white cast would stay like that for the rest of the day, but it actually faded pretty quickly so I was glad. If you have a darker skin tone or don’t want a white cast I would suggest trying another sunscreen that won’t do that.

I really love this sunscreen for days when I’m heading to a workout or fitness class and don’t want to put on makeup. The texture feels really nice on my face and, most importantly, it doesn’t feel greasy. The pink tint is what really sold me, though. It gives my skin this subtle, almost undetectable brightening glow that makes me look a little more fresh and put-together without actually looking like I’m wearing makeup. It’s so nice to be able to head to a fitness class or go for a hot walk, sweat it out, and still feel like my skin looks good. This has definitely become my go-to sunscreen for my no-makeup days.

I used the old version of both Mild and Tone Up sunscreens, the ones that are made for Korean market. Now that they are reformulated for US markets, I'm super disappointed. I'm going to break down for each sunscreen. Also, both old versions were called Sun Cream, and the new ones have Sunscreen on the tube, If you need to see the difference visually just by looking at the packaging. MILD MINERAL VERSION: The old version had only titanium dioxide, and was very hydrating and left my skin glowing for the whole day. And I have dry skin, so I enjoyed having that healthy hydrated look. The new formula has changed, and it has 19% of zinc oxide now. I was hoping it still had the same glow but with different sunscreen filters, but I was very wrong. The sunscreen became just one of many similar Korean sunscreens that is thicker than it used to be, though it goes on easily, but takes some time to absorb. If you have fair skin like me, it won't leave any obvious white cast. If you have darker skin, I think it might leave some white cast because it has so much zinc oxide now. Initially it leaves your skin with a satin look, definitely not glowing. I was hoping the satin look will stay for the rest of the day, but it only lasted for an hour or so. And now my skin looks matte. It doesn't look dry in an unhealthy way at first, but by the evening my skin starts drying out and flaking more than usual. I think there are other Korean products for dry skin that contain zinc oxide but still give you a healthy glow, though nothing gave me that glow that I had with the older version. TONE UP HYBRID VERSION: I'm bummed that they changed it. The older one was also a hybrid like the new one, but it applied like a dream, didn't leave any white cast, just added some pink look for a while until it absorbed, and then it just looked normal. It also kept my skin hydrated and glowing for the whole day. I got so scared that the mild version has been reformulated, that I went ahead and ordered a few tubes of the pink one. Well, you know what? They changed it too!!! Now they changed all Korean filters to American ones, and the sunscreens are totally ruined. The pink one goes on like a white paste, it leaves my skin white, my dry skin looks terrible with super large flakes coming off if I didn’t prep with lots of moisturizer and facial oil. The old version acted like a moisturizer in itself. The new one gives some glow but not comparable to the previous version. The white cast is serious with this one. If you get it close to your hairline, the white will not go away. With time the whiteness will absorb somewhat, but I still look pale. I’m not sure what the point of this tone up effect is now that it just makes me look whiter than I am. And forget about trying to reapply during the day. I looked like a clown with white paint on my face. And I have fair skin, too. If you're coming from some horrible American sunscreen to this, you still might be impressed, but if you're comparing the old version with this one, that's not the same product. MY VERDICT ON BOTH VERSIONS: Can’t use them and had to order from Korea directly to get the original version. Thankfully, it’s still available there. Just make sure you’re buying from Korea, I made a mistake and ordered from Yesstyle, and didn’t realize they were in China. They sent me this American version instead of what I paid for, which was the Korean formula shown in their photos. Still fighting to get my money back, but they are refusing and claim it’s the exact same product but in a different packaging. Horrible experience. I got spoiled with the original formulas, and these ones are very mediocre and just like other American sunscreens minus the bad SPF smell, these still smell citrusy. If I wanted an American sunscreen, I’d buy one, but I want true Korean ones, which these ones are not anymore. I understand they had to comply with the outdated US sunscreen regulations (that haven’t been updated in decades) to be able to sell officially in US markets, but there’s a reason why Korean formulas are superior to everything else. Now they are not.

I've used many tone-up sunscreens over the years. I'm pretty picky about them. I've noticed that sunscreen as a topic is a very personal thing to those of us deep in the skincare community, so you may vehemently disagree with this review (and also think I'm kinda dumb, and maybe I am). The D'alba Piedmont Waterfull Tone-Up doesn't work well for me and I hardly ever reach for it, but I don't entirely hate it. I'm mostly amazed that it didn't break me out in cystic acne. I've tried a few of D'alba's other products and they've all broken me out in painful cysts, worst of all were those hydrating oily face mists that went viral a while ago. Those mists were wholly incompatible with my skin and yet here I am, reviewing another one of their products. I guess I am a kinda dumb. As far as this sunscreen goes, it's very greasy. It blends in with some slight difficulty - as with all tone-ups, it requires some getting used to. You need to use a decent amount of sunscreen it to get the proper amount of sun protection, so the greasiness generated by this product becomes exponential. By the end, my face doesn't have that mythical "glass skin" vibe - it looks like I stole Groundskeeper Willie's retirement grease. The tone-up effect is quite mild compared to similar products, which can be good or bad depending on your needs. My face is naturally 2 shades darker than my neck/body (doc said it just happens sometimes; I've always avoided the sun), so I prefer a more intense tone-up because it's much faster for me to use it as my base makeup. (Tone-ups do make great primers for foundations though, I'm just lazy.) I dislike applying several, full layers of weaker tone-ups because they can be difficult to apply and blend evenly, and the friction will eventually cause pilling. My suggestion to you (and hopefully the review bot doesn't flag this): get the actual Korean formula of this sunscreen, if you can, not this forced FDA knock-off. My OG Korean formula bottle ran out, so I got this one out of laziness and curiosity. It's pretty much what I expected... The Korean formula looks and feels so. Much. Better! There's a whole world of sunscreens out there that are beyond better than what is allowed here in the US because of archaic laws about filters and long surpassed methods of testing them.

This product is sooo good and gave soft buttery skin

I liked it his cream

Very hydrating and no white cast

Good sunscreen and moisturizer