Forget the questionable TikTok beauty trends or facelift inquisitions. The summer (and early fall) of 2025 can be defined, at least beauty-wise, as a season of the great sunscreen debate.
Sunscreen, as we know, is the best defense against certain skin cancers like melanoma, sunburn, and other skin damage, and premature skin aging. But lately, many of our favorite sun products are being called out for their lack of safety and efficacy. Recalls do happen, but it's never been easier for one misstep to cause the internet to put an entire beauty category into question.
"Public trust in sunscreen has taken a few hits over the past few years," says Krupa Koestline, founder and chief cosmetic chemist at KKT Labs. Koestline points to the benzene contamination recalls in 2021 or when the US Food and Drug Administration found chemical filters in sunscreen could enter our bloodstream as a few of the recent instances that have caused many to wonder if sunscreens were safe at all. (It should be noted that the latter recalls were limited to certain aerosol products and there wasn't evidence of harm with chemical filters in our blood). Add that to debates on reef safety, a wave of misinformation online, and a health administration sowing doubt in science, and you've got the perfect storm for a movement against a product that experts have long championed for our skin and overall health. "Together, it's created an environment where consumers are asking harder questions about sunscreen," she says.
The excitement over popular Aussie-founded sunscreen brands, which have been lauded by beauty lovers as being superior to ones found Stateside, making their way to the US was very high. But in June, Australia's consumer advocacy group Choice found that many popular sunscreens tested lower in SPF than what was advertised. Out of the 20 popular sunscreens it tested, 16 failed to match their SPF claims. One of those sunscreens was from Ultra Violette.
Choice revealed that the Ultra Violette Lean Screen SPF 50 tested the lowest, coming in at only an SPF ranking of 4. The viral sunscreen brand, which made its highly anticipated US debut earlier this year, refuted those claims. But later in August, Ultra Violette took Lean Screen off of shelves in Australia after finding inconsistencies upon further testing.
"We had multiple, independent labs conduct new tests of Lean Screen. This week, we received results from those tests that demonstrated significant and, candidly, atypical variability," reads a statement the brand posted on its Instagram. "Across eight different tests, Lean Screen has now returned SPF data of 4, 10, 21, 26, 33, 60, 61, and 64. That wasn't good enough for us, and it isn't good enough for you."