Marseille is sunny. This is true both anecdotally and scientifically: Apparently the sun shines 2,858 hours per year. Compare that to Paris: 1600, or just more than half. It’s so sunny there’s an entire page devoted to it on the City of Marseille’s tourism website. Toulon is second, followed by Ajaccio and Nice.
I often forget to wear sunscreen in Paris. In Marseille, it felt like a necessity. I spent more time outside in Marseille last summer than any other: walking through town, hiking to a calanque, going to the beach, sitting on the patio at the friendliest Starbuck’s in the world, watching the boats sail in and out of the harbor — Marseille is the best. And even better without sun damage.
Enter Lierac’s Silky Sun Oil. I do not like to wear sunscreen — I need to be tricked into it. Lierac managed to do that because it smells like perfume. Or Nuxe? It smells incredible. I could not have told you this without looking it up, but apparently its fragrance consists of coconut water, bergamot and jasmine. I smell jasmine? And…coconut ice cream. (In short: not Coppertone, but high-end French Coppertone — a very expensive sunscreen.)
I usually don’t like oil-based sunscreens, but Lierac’s is very light and absorbs quickly — and so I would walk down the street, smelling my arm, because it smells so good. I didn’t realize that this is a product formulated for the body rather than the face, but I used it on my face all summer, and not a single clogged pore.
Finally: the packaging is beautiful (and much better looking than the product shot above! It’s so sleek IRL!). The bottle is semi-transparent, so you can see the oil within. Its nozzle is not as good as Avène’s — how could it be! — but it is very good at delivering an even spray. It looks more expensive than it was — €18 for 150ml.
There’s a catch: I do think it’s harder to get enough of the product on your face to be as protective as it should (about an ounce — that’s a lot!) This is just my wonky application, but I often failed to meet that threshold — I’d put on enough that I smelled good (read: amazing) but probably not enough to offer maximum protective value. I personally get more mileage out of a traditional lotion — but if you’re a better sunscreen oil user than I am, I really don’t think there’s a more appealing product out there.
