Airport Shopping: The Best Sunscreens

I’m a chronic overpacker, but with the nuttiness of the airport baggage system this summer, I actually took a carry-on when I was heading to the south of Italy last month. My biggest anxiety wasn’t the clothing I was going to miss–it was about figuring out my sunscreen situation once I got there. Clearly a 100 ml bottle isn’t going to cut it when you’re spending a lot of time in the sun for a week. My flight wound up getting canceled and rerouted through Madrid, and while initially I was very irritated about it, I remembered that my dermatologist had suggested this Spanish brand ISDIN for their very good sunscreen that rubs in easily and is highly protective. Once we landed in Madrid, I beelined for the airport pharmacy and bought several bottles–one for the face, a gel cream for the body, and an oil spray for my tanning family. The only downside is if you don’t use them all up and you don’t want to check on the return–but you could decant them like my friend Ann Mashburn, who puts sun lotion in old prescription bottles. The face cream is 100 ml so that is a no brainer and works very well just as a daily sunscreen. One of my favorite things about this face sunscreen is that it doesn’t irritate your eyes–while every other sunscreen (including the ones below), seem to. Another airport I love for its sunscreen is Copenhagen, which has a huge selection of P20, which promotes itself as a “once a day” sunscreen, lasting up to 10 hours. And finally, I love Daylong sunscreen, which is Swiss, so you can look for it in airports in Switzerland. P.S.—a friend also found the ISDIN in airports in Portugal.