Sunscreen is incredibly important. We all know it, and even in a disappointingly grey summer like this year’s, it’s been hard to ignore. Everyone from influencers to celebrities are out there asserting the importance of protecting our skin from UVA and UVB rays, and with a huge number of products on offer to suit all skin types and budgets, there’s no excuse for not taking sun safety seriously. I’d heard the messaging, and realised I needed to up my suncare game, yet ended up learning a totally different lesson when I was (literally) burnt after accidentally buying counterfeit sunscreen online.
A life-long, year-round SPF30 wearer (Cancer Research UK recommends wearing a sunscreen with at least SPF30), I decided to up my game following a number of skin cancer diagnoses in my family, as well as my first mole removal. Thankfully, it was benign, but showed me I needed to take suncare more seriously and start wearing SPF50 on my face. A slightly paler face that could be matched up with self-tanner was a small price to pay for helping prevent sun damage, which could lead to skin cancer and premature ageing.
Starting my research, I was overwhelmed by choice. The sunscreen market is estimated to have sky-rocketed to £367 million in 2023 in the UK alone – enter any drug store, and you’ll struggle to choose from the lotions, sprays, mists and sticks on display. I wanted something that would appeal to my skin type; something lightweight and non-greasy. One name kept coming up: Bioré’s UV Aqua Rich Watery Essence. Why hadn’t I thought of that before? I’d used this Japanese beauty product for years, importing it from eBay to put on my tattoos and keep them from fading.
Bioré’s ultra-light product, which has SPF50+, has historically been hard to buy in the UK – hence the eBay ordering. But this year, it finally hit shelves in Superdrug, with the official EU-compliant formula becoming available to purchase in its SPF30 and 50 formulas. In retrospect, not buying it from an official vendor was my major mistake. But the Superdrug version was more expensive, whereas I could buy two tubes of the original formula on eBay for £6.81. This seller, one of many offering the product, was well-reviewed, and while I’d not purchased from them before, it had never crossed my mind that there would be an issue. Alarm bells might be ringing for you reading this, but I couldn’t hear them. I’d bought this product before without a hitch, so why would there be one now?
When the clouds finally peaked through for 24 hours in early June, I slathered my face in my newly imported sunscreen and made a beeline for my local park. I was now a person who took sun safety seriously. Every two hours, I reapplied, making sure my face was fully protected.
I genuinely didn’t think anything had gone wrong until I got home and saw myself in the mirror. My cheeks were dark pink and raw, the skin pulled taut and shiny, while a pronounced pale patch nestled between my eyebrows, a mark where the bridge of my nose had been shielded by my sunnies.
Naturally, I freaked out. I’d burned when I was much younger, but not on my face like this, and never on this scale. My skin stung, and with all the reminders about the internal and external effects of sun damage – skin cancer and ageing – I felt panicked. I rewinded, but there was no way I’d made a mistake on the day; I’d applied and reapplied more thoroughly than ever before. The issue had to be the product.
So I began delving into whether this was possible. On TikTok and Reddit, I found pockets of people like me who, too, thought they’d been scammed by counterfeit sunscreen they’d purchased online. On one message board, an internet user echoed my exact experience. 'I got badly sunburnt on my face the other week and I think it’s because my Bioré suncream is fake,' she wrote, explaining that she, too, had previously bought from various eBay and Amazon sellers without issue.
This Bioré product seemed to be a particular lightning rod for counterfeits. On TikTok, I found a video suggesting that you could tell if a product was counterfeit by closely analysing the Japanese characters on the bottle. But I wasn't a native reader, and without a real version to compare to, struggled. Speaking to Grazia, a Bioré spokesperson said that they only recommended purchasing the UV Aqua Rich Watery Essence from Superdrug in store or on their official website. 'Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that any products sold through third parties are regulated and genuine,' they said.
To be honest, I felt incredibly foolish. For the sake of saving a couple of quid, I’d risked my health.
The issue is bigger than just one seller or product. On a recent episode of my favourite podcast, Binchtopia, the host said that she’d got burnt after buying a counterfeit version of a K-beauty sunscreen from a different site. As one Reddit user pointed out, secondary sellers will be importing their products and might not realise themselves whether a product is counterfeit. When I contacted the seller I’d purchased from, they insisted that they’d 'got these products from a very trusty supplier' and had even paid more on the promise it was a legitimate version. I’ll never know if that’s true, but it doesn’t matter. I got burnt anyway.
Preventing the sale of counterfeit items is of the utmost importance for eBay, with a spokesperson telling Grazia that consumer safety is one of their 'top priorities'. 'The sale of counterfeit items is strictly prohibited on eBay and we proactively block millions of counterfeit items every year,' they said, adding that there were multiple layers in place to ensure everything sold was authentic. In the 'rare instance' a counterfeit item is listed, brands and other intellectual property rights owners can report them using the VeRO programme, with eBay taking appropriate action.
Ultimately, the experience was a wake-up call. It showed me that sun protection is something I need to take seriously – and not just claim I'm doing it. With such a wide range of products now available, from affordable drugstore offerings to high budget splurge purchases, official retailers will have something on offer for all budgets. I learned the hard way that it’s never worth taking shortcuts or scrimping when it comes to something as vital as your skin. It’s a lesson I’ll be sticking to going forward: you can’t put a price on good health.