The morning shelf. The moisturizer that carries its own SPF is judged here on the drug document it publishes, not on the ritual around it. Photo via Unsplash; the photo bank holds no SPF moisturizer product photography, so the cards below run imageless, as every grooming Card here does.
Checked and updated October 2026
The short version: CeraVe AM Facial Moisturizing Lotion SPF 30 wins at 82, the most complete drugstore document on the shelf, with La Roche-Posay Double Repair UV at 81 and Olay Complete at 79 behind it. The counts the whole table rests on: a full Drug Facts panel on the maker's own page, 0 of 8. Filters dosed in a public record, 8 of 8. Broad spectrum printed, 8 of 8. The SPF figure explained as the lab ratio it is, 0 of 8. The two-hour reapplication line on the drug label, 7 of 8, and in the maker's own copy, 2 of 8. Fragrance filed as Parfum, 0 of 8. Jack Black Double-Duty is sent home at 56: reformulated, under the floor, and silent on reapplying.
First, the decision
The default buy: CeraVe AM, 82. All three moisturizer claims seated in the list, the reapply line printed in the maker's own How To Use, $6.66 an ounce. Read its card for the formula-version warning before you trust any single panel printed about it, including ours.
The cleaner, shorter document: La Roche-Posay Double Repair UV, 81. Niacinamide and ceramide seated, no hyaluronic acid and none claimed, one point behind the winner at $7.39 an ounce.
The honest label: Olay Complete, 79. The one panel here that prints FRAGRANCE FREE on its own face, at $14.99 the cheapest ticket in the top half of the table.
The highest figure: Neutrogena Hydro Boost SPF 50, 75. The shelf's only 50, on the freshest label here, with two versions of that label standing at once.
Oily skin on a budget: Cetaphil DermaControl, 74. The only mattifying record, the biggest tube, $3.60 an ounce, and the thinnest drug document of the eight.
Sent home: Jack Black Double-Duty SPF 20, 56. The maker's own pages disagree about what is in the bottle. The full case is at the foot of the cards.
This shelf, in three findings
The panel lives in the FDA file, not on the maker's page
Every product on this shelf is an over-the-counter drug, so a Drug Facts panel exists by law on its package. On the maker's own product page, the count is 0 of 8 printing it in full. Three makers print ingredient lists instead (Jack Black, Cetaphil, and CeraVe on its regional maker mirrors). Eucerin's page, read in full, prints no panel, no price and no size. Three maker pages could not be verified at all (the Kiehl's page unread, the Olay page for this exact product not located, the Neutrogena product page not read), and the count treats unverified as not shown, never as assumed. Every panel in the table below stands on the maker's FDA filing in DailyMed, except Cetaphil's, which stands on the maker's own lists with no FDA record found, and Jack Black's, which stands on maker lists the FDA directory corroborates.
The zinc word, and the panels underneath it
Zinc oxide is dosed on 2 of 8 panels (CeraVe at 6.3%, Olay at 6.9%), and both are hybrids where chemical filters do most of the work. No record here is all-mineral. CeraVe's copy foregrounds its one mineral filter through the InVisibleZinc name, and a brand answer at Ulta calls the product "this mineral sunscreen" outright, although four of its five filters are chemical. Cetaphil's copy credits "soothing zinc," which on its list is zinc gluconate, an inactive ingredient beside an entirely chemical panel. The word mineral does more work on this shelf than the mineral does. For a true mineral record, Card No. 68's Vanicream (80) sits next door.
The two-hour rule against the morning ritual
Seven of the eight labels instruct the wearer to reapply at least every 2 hours. Only two makers say the interval in their own copy: CeraVe in its How To Use, Neutrogena on its category page. Eucerin's own application answer prescribes a morning last step and never mentions reapplying, although the line stands in its label's Directions. Cetaphil's maker page says "reapply frequently" and times application at about 20 minutes before exposure, not the label standard of 15. Jack Black's directions never mention reapplying at all. A moisturizer is sold as a once-a-morning act; its own drug label instructs a two-hour cycle. Both facts are printed here, plainly, and the scores grade the documents.
How the scores work
Each card is scored out of 100 on five rows. Specification & claim honesty (30) grades whether the maker publishes the panel it is required to print on the package, and whether its claims are cashed by the documents beneath them. Ingredient & panel record (20) grades the panel as printed: the filters dosed to the decimal, the moisturizer system (ceramides, niacinamide, hyaluronic acid) seated in the inactive list or merely named in copy, and the fragrance filed as an entry or absent. Fit & format (20) grades the format the document describes and the SPF figure against the floor of 30 this site's skincare routine prints. Value (15) grades the checked price per ounce against the record it buys. Longevity & service (15) grades the stability of the record itself, which on this shelf means formula versions: three of the eight records stand in more than one version at once. Scores grade documents, not faces. No bottle here was applied or worn, and that discipline is printed again in the honesty section below.
CeraVe AM Facial Moisturizing Lotion SPF 30
Start with what the bottle gets right, because it is most of the list. The label record doses five filters, homosalate 10%, meradimate 5%, octinoxate 5%, octocrylene 2% and zinc oxide 6.3%, and seats all three of the moisturizer claims the copy makes: niacinamide stands at the head of the inactive list, three ceramides (NP, AP and EOP) stand in it, and hydrolyzed hyaluronic acid stands near its end. The maker's page prints the two-hour reapplication line as Step 2 of its How To Use, one of only two makers on this shelf to say it in its own copy, and prints its $19.99 price. Two findings hold the score where it is. The current American formula could not be settled from the maker's page: the panel above is the maker's FDA filing of December 2023, a current Costco listing prints octisalate where the filing prints meradimate and zinc at 8%, and the Ulta page behind the pill below still prints an older panel entirely (homosalate 12%, zinc 3.5%). The door is valid for price and stock, not for the panel; check the tube in your hand. And the copy leans on the zinc: the technology name foregrounds the one mineral filter in a five-filter panel where the other four are chemical, and a brand answer at Ulta calls the product 'this mineral sunscreen' outright. The panel is a hybrid, and the panel governs. Judged as a document, this is still the most complete drugstore record on the shelf, and at $6.66 an ounce it is not the dearest way to buy it.
$19.99 · 3 oz at Ulta, checked October 22, 2026
Buy · $19.99 at Ulta| Specification & claim honesty | 24 / 30 |
| Ingredient & panel record | 17 / 20 |
| Fit & format | 16 / 20 |
| Value | 12 / 15 |
| Longevity & service | 13 / 15 |
La Roche-Posay Toleriane Double Repair Face Moisturizer UV SPF 30
The UV sibling of the Double Repair that scored 81 on Card No. 66 as a plain moisturizer, graded here on its own panel and its own basis; the tie in numbers is a coincidence of two different documents, not a carried grade. The panel is the clean four-filter standard of the shelf, avobenzone 3%, homosalate 5%, octisalate 5%, octocrylene 7%, and the claims the copy makes are seated where the copy says they are: niacinamide stands fifth in the inactive list and ceramide 3 stands in it. What the UV version drops is the hyaluronic acid its sibling seats, and the copy does not claim it, which is the honest way to lose a point. The two-hour reapplication line stands in the Directions, and broad spectrum stands in the product's name. What the maker's own pages do not do is print any of it: the panel on this card stands on the maker's FDA filing, because the La Roche-Posay pages read for this card print no Drug Facts panel at all. At $7.39 an ounce it costs more than the winner for a shorter claim list, and the Matte sibling on the same shelf is a different label (octocrylene 7.2%) that this score does not cover. A clean, complete, slightly dearer record, one point behind.
$24.99 · 3.38 fl oz at Target, checked October 22, 2026
Buy · $24.99 at Target| Specification & claim honesty | 25 / 30 |
| Ingredient & panel record | 16 / 20 |
| Fit & format | 16 / 20 |
| Value | 11 / 15 |
| Longevity & service | 13 / 15 |
Olay Complete Lightweight Lotion with Sunscreen SPF 30, Sensitive
The sleeper of the shelf. Olay Complete is the one record here that prints FRAGRANCE FREE on the face of the Drug Facts panel itself, a claim carried by the drug label rather than by marketing copy, and the panel behind it is current, its filing updated in July 2026: octinoxate 7.5%, zinc oxide 6.9%, octisalate 2.5% and octocrylene 2.5%, a hybrid carrying the shelf's second zinc dose. Retailer copy that calls the zinc 'a gentle mineral sunscreen' is describing one of four actives. Niacinamide stands fourth in the inactive list, seated and named. There are no ceramides and no hyaluronic acid, and the copy claims neither. The two-hour line stands in the Directions. Two findings cap the score. The maker's page for this exact product could not be located at all, so everything here stands on the FDA filing and the Target shelf, the weakest maker presence of the eight. And a superseded label still circulates: the retired Complete UV365 panel prints zinc oxide at 7.0% where the current filing prints 6.9%, so a tenth of a percent of the copies of this panel in the wild are stale. At $14.99, $6.00 an ounce, it is the cheapest ticket in the top half of this table, and its label is the most honest single artifact on the shelf.
$14.99 · 2.5 fl oz at Target, checked October 22, 2026
Buy · $14.99 at Target| Specification & claim honesty | 24 / 30 |
| Ingredient & panel record | 15 / 20 |
| Fit & format | 15 / 20 |
| Value | 13 / 15 |
| Longevity & service | 12 / 15 |
Kiehl's Ultra Facial Cream with Sunscreen SPF 30
Judge the Cream on its own documents and they are the most consistent on the shelf: the same four filters at the same doses, avobenzone 3%, homosalate 5%, octisalate 5%, octocrylene 7%, stand in the FDA filing and on both retailer pages checked, in agreement. Squalane stands third in the inactive list and hydrolyzed hyaluronic acid stands in it; no fragrance entry is filed, no alcohol denat. appears, and the two-hour line stands in the Directions. What costs the card is everything around the panel. The price is $39.00 for 1.7 ounces, $22.94 an ounce, more than three times the winner's rate for the same four-filter standard the runner-up runs. The maker's own product page could not be read for this card, so whether it prints the panel is unverified. And the name needs care at the shelf: Facial Fuel Men's SPF 20 Moisturizer is a different, weaker product (SPF 20, alcohol denat. fourth in its list, fragrance filed), and an Ultra Facial Moisturizer SPF 30 lotion is a third product again. This score belongs to the Cream, at $39.00.
$39.00 · 1.7 oz at Ulta, checked October 22, 2026
Buy · $39.00 at Ulta| Specification & claim honesty | 24 / 30 |
| Ingredient & panel record | 17 / 20 |
| Fit & format | 15 / 20 |
| Value | 7 / 15 |
| Longevity & service | 13 / 15 |
Neutrogena Hydro Boost Hyaluronic Acid Moisturizer SPF 50
The only SPF 50 on a shelf of 30s, and the maker's current flagship: Neutrogena's own moisturizer-with-SPF page names this record first among its options, and its label is the freshest here, a new filing with a marketing start of September 1, 2025. The panel is all chemical, avobenzone 3%, homosalate 13.5%, octisalate 5%, octocrylene 10%; broad spectrum stands in the product's name; the two-hour line stands in the Directions; and the maker's category page states the interval in prose, one of only two makers to say it in its own copy. No fragrance entry is filed, and the carton prints Fragrance Free. Do not transfer the Fragrance entry of the Hydro Boost Water Gel Lotion Sunscreen, a different product, to this moisturizer. Three findings hold it at 75. Two versions of the panel stand on the FDA record at once, the older filing dosing homosalate at 15% where the September 2025 filing doses 13.5%, and the newer filing's ingredient table does not name a hyaluronic acid entry, which matters because hyaluronic acid is in this product's name; on the older record it stands as hydrolyzed hyaluronic acid near the end of the list. Alcohol denat. stands fourth among the inactives. And the maker's own product page could not be verified for this card, so the panel stands on the filing. At $25.79 for 1.7 ounces at CVS, with Target's index at $19.99, the figure 50 is the dearest protection claim on the shelf after the Kiehl's cream.
$25.79 · 1.7 oz at CVS, checked October 22, 2026
Buy · $25.79 at CVS| Specification & claim honesty | 22 / 30 |
| Ingredient & panel record | 15 / 20 |
| Fit & format | 17 / 20 |
| Value | 9 / 15 |
| Longevity & service | 12 / 15 |
Cetaphil DermaControl Oil Absorbing Moisturizer SPF 30
The specialist: the only oil-absorbing, mattifying record on the shelf, the biggest tube here at 4 ounces, and at $3.60 an ounce the cheapest protection on the table by a wide margin. Galderma prints more than most makers do, full active and inactive lists on its own page: avobenzone 3%, octisalate 5%, octocrylene 7%, with ceramide NP seated in the inactive list and no fragrance entry, matching the page's fragrance free claim. The findings are about the directions and the record's depth. The maker page's own How To Use says to apply generously about 20 minutes before sun exposure and to reapply frequently: it never prints the two-hour rule, and its timing is not the American label's 15 minutes. The two-hour line for this product stands only in retailer label copy, and no FDA label record for this exact product was found at all, which makes this the thinnest drug document of the eight. The copy's 'soothing zinc' also deserves a plain reading: the zinc in this bottle is zinc gluconate, an inactive ingredient, beside a panel that is entirely chemical. None of that stops it being the right buy for an oily face on a budget. All of it stops the score climbing higher.
$14.39 · 4 fl oz at Target, checked October 22, 2026
Buy · $14.39 at Target| Specification & claim honesty | 21 / 30 |
| Ingredient & panel record | 13 / 20 |
| Fit & format | 15 / 20 |
| Value | 14 / 15 |
| Longevity & service | 11 / 15 |
Eucerin Face Immersive Hydration Daily Lotion SPF 30
The heaviest filter load of any SPF 30 here, avobenzone 3%, homosalate 10%, octisalate 4.5%, octocrylene 10%, stands on this product's FDA filing, and sodium hyaluronate stands in its inactive list behind the multi-weight hyaluronic acid claim. Almost nothing else about the document holds up. The maker's own product page, read in full for this card, prints no panel, no price and no size: description and FAQ only. The maker's own application answer says to use it in the morning as the last step of a routine and never mentions reapplying, although the two-hour line stands in the Directions of its own label. And the second ingredient on that label, directly behind water, is alcohol denat., a drying alcohol seated at the top of a product sold on immersive hydration; the label discloses it, the page never does. There is no pill on this card: the maker's page offers no buy route that could be verified, the CVS shelf price could not be confirmed directly, and the one live listing found ran through a grocery delivery mirror at $17.79, with a second listing out of stock. A strong panel attached to the emptiest maker document on the shelf.
$17.79 · 1.7 fl oz via a CVS delivery listing, checked October 22, 2026 (no pill: no verifiable shelf door)
| Specification & claim honesty | 20 / 30 |
| Ingredient & panel record | 14 / 20 |
| Fit & format | 14 / 20 |
| Value | 9 / 15 |
| Longevity & service | 11 / 15 |
The eight records, in numbers
| Product | Filters dosed | Total filter load | Niacinamide | Ceramides | Hyaluronic acid | Alcohol denat. | Price per ounce |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CeraVe AM SPF 30 | 5 | 28.3% | Head of list | NP, AP, EOP | Hydrolyzed, near end | None | $6.66 |
| La Roche-Posay Double Repair UV | 4 | 20% | 5th | Ceramide 3 | Absent | None | $7.39 |
| Olay Complete SPF 30 Sensitive | 4 | 19.4% | 4th | Absent | Absent | None | $6.00 |
| Kiehl's Ultra Facial Cream SPF 30 | 4 | 20% | Absent | Absent | Hydrolyzed | None | $22.94 |
| Neutrogena Hydro Boost SPF 50 | 4 | 31.5% | Absent | Absent | Hydrolyzed, near end | 4th | $15.17 |
| Cetaphil DermaControl SPF 30 | 3 | 15% | Absent | NP | Absent | None | $3.60 |
| Eucerin Immersive Hydration SPF 30 | 4 | 27.5% | Absent | Absent | Sodium hyaluronate | 2nd | $10.46 |
| Jack Black Double-Duty SPF 20 (skip) | 2 | 11.7% | Absent | Absent | Sodium hyaluronate | None | $9.70 |
What a dollar buys
| Product | Door | Shelf price | Per ounce | Filter points per dollar |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CeraVe AM SPF 30 | Ulta | $19.99 / 3 oz | $6.66 | 4.25 |
| Cetaphil DermaControl SPF 30 | Target | $14.39 / 4 fl oz | $3.60 | 4.17 |
| Olay Complete SPF 30 Sensitive | Target | $14.99 / 2.5 fl oz | $6.00 | 3.24 |
| La Roche-Posay Double Repair UV | Target | $24.99 / 3.38 fl oz | $7.39 | 2.71 |
| Eucerin Immersive Hydration SPF 30 | Delivery mirror | $17.79 / 1.7 fl oz | $10.46 | 2.63 |
| Neutrogena Hydro Boost SPF 50 | CVS | $25.79 / 1.7 oz | $15.17 | 2.08 |
| Jack Black Double-Duty SPF 20 (skip) | Ulta | $32.00 / 3.3 oz | $9.70 | 1.21 |
| Kiehl's Ultra Facial Cream SPF 30 | Ulta | $39.00 / 1.7 oz | $22.94 | 0.87 |
Which one to buy
Most faces, most mornings: CeraVe AM (82). The fullest document at a mid-pack rate, with the version warning read before the panel is quoted.
If your night moisturizer is already Double Repair: its UV sibling (81) keeps the same seated system, niacinamide and ceramide, and adds the panel.
Sensitive skin, fragrance discipline: Olay Complete (79), the panel that prints FRAGRANCE FREE on its own face, or the La Roche-Posay (81), whose list files no fragrance entry and seats its soothing claims.
The premium ritual: Kiehl's Ultra Facial Cream (76), bought knowing the rate is $22.94 an ounce for the shelf's standard four-filter panel, and knowing which of the three similar Kiehl's names is in your hand.
The maximum stated figure: Neutrogena Hydro Boost SPF 50 (75), the only record here that clears 30, on the freshest label, with the version split on its card read first.
Oily skin, tight budget: Cetaphil DermaControl (74). The mattifying document and $3.60 an ounce outweigh the thin directions for the face it was made for.
Eucerin (68): the panel is the heaviest of the 30s and the page behind it is the emptiest. Buy it where the tube can be read before money moves, because the maker will not show the label first.
How this page was made, and what it rests on
Every score on this page rests on the maker's own published evidence and the FDA label record, read on October 22, 2026, with every merchant door opened and priced the same day. These products are over-the-counter drugs: the Drug Facts panel graded here is the label the maker files, read in DailyMed where the maker's page withholds it. Where a maker's page prints ingredient lists without the panel, the card says so. Where a maker's page could not be verified, the card says that instead, and nothing unverified is scored as shown: the Kiehl's product page could not be read, the Olay page for this exact product could not be located, and the Neutrogena product page was not read, although its maker's category page was. CeraVe's American page was read through its indexed copy and its regional maker mirrors, which print the same lists as the filing.
Three records stand in more than one version, and the versions are printed rather than smoothed over. CeraVe AM's panel appears in three forms across the maker's December 2023 filing, a current Costco listing and the Ulta page, and its card grades the filing while naming the split. Neutrogena's homosalate dose is 15% on its older filing and 13.5% on the September 2025 filing, and its card grades the newer. Jack Black's reformulation, avobenzone 2.2% with octocrylene 9.5% replacing the octinoxate panel both earlier Cards graded, is sourced to the maker's own set page and the FDA directory's June 2025 marketing start, against the maker's own MVPs page and Ulta, which still print the retired panel. Olay's zinc figure is 6.9% on the current filing and 7.0% on the superseded UV365 label still in circulation.
No application or wear testing was done for this page. Nothing here was applied, worn, sweated through or washed off. Texture, white cast, sting, pilling and wear are graded only where a document makes a claim about them, and graded as claims. The mattifying language on the Cetaphil card is the maker's format claim, not a wear result. Prices are the checked shelf prices of October 22, 2026 and will move.
The neighbouring records stand where they were graded. Card No. 66's winner, CeraVe Moisturizing Cream (88), carries no SPF and is not re-graded here; the Double Repair graded 81 there is the non-UV sibling of this page's runner-up, a different product with a different label. Card No. 68's winner, La Roche-Posay Anthelios Melt-In Milk SPF 60 (89), and its EltaMD UV Clear (83) and Vanicream (80) records are sold as sunscreens first and stay on that Card. Jack Black Double-Duty is the one product graded on all three shelves, and its three numbers are printed wherever it appears: 71, 45, and 56 here.
Questions, answered from the record
How is this shelf different from Cards No. 66 and 68?
This shelf is the morning moisturizer that carries its own sunscreen panel. Card No. 66 graded moisturizers with no SPF in them, and CeraVe Moisturizing Cream won it at 88 on barrier documents. Card No. 68 graded dedicated sunscreens, and La Roche-Posay Anthelios Melt-In Milk SPF 60 won it at 89. The eight records here are sold as daily moisturizers first, which makes them over-the-counter drugs wearing a moisturizer's marketing: the panel is a drug label, and it is graded as one.
Why does the winner's own brand call it a mineral sunscreen when most of its filters are chemical?
Because the zinc is the part of the panel the copy can sell. On the filed label, four of CeraVe AM's five filters are chemical (homosalate, meradimate, octinoxate, octocrylene) and one, zinc oxide at 6.3%, is mineral. The maker's copy foregrounds that filter through its InVisibleZinc name, and a brand answer at Ulta calls the product 'this mineral sunscreen' outright. The panel is a hybrid, and the panel governs. Olay Complete is the shelf's only other zinc panel, also a hybrid at 6.9%, and no record here is all-mineral; the mineral answer on this site sits on Card No. 68, where Vanicream's zinc oxide moisturizer scored 80.
Does the two-hour reapplication rule really apply to a morning moisturizer?
Yes, as a matter of the documents. Seven of the eight records carry 'reapply at least every 2 hours' in their label directions; the exception is Jack Black, whose directions never mention reapplying. Cetaphil's line stands only in retailer label copy, while its maker's page says 'reapply frequently' instead. Only two makers say the interval in their own copy, CeraVe in its How To Use and Neutrogena on its category page. A morning moisturizer is sold as a once-a-day ritual and labelled as a two-hour drug. This page prints both facts and grades the documents; how a reader runs the ritual is the reader's business.
Which of these should oily skin buy, and which should dry skin buy?
From the documents, not from wear, since nothing here was worn. Cetaphil DermaControl is the oily-skin record: the only mattifying, oil-absorbing format on the shelf, ceramide NP seated in its list, and the lowest price per ounce here at $3.60. For dry skin, CeraVe AM and La Roche-Posay Double Repair UV seat the barrier systems on paper, three ceramides with niacinamide in the winner, niacinamide and ceramide 3 in the runner-up. Eucerin's panel is the heaviest of the 30s, but alcohol denat. stands second on its label, which is the document a dry-skin buyer should read first.
Why was Jack Black Double-Duty sent home?
Three counts. Its SPF is 20, below the SPF 30 floor this site's skincare routine prints. Its maker now disagrees with itself about the formula: the current panel, avobenzone 2.2% with octocrylene 9.5%, stands on the maker's set page and in the FDA directory with a June 2025 marketing start, while the maker's own MVPs page and Ulta still print the retired octinoxate panel. And its directions never mention reapplying. It was scored 71 as a moisturizer on Card No. 66 and 45 as a sunscreen on Card No. 68, where it was also sent home; re-graded on this shelf's basis, it scores 56.
Did you apply or wear any of these moisturizers?
No. Nothing on this page was applied, worn, sweated through or washed off, and no score here rests on a wear claim. Every number grades published documents: the maker's page, the FDA label record, and the merchant shelf, all read on October 22, 2026. Where a claim exists only in copy, the card grades it as copy.
Next on the shelf: Card No. 66, Best Moisturizers for Men, Card No. 68, Best Sunscreens for Men, and the skincare routine that sets this shelf's floor. The neighbouring grooming Cards: body lotions, hand creams, and shaving creams.