The Best SPF Moisturizers Will Make Sun Protection a Daily Habit

All products featured on GQ are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Any of the best moisturizers with SPF could be a cornerstone of a good skin care routine, because the way we see it, every guy should use two different moisturizers. One is for nighttime, and it’s a bit heftier, since it’s concentrated with nutrients to help skin repair and replenish itself. The other is for the daytime, something lighter that doesn’t suffocate you pores or make you sweat. And ideally, that daytime cream has SPF, too.

While it’s probably better to layer an actual face sunscreen on top of your AM moisturizer for optimal protection, sometimes time (and the sheer lack of energy) won’t permit. In that case, why not kill two birds with one stone? Wearing a sun-blocking moisturizer daily ensures that you won’t forget the crucial last step in preserving your money maker while blocking as many UV rays as possible. On a daily basis, this may not seem like a huge victory, but over the course of a lifetime, it could be the difference between looking 50 at 70, or looking 90 at 70. 

Simply using a daily moisturizer that contains some SPF and you’ve got the perfect marriage of daily hydration and actual sun protection (that won’t feel like you’re on vacation instead of the office). The best of these moisturizers are weightless and won’t leave any sticky residue. In fact, you’ll probably forget you’re even wearing it. Below are our picks for the best moisturizers with SPF for a variety of skin types or needs.

---

The Best SPF Moisturizers, at a Glance

• Best Oil-Free Moisturizer: CeraVe moisturizing lotion with SPF 30, $20
• Best Lightweight Moisturizer: Cardon moisturizing lotion with SPF 30, $22
• Best Moisturizer with Mineral SPF: Paula’s Choice moisturizing lotion with mineral SPF 30, $33

---

Best Oil-Free Moisturizer with SPF

It’s completely possible to built a very solid skincare regimen out of drugstore stalwart CeraVe, and it’s this SPF daytime lotion that ties it all together. It’s an oil-free, unscented formula that harnesses both physical and chemical defenses, while also hydrating skin with hyaluronic acid, toning with niacinamide, and plumping with ceramides. It’s everything you want in a moisturizer, SPF included.

Best Lightweight Moisturizer with SPF

In Cardon’s (travel-size) case, good things come in small packages. A tiny pea-sized amount of their nourishing lotion should cover your visage. It soothes skin with cactus extract (which is a welcomed ingredient for a post-sun come-down, too), and it’s a water-based formula that complements all skin types.

Best Moisturizer with Mineral SPF

The biggest hurdle for a physical SPF is finding one that lathers on clear and cast free. Paula’s Choice seems to have a solution to everything, and this mineral matter is no exception. Its titanium dioxide and zinc oxide moisturizer also deploys hydrating + defensive hyaluronic acid and apricot oil, and is dense with antioxidants to keep skin youthful, despite any exposure to sun and pollutants.

Best Moisturizing Balm

If you’re prone to dry, rough patches an emollient moisturizer might just what you need. This one from Supergoop is packed with moisture-rich shea and murumuru butters along with some softening rosehip oil to lock all that juiciness in. Of course, it comes with a  healthy dose of SPF protection as well to make sure your skin stays smooth and radiant–not toasted and dried out.

Best Moisturizing Serum with SPF

Perhaps you are partial to your (non-SPF) moisturizer, but still want to incorporate SPF into your daytime regimen without needing to lather on sunscreen. Enter SPF serums, which deliver the same UV defense, but are applied prior to the moisturizer itself. La Roche-Posay’s helps brighten skin with vitamin C and nourish with vitamin E, with its oil free blend that wears featherlight below any defensive moisturizer.

Best Tinted Moisturizer with SPF

If your skin could use some visual toning (in addition to SPF cover), then you might consider a tinted moisturizer, which carries a more-or-less neutral tint. This tint subtly levels out the skin’s colors, but looks nothing like caked-on foundation. SkinCeuticals’ is among the best, largely for its mattifying mineral defense, which combines titanium dioxide and zinc oxide. Better yet, it’s water resistant up to 40 minutes, so that no subtle sweat will compromise the uniform glow.

Best Drugstore Moisturizer with SPF

With a mineral and physical sun shield, a fragrance-free and non-comedogenic formula, plus a budget-friendly price, Eucerin gives you exactly 0 excuses for not wearing an SPF moisturizer every day.

Best Vegan Sunscreen

Show mother nature who’s boss with a vegan sunscreen loaded with antioxidant-rich beetroot. Ironically, this grease-free little number will NOT make you as red as a beet, instead it’ll keep everything cool, calm, and collected (at least, face level). It also includes hydrating hyaluronic acid and soothing vitamin E to make sure your skin is well equipped to take on whatever the skin-sucking elements throw at you. 

Best High-End Moisturizer with SPF

When alternative options are available for $8, you might ask what a more top-shelf product offers in this category. Aesop answers with a long list of nourishing, fortifying, smoothing, toning ingredients, ranging from oils of lavender and rosemary to extracts of carrot root and tea leaf, as well as lactic acid. It carries a soothing, herbal scent and helps skin radiate any time of year—and not just when you’re out in the sun.

Best Sweat-Friendly SPF Moisturizer

Here’s one instance where we stray from “moisturizers with SPF” and back into more straightforward sunscreens. Because you’ll be sweating so much (or even getting wet), it’s more imperative that you wear a sunblock with water resistance, as opposed to a moisturizer that you might sweat away. Dermalogica’s holds water (figuratively) in this category, and blocks it (literally) from compromising your sun shield. It wears light, won’t suffocate skin, and is water resistant up to 80 minutes.

Best Reef-Safe Moisturizer

Protecting your skin shouldn’t come at the cost of our dear friends in the ocean. If you like to pair your fun in the sun with some water play, you’ll need a reef-safe moisturizer. Sun Bum’s lightweight mineral lotion is oxybenzone & octinoxate free so you can slather up before you jump in with a clean conscience.