What It Is: La Roche-Posay’s MY UV Patch — a thin, water-resistant skin patch that works with an in-phone app to monitor your sun protection and remind you to reapply SPF
Who Tried It: Jillian Ruffo, Associate Beauty Editor
Why I Tried It: As someone who never leaves the house without sunscreen, I hate to admit that I’m both lazy and forgetful when it comes to reapplying as frequently as I need to. Enter My UV Patch, which not only measures how much sunscreen you’re wearing, but also reminds you when it’s time to apply. Need I say more?
Level of difficulty: 1, depending how much you use your cellphone at the beach
When the La Roche-Posay team first told me about their new My UV patch, my jaw dropped. Imagine sticking a thin, bandaid-like sticker onto your hand that has the capability of detecting how much sun you’ve been exposed to and how much sunscreen you’re wearing. Now imagine linking that sticker with an app on your cellphone, which will then inform you of all of this information, plus let you know when you’re unprotected. We’re not looking into the future. This actually exists — and it’s free.
On my way to the beach for a long weekend, I eagerly applied the blue, heart-shaped patch onto the top of my hand, where it would remain for the rest of the weekend (it’s totally water, soap and sunscreen-resistant, and didn’t budge for a full three days). Then, I downloaded the My UV Patch app and began personalizing my sun profile, which couldn’t be easier — it asks simple questions like your skin type, eye color, and how easily you tan or burn. I then input my location, and the app instantly told me the temperature and the UV index that I’d be dealing with that day. Finally, I scanned my patch, linking it to the app.
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Now, the fun part: Tracking my sun exposure. I applied sunscreen all over my body, making sure to apply it thoroughly on my hands as well, because the patch can detect how well it’s covered. Next, I scanned, and learned that I was safely covered with a “Good job!” message that appeared. The app stored my “score” and scheduled my next reading — a reminder would pop up when it was time.
For nearly the entire day, I stayed covered up — but when I left my cellphone inside for an hour and forgot to reapply, my next scan made it very clear that I was hitting unsafe sun exposure with a cautionary message to reapply — which I gladly did.
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The verdict: I’m not sure if it was due to the challenge of staying protected all day or having a fun new app to play with, but using My UV Patch was one of the most entertaining experiences I’ve had while simply laying out at the beach. But even better than the entertaining factor was that it actually kept me on my sunscreen-applying toes all day, and I never missed a re-application. Will I use it again? 100%. Plus, it was a great conversation starter — everyone wanted to know why I had cute blue heart stuck to my hand all weekend.
My UV Patch and the app will be available for free (!!) on laroche-posay.com starting July 18th.
Would you try it? Tell us below!
— Jillian Ruffo
Follow @jillianruffo
