Quick Summary:
Date Tested: 09/06/2022
*For the 2023 test results with the bottle that has vertical writing on it, check out this post
As I am writing this post, temperatures in the SF Bay area are hitting 111 F. Today, when picking up my kids from school, my cars external temperature display read 106 F. To me, to say it is hot out does not accurately describe the situation. But you know what else is said to be hot yet not accurately described? The Biore Aqua Rich Watery Essence sunscreen lotion.
In this Biore Aqua Rich Watery Essence SPF 50 review, I was given the opportunity to test a sunscreen so underwhelming and so disappointing (when taking into account all the positive word of mouth fanfare) it has earned the title of:
“THE WORST SUNSCREEN I HAVE EVER TESTED”
-Me, the sunscreen tester
The Biore Aqua Rich Watery Essence sunscreen lotion is a chemical based formula containing only the EU approved UV filters of Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate, Ethylhexyl Triazone, Diethylamino Hydroxybenzoyl Hexyl Benzoate, and Bis-Ethylhexyloxyphenol Methoxyphenyl Triazine. No idea about the concentration of the filters however.
The Biore Aqua Rich Watery Essence only reduced UVI by 32.92%, UVA by 33.23%, and UVB by 27.24%. This is worse than the Sun Bum Original SPF 50 sunscreen lotion which I believed to be the worst of them all. So good job Biore (or is it Kao?) on making such a terrible product.
Here’s the thing though, I mentioned in The Hardware page about how temperature affects the output of an LED. Basically, the higher temperature the LED operates, the lower the resultant light output. Being that I am testing in hotter temperatures due to the heat wave where the testing machine can heat up to higher than 100 F, UV light output drops a bit. What this means for these results is that if the ambient temperature was cooler and my testing machine was operating at its nominal 15 UVI light output, this sunscreen would have very likely scored even lower.
These scores are therefore the highest possible to be obtained, given the circumstances.
Biore Aqua Rich Watery Essence SPF 50 Sunscreen ingredients
Active ingredients: Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate, Ethylhexyl Triazone, Diethylamino Hydroxybenzoyl Hexyl Benzoate, Bis-Ethylhexyloxyphenol Methoxyphenyl Triazine
Inactive Ingredients:
Water, Alcohol, Isopropyl Palmitate, Lauryl Methacrylate/Sodium Methacrylate Crosspolymer, Hydrogenated Polyisobutene, Dextrin Palmitate, Butylene Glycol, Xylitol, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Dimethicone, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Glycerin, Propanediol, Glyceryl Stearate, Glyceryl Behenate, Vinyl Dimethicone/Methicone Silsesquioxane Crosspolymer, Potassium Hydroxide, Cetyl Alcohol, Agar, Sorbitan Distearate, Isoceteth-20, Polyvinyl Alcohol, Dimethicone/Vinyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Stearoyl Glutamic Acid, Arginine, Disodium EDTA, Fragrance, BHT, Sodium Hydroxide, Tocopherol, Royal Jelly Extract, Sodium Hyaluronate, Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben
Manufacturers Website: www.kao.com
Biore Aqua Rich Watery Essence SPF 50 characteristics at a glance:
- People say it feels nice
- Contains Hyaluronic acid, Royal jelly extracts, and Citrus mix
- Water-Capsules?
- Viscosity is thin
Prepared slide ready for testing
The Biore Aqua Rich Watery Essence spread very nicely and thinly. I thought this sunscreen would test fantastically just by the way the slide sample looked. Being a chemical based sunscreen lotion, it only made sense. WRONG.
Below are the results from 2 hours of testing in my UV testing station.
Biore Aqua Rich Watery Essence SPF 50 UV blocking test results
Ultraviolet light quick reference:
UVA: The Ultraviolet wavelength from 315nm – 400nm. The “Aging UV light” – Causes wrinkles.
UVB: The Ultraviolet wavelength from 280nm – 315nm. The “Bad UV light” – Causes skin cancer.
UVI: The global sun UV index. The more a sunscreen can reduce the level of UVI, the better.
UV test results:
Ultraviolet sensor readings:
| Before Sunscreen | After Sunscreen | % UV Blocked | |
| TEMP | 102.35 | 103.32 | |
| UVA | 19566 | 13064 | 33.23% |
| UVB | 1032.5 | 751.2 | 27.24% |
| UVI | 11.52 | 7.73 | 32.92% |
Want to know more about how I test sunscreen? Head here to read about the details.
Testing notes:
There are some things in life which overpromise and underdeliver. This is one of them. I’m sure the Aqua Rich product line is a good money making vertical for them considering the products word of mouth positivity. However, I also cant believe so many people having gotten this wrong. Looking up some amazon reviews it does look like there was a formula change around 2019 which could explain the lower performing sunscreen lotion. I also considered if the product I tested was counterfeit. Problem with that notion is that this sunscreen is not a high end product with a hefty price tag, its relatively inexpensive.
I don’t know what else to make of this popular sunscreen choice, but I do know the Biore Aqua Rich product lines have tested poorly (both the watery essence, and watery gel) and I do not recommend them.
Want to try the Biore Aqua Rich Watery Essence SPF 50 Mineral Sunscreen?
Do not buy. NOT recommended.
Disclosure: the Amazon link shown is the only affiliate link I am sharing on this post. I will earn a commission if you click on the amazon listed product link and place an order (at no cost to you). I do not collect any personally identifying information. Every little bit helps to keep this site up and running, I do appreciate it!
This is so interesting, because the active ingredients are pretty good. I wonder what makes it perform so poorly. Is there any information about how Kao tests their products’ efficacy?
I’ve found very limited information about how any company tests their products. In the USA, most need to follow the FDA guidelines in order to market their sunscreen using SPF ratings. So I assume they hire a company to do these tests. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if a company is found to send a sample in for testing to get approval and then ships a different formula to make it cheaper to produce to the mass market.
Was this purchased from Amazon? Amazon is ripe with counterfeits 😦 Safer to buy Korean and Japanese sunscreens from a site like yesstyle or stylevana
This particular sample was taken from the product which was purchased on http://www.sayweee.com
Wow. So disappointing!! Makes me uneasy about my Rohto Skin Aqua UV Super Moisture Milk. It’s a famous product in the skin-care community, and one of the best-feeling sunscreens I’ve ever tried (and contains the coveted Uvinul A Plus filter). But now I’ll be waiting nervously for its SunscreenTester review!
Hi Francie, do you know if the rohto skin aqua UV also have problems with counterfeits like the biore?
I have always bought it from Yesstyle because there were definitely one or two people on reddit who ordered it from Amazon and ended up receiving suspiciously different packaging, and reported that the product inside to be a different texture.
P.S. I had a real “4 am thought”—- Biore is an alcohol-based sunscreen (the only one you have tested so far, I believe?). On human skin, the alcohol will completely evaporate within minutes. Trapped between the glass, it does not evaporate. Is it possible that this is interfering with the filters’ dispersal and disrupting their functionality, resulting in such a poor reading? Just thinking out loud
Re: evaporation
It’s possible, but I have tested a few sunscreen lotions like the coola and beauty of joseon which showed evaporation after 2 hours of testing. Since alcohol evaporates much more quickly than water, I would expect the outside edges of the sunscreen slide sample to show drying…like the coola and beauty of joseon lotions.
Of course this is something I should probably test. Maybe I’ll throw a slide in with isopropyl alcohol only and see what happens!
Ok so I did some testing today. I prepared a sunscreen slide sample but using only isopropyl alcohol. After the 2 hour test, the alcohol had completely evaporated leaving no “wet” substance behind. What this means is that the alcohol should be able to escape/evaporate from the edges of the slide cover given the sunscreen formulation allows alcohol to evaporate.
This is really scary and disheartening, especially since I just ordered it heh. It would be really interesting if you tried ordering from Stylevana/YesStyle and testing again to see if you got the same results (not saying this the one you have is fake but just to see if it got same results again).
Hi Niki,
Please see this review where I test the new version from stylevana
https://www.sunscreentester.com/biore-aqua-rich-watery-essence-spf-50-2023-sunscreen-lotion/