Welcome to Cosmo's first-ever SPF week, a space dedicated to two very important things: 1. reminding you that sunscreen is the most essential step in any skincare routine and 2. sharing the best sunscreen recs to shop right now, according to our team of very picky beauty editors.
Supergoop always tops my list of favorite sunscreen brands. The formulas are functional, look good on the skin, and are enjoyable to use so that you actually commit to making it a part of your daily skincare routine. What Supergoop has done for sunscreen is what brands like Starface have done for pimple patches or Dyson for hair dryers. So when I saw that Supergoop was launching a new version of their best-selling Glowscreen—the Glowscreen Soft-Radiance Drops—I was immediately intrigued.
For the uninitiated, the OG Glowscreen was the face sunscreen that exploded the glowy sunscreen category. The product is so popular that one is sold every 24 seconds. Wild, right? And while I love the idea of Glowscreen, I have very oily, acne-prone skin that gets easily irritated (fun, I know) and the chemical formula didn't mesh well with my skin. But when I saw that the new Glowscreen was an all-mineral formula, I was all in and ready to test. Here's my honest review of the new Glowscreen—plus a breakdown of the main differences between the original Glowscreen and the new Glowscreen Soft-Radiance Drops.
About the new Glowscreen Soft-Radiance Drops Mineral SPF 40:
- What it is: A liquid, zinc oxide-based sunscreen with SPF 40 and a sheer light-reflecting tint
- Who it's best for: Anyone with sensitive skin who wants a dewy glow from their SPF
- Number of shades: 2
- Key ingredients: 15.11 percent zinc oxide (UVA/UVB protection), strawberry oil (hydration), blue pea flower (antioxidant), plant-derived prebiotic (skin balancing)
My review of the new Glowscreen Soft-Radiance Drops:
First impressions:
I was initially struck by the fluid-like texture of the Glowscreen Soft-Radiance Drops. The consistency reminds me of a liquid highlighter—very easy to blend and spread onto the skin. This is not the case with most mineral sunscreens, which tend to be thick, goopy, and chalky. And the level of glow is perfect IMO. It’s totally wearable for every day and makes skin look instantly more wide-awake and fresh.
How I used it:
The Glowscreen Soft-Radiance Drops come in two shades: Sunrise for lighter skin tones and Golden Hour for deeper skin tones. Sunrise worked on my light/medium skin, but I like my complexion to have a little bit more of a bronzy glow so I ended up mixing it with Golden Hour. I took three drops of each shade, rubbed them together between my fingers, and then smoothed it all over my face. It blended into my skin in seconds and I didn’t have to do any real rubbing since the formula has legit zero white cast.
Now I do want to caveat that while this product has “drops” in the name, I would not use it like Drunk Elephant’s D Bronzi Drops or Glow Recipe's Watermelon Glow Dew Drops and cocktail it with other products in your routine. Mixing the two Glowscreen Soft-Radiance Drops shades together? Fine. Mixing them with your serum, face moisturizer, or foundation? Absolutely not since it’ll prevent you from getting the full SPF 40 on the label and make the sunscreen ineffective. The only exception is if you’re using the drops as a secondary sunscreen and already wearing a face full of some other SPF 30 or more underneath.
How it wore on my skin:
My skin is ultra-sensitive to everything these days. I've got red patches, dry patches, and hormonal cysts. If I so much as look at the wrong product, they all start to flare, but after using the Glowscreen Soft-Radiance Drops for the last two weeks, I swear it's all calmed down. My guess is it's because the zinc oxide in the formula has anti-inflammatory properties, plus there are plant-derived prebiotics to help keep skin healthy and balanced too.
I really loved how this blurred the red marks and breakouts on my face. The keyword here is blurred. The tint is ultra sheer (so don't expect any meaningful coverage), but it does create this nice filtered effect without looking or feeling makeup-y on my face. And while there is definitely a glowy finish to this formula, it's not greasy or overly dewy so my face doesn't end up looking like an oil slick by midday.
How the new Glowscreen Soft-Radiance Drops compare to the old Glowscreen:
While I am very much into the ultra-glowy skin aesthetic, the original Glowscreen wasn't it for me—which is probably why I love the new drops so much. As I mentioned up top, I typically don't use chemical sunscreen on my sensitive skin since it tends to exacerbate any redness and sometimes breaks me out. Secondly, the level of glow from the OG Glowscreen is too much for my oily skin and minimalist beauty vibes. (But it may be good for you! You really just have to test it out and see for yourself.) That said, the original Glowscreen comes in four versatile shades (the new one only comes in two) so if you have very fair or very deep skin, that may be the better choice for you.
Overall, Glowscreen Soft-Radiance Drops is all about subtle illumination, while the OG Glowscreen leans toward statement shimmer. I was chatting with Cosmo beauty editor Beth Gillette about this (she's also a fan of the drops) and she summed it up nicely: "The new Glowscreen is very in line with the highlighters of 2025—they're soft focus and light-reflective to give skin an ethereal look—whereas the original Glowscreen reminds her of the big, bold highlighters from 2018 or 2019 that really make skin pop." Makes sense since the original made its debut in 2020 while we were all still very much into strobing and the hyper-glowy Instagram look.
Final thoughts:
If you're a mineral sunscreen stan and love a glowy skin look, you need to try the Glowscreen Soft-Radiance Drops. It's been an excellent addition to my SPF collection, and I find myself reaching for it more than any of the other 10+ sunscreens in my rotation at the moment. Even though it's not positioned as a makeup primer, I love using it under my skin tint (shoutout to Hourglass's Veil Hydrating Skin Tint and Milk Makeup's Hydro Grip Gel Skin Tint, ILU both) on work days and solo with a few dots of concealer on top (depending on how bad my acne is flaring) for the weekends.
Shop the entire Glowscreen collection:
Lauren Balsamo is the beauty director at Cosmopolitan where she writes, edits, and produces all types of beauty content—from product reviews to personal essays and trend reports. She has covered beauty for more than a decade at Cosmopolitan. Follow her on Instagram.
