the sunscreen spiral

Today I accidentally went shopping for sunscreen.  It started out as a trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond (the least-horrifically-overpriced toiletries in the city) for travel-size products.  The idea was to pack a few travel-sized toiletries to use the first several days, in Iceland and Germany, and then when I get settled in Paris I can buy more.  But there are certain things that don't work that way - some things don't really come in travel sizes, and there are products I'm picky about.  Actually, it turns out most of the products I use - or at least, that I care about - are things I'm picky about.  

Like sunscreen.  Sunscreen is tricky because (a) it's expensive, (b) I'm likely to use a large volume of it, and (c) as it turns out, sunscreen is really hard.  It's not like you can just go into the store and there is one sunscreen.  No, there is a whole aisle and a half of sunscreens.  And there are many parameters.  Just to measure efficacy, there is SPF, physical sunscreen content, photostability, and water-resistance.  Then there is the question of how it will feel going on (i.e. gross?  many high-spf sunscreens feel gross) and what it will do to my skin (is it moisturizing yet oil-free?  hypoallergenic?  non-comedogenic?).  Finally there are the ergonomic issues:  How much does the container hold, and how unwieldy is it?  How does it dispense?  I don't like sprays (inefficient and messy; only useful on the actual beach).  I have a complicated relationship with sticks (I feel like they don't really work but I like to have one with me, because it's so easy to put on in the train.  Other people put on lip gloss in the train; I put on sunscreen.)  Also, it is essential to have a sunscreen that says it is for my face, but it has to be actually for my face, not the Coppertone ripoff that says it's for the face but has the exact same ingredients as the not-face sunblock.

After much, much deliberation, I ended up with three products:  Coppertone SPF 90, Aveeno face SPF 110 (supposedly higher SPF really does help, even for numbers that high.  It is not crazy.  you only get one skin.), and Coppertone waterbabies SPF 55 stick.  All of this stuff is water-resistant, but none of it is sport sunblock, which I'm a bit worried about.  I suppose it is not like I'll be taking long runs in the middle of the day.  And this is three sunscreens more than I intended to purchase (again, other people impulse-buy lip gloss; I impulse-buy sunscreen).  Still, it would be nice to have all possible bases covered.