Sunscreen & Self-Tanners

Bloqueador, bronceador and self-tan are three different bottles:

and listings mix them up all the time. Bloqueador is the everyday Costa Rican word for sunscreen, whatever its SPF. Bronceador, strictly, is a tanning oil or lotion with a low SPF or none at all, for people who want colour from the sun, so read the number on the bottle before taking one for the other. Self-tanners give colour with no sun involved: a gradual tanning lotion builds a shade over several days, a mousse or foam goes on with a mitt and develops within hours, and tanning drops are mixed into your own moisturiser. Aloe gels and after-sun lotions sit with the body creams and lotions, and foundations and powders that carry an SPF are under make-up.

Sticks for the surf, fluids for the face, sprays for the back:

the format decides more than the brand. A solid stick is what surfers carry for the nose, cheekbones and ears, because it stays put in the water and fits in a boardshort pocket. A big bottle of lotion is the cheap way to cover a whole body; a spray is quicker on a back but goes on thinner than it looks in the wind. For the water, look for water resistant on the label; under make-up, a light facial fluid or a tinted sunscreen. Mineral formulas, with zinc oxide or titanium dioxide on the label, tend to leave a white cast, and they are what most people pick up when they want a reef-friendly bottle before snorkelling at Cahuita. With self-tanners, a mousse with a guide colour shows where the mitt has been, which forgives a first attempt, and a gradual lotion is the gentlest start because one uneven day barely shows.

A supermarket bottle against a dermatology tube:

a large bottle of body sunscreen starts at around ₡5,000 in a supermarket, while a 50 ml facial fluid from a dermatology line runs ₡15,000 to ₡20,000. Second-hand, the gap turns round: the cheap bottle is hardly worth listing once it is open, but a sealed facial tube with its date well ahead keeps most of its value, since it is the same tube the pharmacy shelf sells. An opened sunscreen of any kind drops to small change, because nobody can tell how long it rode around in a beach bag.

A sunscreen that has separated, and a self-tanner gone orange:

start with the date printed on the crimp of the tube or the base of the bottle, and if there is none, treat the bottle as old. Then squeeze a little onto the back of your hand. Sunscreen that has broken down splits into a watery layer that will not mix back in when shaken, turns grainy, yellows or smells sour. Spray cans pick up rust around the base ring from sand and salt air; a can that feels light has been used. On a stick, scrape the top for sand pressed into it. Self-tanner changes once air gets in. An opened bottle grows darker and its biscuity smell gets stronger, and that is the bottle that leaves orange streaks. On anything listed as new, check for a seal under the cap and a batch code on the tube that matches the box.

Leftover bottles from a surf trip to Santa Teresa:

are what most people have to pass on and go fastest listed one by one. Photograph the expiry stamp or the crimp code, say whether each bottle is sealed or how full it is, and give the size printed on the label. Say where it was kept, because a stick that spent the season in a surf bag on the sand is a different buy from one kept indoors. For a self-tanner, give the shade, light, medium or dark, and whether the mitt is included. Someone meeting you in Tamarindo will squeeze a drop onto the back of a hand and turn the tube over to read the crimp before agreeing a price.