To summarize, Triple Prep is formulated to hydrate, protect the skin from UV rays, fight off free radicals that come from smog and pollution, and smooth and mattify skin. “This is why we call it Triple Prep,” says Thaggard, “because it’s like prepping your skin with the UV protection, the environmental protection, both UVA and UVB, [and hydration].”
How I Tested It
Aside from fragrance-free body lotion and hand sanitizer, sunscreen is my favorite skin-care product. (Oh, my God, I’m so boring.) I go through tubes of it like I go through water. No one is more qualified to size up a sunscreen, and I have loved every minute of using Triple Prep on my combination skin.
While testing, I put my everyday moisturizer and SPF (Paula’s Choice Barrier Repair Advanced Moisturizer and KraveBeauty Beet The Sun SPF 40) in a drawer and used Triple Prep in place of both. After my morning cleanse, vitamin C serum, prescription topicals, and eye cream, I’d twist open the jar and dab two finger lengths of the stuff on my face. As I massaged it in, the texture became one of my favorite parts of the Triple Prep experience — a texture Maguire is especially proud of. “We love the feel of the bouncy formula on fingertips and wanted people to enjoy it,” she says. “You can feel the bouncy softness and the fresh water burst when applying on skin. Some of that sensorial transformation would be lost if squeezing from a traditional tube.”
Triple Prep blended easily into my skin and dried down fast before makeup application. It does have a slight matte finish, but when used in combination with all of my other skin-care products, I found my skin to still be at a dewy, glowy baseline.
I have two (very small) gripes about using Triple Prep: First, I found that on cold days (like the 30-degree New York City weather I’ve been living in), I had to add a moisturizer back into my lineup — with all of my prescription topicals, I needed the extra shot of hydration; second, I sometimes had trouble opening the jar.
Yes, the extra-smooth, minimalist jar with the screw-on top is very similar to Superscreen’s packaging and looks great on a vanity, but it does make it difficult to open. Picture me with slippery fingers, due to the skin-care products I applied immediately before, trying to open the jar by twisting two sides of a small tub in different directions — it’s comical. More than a few times, I had to stop and wash and dry my hands to get it open. Did this deter me from using Triple Prep? Absolutely not. The formula is worth the effort.
The Results
Sarah Kinonen / Design by Bella Geraci