It happens almost every day. My roommates and I come home from a long day of schlepping around the city the unhappiest of sunburned campers. Mind you, we pickle ourselves in sunblock of SPF 30 every morning before leaving the house, and we only go outside as our jobs require. Obviously our current lotions failed miserably, so as we set off on a quest for the best new sunscreen, we thought we’d add a layer of fun by focusing on high SPF sunblocks that have an extra special something to them. And we found these . . .

Physician's Formula Healthy Wear Bronzer

When you don’t want to layer on a serum under your sunblock (who has time for all that?) Kate Somerville Protect SPF 55 Serum Sunscreen ($45 at katesomerville.com) comes packed with antioxidants to reduce the signs of aging. Slathering it on feels like a good idea, since it doesn’t even think about leaving chalky or greasy residue. To skip yet another step, reach for Kate Somerville SPF 55 Tinted Serum Sunscreen – it gives all the same benefits plus a sheer coverage.

To get even more sun block from a cosmetic, we turned to Physician’s Formula Healthy Wear Powder Foundation and Pressed Bronzer, both with SPF 50 (both $14.95 at physiciansformula.com.) Like Somerville’s serums, these powders come with antioxidants for maximum protection.

But the Big Guns came in the form of Neutrogena Spectrum+ Advanced Sunblock Lotion SPF 100+ ($10.99 at neutrogena.com) Overkill? Maybe. But slathering this stuff, laced with the powerful complex Helioplex360, on all over prevented that horrible end-of-day burn/tan that leads us to wish we could live underground like Morlocks.

These newer products have given us a little hope when it comes to saving our complexions. One final measure: At my apartment we’ve been consuming mass quantities of watermelon, a lycopene-rich food, to help boost our skin’s own SPF from the inside out. If that doesn’t work, we’ll have no choice but to take to the sewers.

– Katharine McKenzie