Medik8 sunscreen in the USA: Advanced Day UV Protect SPF 50 shares no filter with the UK's Ultimate Protect
Medik8's new US sunscreen and Advanced Day Ultimate Protect, its SPF 50+ sunscreen in the UK, do not have a single filter in common. Advanced Day UV Protect Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 50, which Medik8 filed with the FDA in September 2026, lists four active ingredients: avobenzone 3%, homosalate 15%, octisalate 5% and octocrylene 7%. The full ingredient list for Advanced Day Ultimate Protect on Medik8's UK store names three different filters - bis-ethylhexyloxyphenol methoxyphenyl triazine (bemotrizinol), diethylamino hydroxybenzoyl hexyl benzoate (DHHB) and ethylhexyl triazone - and none of the four US ones.
The US version has no bemotrizinol, although the FDA now permits it. The FDA order that added bemotrizinol to the actives allowed in US sunscreens took effect on August 9, 2026, and the UV Protect label is dated September 22, 2026. Medik8 gives no reason for leaving it out, on its stores, in its July 2026 press release or in the filing. The other two UK filters, DHHB and ethylhexyl triazone, are not on the US list of permitted actives at all.
A third formula carries the UK name. In January 2025 Medik8 filed a US Advanced Day Ultimate Protect with the same four US filters at other strengths: avobenzone 2.8%, octisalate 4.8%, homosalate 10% and octocrylene 9.5%. On the FDA register, Ultimate Protect is a different formula from the one on Medik8's UK store.
We did not find UV Protect on sale on October 4, 2026. Medik8's own US store lists no sunscreen at all, and Medik8's brand page on Sephora.com listed 19 products that day, none of them a sunscreen.
We report what the labels, the FDA filings and the stores say. We do not describe what any filter does, and we do not rate the products.
- Product
- Advanced Day UV Protect Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 50
- Brand
- Medik8
- Price
- Not found at a US store on October 4, 2026
- Size
- 1.69 fl oz / 50 mL tube; a 30 mL tube is also in the filing
- Price per fl oz
- Not available without a US price
- On sale (online)
- Not confirmed. The filing gives a marketing start date of September 23, 2026
- On sale (in store)
- Not confirmed
- Refill
- None in the filing
- SPF
- Broad Spectrum SPF 50
- Active filters
- Avobenzone 3%, homosalate 15%, octisalate 5%, octocrylene 7%
- Water resistant
- No claim on the label
- Filed with FDA
- NDC 79988-003; label dated Sep 22, 2026; on DailyMed Sep 30, 2026; in openFDA's NDC data from its Oct 2, 2026 update
- Sold at
- Not found on Medik8's US store, Sephora.com or Amazon on October 4, 2026; see Where to buy
Filters, SPF, sizes, dates and directions from the label on DailyMed; the fl oz figure is the one printed on the carton artwork in the filing. Store checks on us.medik8.com, Sephora.com and Amazon. All read October 4, 2026. See sources.
Where to buy
Where we looked on October 4, 2026
- Medik8's US store (us.medik8.com) - no sunscreen listed. The store's product feed lists 71 items and none of them is a sunscreen. The product addresses advanced-day-uv-protect, advanced-day-ultimate-protect and advanced-day-ultimate-protect-spf50 all return a not-found page. The last of those is the address that the data behind the store's CSA - The Triple Threat bundle, last updated July 17, 2025, still gives for the bundle's SPF option: Advanced Day Ultimate Protect SPF50+ PA++++ at $59.00. Its CSA Philosophy collection, named for what Medik8's press release calls "Vitamin C and Sunscreen by day" and vitamin A by night, holds seven products, none of them a sunscreen.
- Sephora - no Medik8 sunscreen listed. Medik8's brand page on Sephora.com shows 19 products, all of them serums, creams, toners and cleansers. Medik8 announced in July 2026 that it would "debut on Sephora.com in the United States on August 11".
- Dermstore - lists Advanced Day Ultimate Protect SPF 50+ (50ml), not UV Protect, at $59.00, marked sold out and coming soon. The ingredients it prints begin with the filters of the 2025 US filing: butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane 2.8%, ethylhexyl salicylate 4.8%, homosalate 10% and octocrylene 9.5%.
- Space NK, US site - a page for Advanced Day Ultimate Protect SPF50+ prints the UK ingredient list, with bis-ethylhexyloxyphenol methoxyphenyl triazine second. Opened from the US on October 4, 2026, it gave the price in pounds, £59.00. We did not confirm whether Space NK ships it to US addresses.
- Amazon - a search for Medik8 Advanced Day UV Protect showed Medik8 serums, creams and toners, and no Medik8 sunscreen.
- Medik8's UK store (medik8.com) - Advanced Day Ultimate Protect, the UK formula, at £59.00 for 50 ml, with an add-to-bag button.
Checked October 4, 2026 (US Eastern). We did not place an order anywhere, so we have not confirmed shipping or stock on hand. Prices and stock change.
The three formulas, filter by filter
| Filter | UV Protect, US filing 2026 | Ultimate Protect, US filing 2025 | Ultimate Protect, UK store |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avobenzone | 3% | 2.8% | Not listed |
| Homosalate | 15% | 10% | Not listed |
| Octisalate | 5% | 4.8% | Not listed |
| Octocrylene | 7% | 9.5% | Not listed |
| Bemotrizinol | Not listed | Not listed | Listed, 2nd |
| DHHB | Not listed | Not listed | Listed, 3rd |
| Ethylhexyl triazone | Not listed | Not listed | Listed, 8th |
Bemotrizinol is allowed now. The other two UK filters are not.
The FDA's final order OTC000039, issued June 10, 2026, added bemotrizinol, at up to 6%, to the list of active ingredients a US sunscreen may use without its own drug approval. The order took effect on August 9, 2026. The list it prints runs to seventeen actives, from aminobenzoic acid to zinc oxide. Diethylamino hydroxybenzoyl hexyl benzoate and ethylhexyl triazone are not on it. So two of the three filters in the UK list cannot go into a sunscreen sold in the US on those terms, whatever happens with bemotrizinol.
Bemotrizinol comes with its own condition. For 18 months from August 9, 2026, the order lets only DSM and its licensees sell a bemotrizinol sunscreen in the US - until about February 2028, as our exclusivity page explains. The order does not name the licensees, and we found nothing from Medik8 on whether it has such a licence or has asked for one. Medik8 is not among the filers in our tracker of US bemotrizinol sunscreens.
All four filters in UV Protect are on the US list. Three of them sit at the highest strength the list allows: avobenzone at 3%, homosalate at 15% and octisalate at 5%. Octocrylene, at 7%, is below its 10% ceiling.
What the UV Protect label says
| Active ingredient | Strength in the filing | Percentage | US maximum |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avobenzone | 3 g per 100 mL | 3% | 3% |
| Homosalate | 15 g per 100 mL | 15% | 15% |
| Octisalate | 5 g per 100 mL | 5% | 5% |
| Octocrylene | 7 g per 100 mL | 7% | 10% |
- Warnings. The label adds "Flammable until dry." to the usual sunscreen warnings. Neither of Medik8's two older US sunscreen labels carries that line. The UV Protect inactive ingredients begin with water and alcohol denat.
- Water. The label makes no water resistance claim. Its directions say to "use a water resistant sunscreen if swimming or sweating".
- Packs. Two tubes, each in a carton: 30 mL (NDC 79988-003-01, carton 79988-003-02) and 50 mL (79988-003-03, carton 79988-003-04). The carton artwork in the filing is the 50 mL one, marked 1.69 fl oz.
- Who is named. The labeler is Medik8 Ltd. The carton artwork names Medik8 Inc. of New York as the distributor and gives France as the country of manufacture.
The label lists these inactive ingredients: water, alcohol denat., styrene/acrylates copolymer, dimethicone, acrylates/dimethicone copolymer, tocopherol, dicaprylyl ether, diethyl syringylidenemalonate, phenoxyethanol, caprylyl glycol, PEG-8 laurate, sodium polyacrylate, acrylates/C10-30 alkyl acrylate crosspolymer, trisodium ethylenediamine disuccinate, caprylic/capric triglyceride, methyl lactate, glycerin, sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate, butylene glycol, pentylene glycol, mentha piperita (peppermint) extract, menthol, moringa oleifera seed extract, methyl salicylate, disodium phosphate and citric acid.
Every Medik8 sunscreen on the FDA register
| Marketing start | NDC | Product | Active ingredients as filed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-23 | 79988-003 | Advanced Day UV Protect, SPF 50 | Avobenzone 3%, homosalate 15%, octisalate 5%, octocrylene 7% |
| 2025-01-06 | 79988-002 | Advanced Day Ultimate Protect, SPF 50 | Butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane (avobenzone) 2.8%, ethylhexyl salicylate (octisalate) 4.8%, homosalate 10%, octocrylene 9.5% |
| 2021-02-10 | 79988-001 | Physical Sunscreen, SPF 50 | Zinc oxide 12% |
- UV Protect comes in a 30 mL and a 50 mL tube. Its label went up on DailyMed on September 30, 2026. openFDA's copy of the National Drug Code directory did not have it in its September 29 update and does in its October 2 update, with a listing expiration date of December 31, 2027.
- The 2025 Ultimate Protect comes in a 50 mL and a 5 mL bottle, labelled Broad Spectrum SPF 50+, 1.69 fl oz (50 mL). It is still in openFDA's NDC data, with a listing expiration date of December 31, 2026.
- Physical Sunscreen SPF 50 is a 60 mL tube. Its label has three versions on DailyMed, from February 12, 2021 to April 1, 2024. It is not in openFDA's NDC data.
A marketing start date is a date the company enters in its FDA listing. It does not show that the product was on a shelf that day.
How to tell them apart
- The name. UV Protect is the name on the 2026 US label. We found no product of that name on Medik8's UK store, and the same product address returns a not-found page on Medik8's international and Australian stores.
- The 2025 US Ultimate Protect has a Drug Facts panel that starts with butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane 2.8%, and it comes in a bottle. Its carton artwork gives the UK as the country of manufacture.
- The UK Ultimate Protect is sold as 50 ml and described as SPF 50+ and PA++++, and its list on medik8.com begins "Aqua (Water), Bis-Ethylhexyloxyphenol Methoxyphenyl Triazine, Diethylamino Hydroxybenzoyl Hexyl Benzoate". The same page carries a Made in Britain note.
Medik8's UK page says, under its ingredient list, that there may be "slight variants between different regions based on local laws", and that the list printed on the pack is the one to go by.
What we could not confirm
- Where UV Protect is sold in the US, and at what price. On October 4, 2026 we did not find it on Medik8's US store, on Sephora.com or in an Amazon search.
- Whether, and when, Medik8's US store sold Advanced Day Ultimate Protect. The address its bundle data gives returns not found, and we found no Internet Archive copy of that page.
- Why the US formula has no bemotrizinol, and whether Medik8 holds or has sought a licence from DSM. Neither is stated on Medik8's UK or US store, in its July 2026 press release or in the FDA filing.
- Whether UV Protect replaces the 2025 US Ultimate Protect. We found no statement from Medik8 either way, and the 2025 listing is still in the FDA data.
- Whether the 30 mL tube is sold on its own. The carton artwork in the filing shows only the 50 mL carton.
- The percentages in the UK formula. The UK list gives none.
- What any store charges at checkout, with tax and shipping. We did not add anything to a cart.
Questions
Is Medik8 sunscreen available in the USA?
Is Advanced Day UV Protect the same as Advanced Day Ultimate Protect?
Does Medik8's US sunscreen contain bemotrizinol?
What are the active ingredients in Medik8 Advanced Day UV Protect?
Is Advanced Day UV Protect water resistant?
Sources
- UV Protect label, Drug Facts, packages and carton artwork - DailyMed, Medik8 Advanced Day UV Protect Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 50, version 1, dated September 22, 2026, published September 30, 2026, read October 4, 2026
- 2025 US Ultimate Protect label - DailyMed, Advanced Day Ultimate Protect Sunscreen SPF 50, version 1, published January 9, 2025, read October 4, 2026
- Physical Sunscreen label - DailyMed, Medik8 Physical Sunscreen SPF 50, version 3, read October 4, 2026
- Every DailyMed label with Medik8 as labeler - DailyMed web services, read October 4, 2026
- NDC listings - openFDA drug/ndc API, queried for labeler Medik8 and for NDCs 79988-001 and 79988-003: the data updated September 29, 2026, read October 1, 2026, and the data updated October 2, 2026, read October 4, 2026
- UK formula, size, price and the regional note - Advanced Day Ultimate Protect on medik8.com, read October 4, 2026
- Medik8's US store - us.medik8.com, its product sitemap and product feed, its CSA Philosophy collection, and the page source of its CSA - The Triple Threat bundle, read October 4, 2026
- Sephora launch date and the CSA wording - Medik8 press release on PR Newswire, issued July 16, 2026 and corrected the same day, read October 4, 2026
- The seventeen permitted actives, the effective date and the exclusivity - FDA Final Administrative Order OTC000039, issued June 10, 2026
- Dermstore listing of the 2025 US formula - Medik8 Advanced Day Ultimate Protect SPF 50+ (50ml), read October 1 and October 4, 2026
- Space NK US page with the UK ingredient list - Medik8 Advanced Day Ultimate Protect SPF50+, read October 1 and October 4, 2026
- Medik8 on Sephora.com - Medik8 brand page, 19 products, read October 4, 2026
- Amazon search - results for Medik8 Advanced Day UV Protect, read October 4, 2026
Source links are not affiliate links. This page records what the labels, federal records and the stores say. It is not advice about your skin, and it does not describe what the products or any filter will do.
