This is from old notes, and I'm not familiar with Neutrogena's formulations, so don't take any of this as authoritative.

Keep in mind that ingredients in foods and cosmetics are listed in descending order of predominance, so the first ingredients comprise the largest proportion of the product. Ingredients less than 1% can be listed in any order.

- Water is the first ingredient, which tells us this product is an oil-in-water system. This is the case for almost all modern lotion products.

- C12-15 alkyl benzoate - This oil forms the bulk of the dispersed phase of the emulsion. It functions as a carrier for oil-soluble ingredients, and provides water resistance for the applied film. It has some antimicrobial properties as well. In a moisturizer product you'd see a more conventional oil in this place, like mineral oil or shea butter or something like that. But a "dry-feel" sunscreen needs a more specialized light and dry feeling oil, and this is a common one.

- Styrene/acrylates copolymer - I'm guessing this is Dow's Sunspheres product. Dow markets it as a sort of "sunscreen multiplier", which allows a formulator to reduce the quantity of other active UV filters or blockers. BASF and other companies supply similar products that are marketed as opacifiers and colorants.

- Octyldodecyl citrate crosspolymer - This is a texture modifier sold under the brand CosmoSurf, marketed as a sort of designer oil phase that provides ideal structure and spreading characteristics.

- Phenyl trimethicone - Anti-foaming agent. Foam is bad in lotions.

- Cetyl PEG/PPG-10/1 dimethicone - This is an emulsifier for silicone in water emulsions. It keeps the silicone components from glomming together. Without this the product would sort of curdle and get clumpy.

- Dimethicone - This is just silicone oil. It's an important component of the dispersed phase of the emulsion. Silicone oil is lovely stuff: very light and dry, and very water resistant.

- Polyhydroxystearic acid - This is a dispersant for the zinc oxide. It mates the ZnO particles to the oily components. Without this the ZnO would gather in the continuous water phase and form an uneven slurry, or settle out as clumps of clay.

- Glycerin - I don't know why they use this. It's most well known as a humectant, but I don't know why that would be useful here.

- Ethyl methicone, cetyl dimethicone, cetyl dimethicone/bis-vinyldimethicone crosspolymer - These are silicone oils and texture modifiers that contribute to the dry and sheer feel, and provide antifoaming properties as well. The products I'm familiar with are made by Siltech, sold under their SilWax brand.

- Silica - I don't know why this is here. Filler and color?

- Chrysanthemum parthenium (feverfew) flower/leaf/stem juice - I have no idea what this is for.

- Glyceryl behenate - This is a fat of just the right molecular weight to give body to the product from the bottle, but which will melt at the right moment under the hand. Some products combine mono-, di-, and tri-behenyl glycerides to build particular textures. The triglyceride also helps stabilize the emulsion at higher temperatures, like in a hot car.

- Phenethyl alcohol - A preservative, similar to phenoxyethanol (listed later) but less stinky.

- Caprylyl glycol - I see this is a lot of ointments as a skin conditioner. I'm not sure why it's here, but it could be part of a preservative product called Optiphen, which also contains phenoxyethanol, which is listed later.

- Acrylates/dimethicone copolymer - This is a film former. Contributes to a hard, dry finish and water resistance.

- Sodium chloride - Salt, does a lot of stuff.

- Phenoxyethanol - A preservative. Dow recommends this particular preservative in the Sunspheres tech literature. Could also be evidence of Optiphen as I mentioned earlier.