11 Luminous Skin Tints and Tinted Moisturisers to Compliment Your Natural Glow

Weightless yet hydrating, NYX Bare With Me Tinted Skin Veil ($22.46) has a satin finish. Not only does the creamy formula look like second skin but it also provides enough coverage that you’ll forget you’re not wearing a full-coverage foundation on your face.

Advancing the tinted moisturiser game is the new L’Oréal Paris Skin Paradise Tinted Water Cream ($26). As the name suggests, the tinted liquid is water based and contains glycerin, sodium hyaluronate, witch hazel water, and aloe vera leaf, all of which contribute to the formula’s ability to keep your skin hydrated and glowy throughout the day. Couple that with the liquid’s dewy texture and sheer, mineral pigments, and you have a tinted moisturiser that leaves your skin looking plump and radiant – like you just slathered face cream all over it.

While the pigments are on the lighter side, they aren’t as sheer as your typical tinted moisturiser. Rather, the coverage level falls somewhere between a tinted moisturiser and a light foundation and can easily be built up to medium coverage if you add additional layers with your fingers or a brush. What is really magical about this formula, though, is while it covers up redness and pigmentation issues, you definitely still sense the natural texture of your skin underneath, and the high points of your face – cheekbones, especially – don’t lose their natural luminosity. Whilst only launching with 10 shades, we hope the range expands more skin tones as this could be a budget-friendly winner.

When Rihanna comes out with a new complexion product in her Fenty Beauty range, it’s time to start saving up. Her new Fenty Beauty Eaze Drop Blurring Skin Tint ($53) is the brand’s lightest base product, offering light-to-medium coverage and a diffused, airbrushed finish.

The formula contains sodium hyaluronate, to keep skin feeling soft and hydrated, but that doesn’t mean it will leave you feeling greasy. In fact, the formula is both non-comedogenic (meaning it won’t clog pores) and, like all of RiRi’s base products, it’s sweat, humidity, and transfer resistant – so basically, it’s the perfect product for summer (layered over your SPF of course). And since we know you were wondering, the Eaze Drop Blurring Skin Tint comes in 25 “flexible” shades that the brand covers all 50 shades of its iconic Pro Filt’r range.

The POPSUGAR team is obsessed with the Shiseido Synchro Skin Self-Refreshing Tint ($61) for its ability to keep skin hydrated throughout the day (even for very dry, post-Accutane skin), to make you look glowy, and to provide just enough coverage to cover redness and dark circles, but still let your skin’s natural luminosity and texture show through (it’s great if you have freckles!). It’s also the first skin tint we’ve found that doesn’t go orange on medium-toned complexions.

“It’s light coverage but does build slightly in certain areas if I need it, leaving a ‘my skin but better’ finish,” editor Tori Crowther said of the Synchro Skin Tint. “The formula isn’t too watery or oily, which I love, and it leaves my dry skin feeling hydrated – even after eight hours of wear in the city.”

Since tinted moisturisers have been around for a while, we can’t forget the iconic formulas that helped give the category its glory. Oil-free with a luminous finish, the Nars Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturiser ($74) offers a veil of coverage that’s enough to cover redness and pigmentation, whilst still leaving the skin glistening and its natural texture shining through.

Probably one of the more pigmented options on this list, the Ciaté Dewy Skin Glass Glow Tint ($52) still has a silky, lightweight texture and natural-looking finish. According to makeup artist Ash K Holm, the sheer and flexible formula can be used to spot conceal your skin for a dewy look, layered as a lightweight foundation, or used all over the body for a healthy-looking glow. Apply it with a brush or your fingers – either way it offers up similarly natural-looking coverage.

The Code8 Radiate Beauty Balm ($72.39) was the first product launched by the innovative beauty brand, Code8, and it continues to be a bestseller – even if beauty balms aren’t so much of a trend anymore. Basically a very creamy tinted moisturiser, the Radiate Beauty Balm is probably one of the most hydrating options on this list, thanks to the addition of argan oil and pectin, which in baking can act as a thickening agent but in skin care is packed with vitamins to help deeply moisturise. Available in 10 shades (the darkest of which is quite deep), the formula feels velvety and comfortable on the skin and offers a second-skin finish. And because it’s not greasy or tacky, it plays very nicely under other types of makeup.

While the incredibly full-coverage Sensual Skin Enhancer foundation is one of the brand’s best products, hands down, it turns out they can do a sheer tinted moisturiser just as expertly. The Kevyn Aucoin Stripped Nude Skin Tint ($74), (available in 10 shades), is infused with skin-care ingredients such as hyaluronic acid and butterfly bush flower extract to help hydrate and defend against blue light damage. But it’s the formula’s silky, lightweight texture that has people really obsessed. “I often struggle with tinted moisturiser feeling heavy on my skin but this is so lightweight it’s just perfect,” one reviewer writes on Look Fantastic. “It covers but not too much. It tints… but not too much,” writes another customer, which is basically exactly we what we want from our tinted moisturiser if you ask us.

Morphing to any skin type and any skin tone, the Charlotte Tilbury Unisex Healthy Glow ($56) is the your-skin-but-better formula that you will crave coming out of lockdown. The thin cream, which comes out of the tube white, actually contains a combination of black, bronze, and terracotta pigments that mix together as you massage the formula over your face and then adapt to your complexion. But this formula isn’t just about giving you a sun-kissed glow (which it definitely does). It also contains ingredients that mimic the lipids naturally found in your skin to help simultaneously hydrate and plump your skin.

We’re pretty sure Laura Mercier invented tinted moisturiser, with the French makeup artist’s original formula setting the bar for all other brands to come. After nearly two decades, however, the formula was in need a revamp – the sunscreen in it made it look chalky on medium and darker skin tones, while those with dry skin often found it not hydrating enough. That’s why, in 2019, the brand gave the iconic Tinted Moisturiser a revamp, resulting in the new-and-improved Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturiser Natural Skin Perfector SPF30 ($85).

The updated version (which apparently took 67 different iterations until Mercier herself would sign off on it), provides the same light coverage and effortless-looking, no-makeup makeup finish as the original. What’s changed is the inclusion of more moisturising ingredients (like macadamia and kukui seed oil) and an updated sunscreen technology that expanded the shade range to 20 hues, all of which means more people can reap the benefits of this complexion-enhancing formula.

You may question any additional oil on your face – especially if you’re layering more makeup on top – but the Kosas Tinted Face Oil ($67) is designed with mineral pigments that are meant to set and last all day (yes, even in warmer weather), leaving your skin looking velvety and dewy, not shiny and greasy. That being said, if you have naturally oily skin, this formula is probably not for you, while those who are combination or err on the side of oily in the summer, may want to save this for the cooler, drier months.

Like wearing your comfiest loungewear, this skincare-like formula coddles the skin with a blend of six oils (avocado, meadowfoam, jojoba, rosehip, red raspberry, camellia seed) that help to hydrate, brighten, and minimise the appearance of pores. Available in 16 shades, the Tinted Face Oil offers a surprising level of coverage – somewhere between light and medium – and is best applied with fingers or a synthetic brush.