I Tried 7 Skin Tints So You Don’t Have To (& There’s A Clear Winner)

Forget tinted moisturizer or serum foundation for a moment. “Skin tints” are taking their place as the must-have makeup product ahead of summer. 

For those who aren’t already sold on their myriad benefits, skin tints occupy a cosy space between a light-coverage foundation and your most hydrating skincare product. The feel? Featherlight. The finish? Super natural. Unlike heavier base products such as concealer or foundation, tints allow skin to look like skin while very subtly tucking away any gripes you might have, like redness, scarring or breakouts.

It’s why countless brands, including Saie, Fenty Beauty and Lisa Eldridge, are on board. But with so much choice out there, weeding out the products that deserve recognition from the ones that fall flat is no mean feat. 

Ahead, I tried seven trending skin tints so you don’t have to, and for me, there’s one clear winner.

It took me a little while to find the right shade in makeup artist Lisa Eldridge’s first-ever skin tint (T4, in case you were wondering; T5 and T6 were far too yellow for my light olive skin). This appeared matte at first and took a few minutes to “settle” into my skin, but once it meshed with my natural oils it was virtually indiscernible — and looked so natural. Usually by the end of the day my T-zone feels like a slip ‘n’ slide, but I noticed that my face was much less oily, so I delved into the ingredients. It’s hardly sexy, but this tint boasts modified corn starch, which reduces the oily feel of products. I can only assume that it also helped mop up additional face grease throughout the day. Though it’s featherlight, this lasted the longest on my skin. At $49, it’s dearer than most of the tints on this list but one squeeze was enough to cover my entire face and neck.

The most expensive tint on the list suitably boasts the smoothest application. It virtually glides on, blends quickly, minimizes the appearance of pores, tucks away redness and makes skin glow in all the right places. Even better, it feels like wearing nothing, but it sticks around: I put it through its paces during a 30-minute high intensity workout and it didn’t budge an inch. My only gripe is that it becomes ever so slightly darker after a few hours of wear. If you like to look bronzed, this shouldn’t be an issue, but you could always opt for a shade lighter. That said, the color range — 18 in total — isn’t as extensive as others like Fenty, for instance. 

This tint was the most wet. That is by no means a bad thing; it blended into my skin quickly, felt cooling and hydrating, and made my face gleam. No, really: MAC isn’t messing around with the word “dewy” here. After an hour or so, I noticed that the intensity had worn off a little and the finish appeared more natural. In fact, it’s this product which Terry Barber, MAC’s director of makeup artistry, used to create a “dim lighting” effect on models’ skin at London Fashion Week last year — essentially providing a warm, muted glow. The coverage is great for a tint so fluid and one squeeze is ample. 

This review wouldn’t be complete without an OG tint to compare the much newer launches to. The first time I tried this, I was an unwavering full coverage foundation person, but I’ve come to appreciate it massively since. It’s a little bit more pigmented than the rest of the tints here, so I can happily skip concealer. The finish occupies a space between matte and dewy, providing a soft-focus effect. Then there’s the shade range — 25 to be exact — which is much more extensive than others. It blends into the skin without any effort and makeup sits beautifully on top of it.

The compliments I received while wearing this tinted gel cream affords it the winning position. The consistency is slightly thicker than the others, which lends a soft-matte effect. One pump evened out my skin beautifully. I needed a dab of concealer to effectively mask an angry red spot on my cheek but the way it blurred the skin staining I have left behind by previous breakouts was impressive. It lasted all day, including a trip to the hairdresser (a very wet backwash and a hot blowdry) plus a dinner event that creeped into the early hours. It’s the only tint I’ve found myself reaching for since, particularly because bronzer and blush apply so well over the top.

For the price, this is so impressive. At first squeeze it’s bright white — a common feature of most CC (color corrector) creams and tints — but as I blended it into my skin, the tiny encapsulated pigments popped to reveal the tint. I opted for shade Medium, which was a little too dark for my liking, but the product itself was similar to some of the luxury tints on this list: it blended in moments (I used a brush) and masked redness and skin staining left behind by spots. The coverage is substantial (I didn’t use any concealer on my under eyes) and the finish sits comfortably between matte and dewy. It held up so well that it felt a shame to remove my makeup at the end of the day. The obvious downside is the shade range of which there are only four: Light, Medium, Tan and Dark. The website suggests that they correspond with four shades of the brand’s foundation, which indicates that they are somewhat flexible, but I’d recommend scoping them out in store. 

Give this a good shake before you use it! The first few squeezes deposited a puddle of oil onto the back of my hand. Seeing as I have reactive, acne-prone skin, I was reluctant to go any further, but it lent the most skin-like finish out of all of the tints on this list. While the coverage isn’t as substantial as others (you can see a few spots and scars peeking through) my skin appeared quenched and plump. I do have a few gripes, though. Firstly, it has a paint-like smell that takes a good while to dissipate. Secondly, it felt a little sticky and my curtain bangs kept getting caught on my cheeks throughout the day. That’s nothing a good, lightweight powder — like Saie Airset Radiant Loose Setting Powder — won’t fix. It’ll provide a little extra coverage, too.