If we think back to our first introduction to makeup, there’s a chance it involved a studio-quality, full-coverage foundation paired with a thick powder to prepare for one of those mall food court modeling competitions (or is that just us?!). This was makeup back then—it was all or nothing. But today, we have more makeup options than matte, poreless, and one-dimensional. You no longer have to choose between makeup or skincare, thanks to a lovely product category we know as tinted moisturizers.
These multitasking products can do it all. They’re lightweight, provide sheer to buildable coverage, and many even are formulated with nourishing ingredients like hyaluronic acid, vitamin C, and sunscreen. Best of all, they help deliver that effortless your-skin-but-better look that we all love. Ready to blur the lines between skincare and makeup? Check out 20 of the best tinted moisturizers below.
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Finish: Lightweight dewy
Shade Range: 12
There’s nothing quite as “cool girl'' as the effortless, dewy glow that this skin tint from GLOSSIER delivers. It has a beautiful range of stretchable, sheer pigments that flatter porcelain complexions and deep brown shades alike, while allowing your skin’s natural beauty to shine through. You can count on it to minimize the appearance of pores without ever looking cakey, plus your skin will love the moisturizing effects of glycerin.
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Finish: Blurred
Shade Range: 25
The only downside to many tinted moisturizers is that staying power is hard to come by—but not with this transfer-resistant formula. Users say that it has kept their skin looking blurred and beautiful through sweat, humidity, and oily T-zones. Plus, it comes in 25 adaptable shades for flattering light-to-medium coverage.
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Finish: Velvet
Shade Range: 16
This best-selling formula makes the top of our list for a host of reasons. It’s made with clean ingredients that you can feel good about—plus, the richly-hued pigments come in 16 flexible shades. The light coverage has a velvety finish that’s really like your skin but better, and it’s full of nourishing skincare ingredients that balance and nourish your skin for the long haul.
"I don’t think I can ever go back to traditional foundation after this," says Ipster jljhenkel. "A couple of drops does the trick and it’s the most natural look I’ve ever come across!"
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Finish: Dewy
Shade Range: 4
Because this formula is rich in antioxidants and niacinamide, it naturally protects against environmental stressors. This formula will never dry into fine lines or appear cakey, thanks to the inclusion of mineral mica which creates a dewy finish on the skin.
Price: $$$
Finish: Dewy
Shade Range: 30
This skin tint is a holy grail combination of a nourishing skincare serum and light-coverage makeup. The clean, yet impactful, ingredients include niacinamide to smooth texture, plant-based squalene to improve elasticity, and hyaluronic acid to plump and seal in moisture. Best of all, it’s available in 30 dynamic shades so virtually everyone can reap the benefits.
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Finish: Illuminating
Shade Range: 3
If you love the look of a highlighter, but don’t have time to apply a full face of makeup in the morning (those extra 10 minutes of sleep are a must sometimes, you know?), you can still achieve an illuminating glow with this glow-boosting cream. This ultra-moisturizing cream comes in three different shades to create sheer, minimal coverage. The end result is a buildable, dewy glow from the illuminating pearls that help to blur and enhance your complexion.
"This feels and smells so good it’s a treat to spread on each morning," writes Ipster redskittles1. "It makes my skin look natural and fresh."
Price: $$$
Finish: Radiant
Shade Range: 16
Come for the lightweight, oil-free coverage, then stick around for the long-term brightening results. This formula is packed with vitamin C to protect against environmental aggressors and NARS even claims that it noticeably evens out your skin tone in just four weeks. Of course, we also love that it has SPF 30 and delivers 16 shades of hydrating, radiant coverage.
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Finish: Demi-Matte
Shade Range: 20
Those with oily skin, rejoice! This one’s for you. Enjoy all of the benefits of a lightweight tinted moisturizer without the extra dew. It features oil-absorbing powders to control shine and offers just the right amount of coverage without feeling tight or drying. It’s also loaded with vitamin and SPF 20 to protect your skin and licorice root extract to soothe irritated skin.
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Finish: Matte
Shade Range: 9
If you're looking for something you can apply on the fly (or get through TSA with), this handy complexion stick is the way to go. But don't let its solid form fool you: This formula glides on and blends just like a tinted moisturizer without feeling too heavy or thick. Expect light coverage with a matte finish that also gives a soft-glow effect as it hydrates with soothing green tea emollients. The light-reflecting formula also expertly blurs the appearance of pores, blemishes, fine lines, and uneven skin texture. Think of it as an Instagram filter IRL.
"I like this blur stick a lot," one Ipster writes. "It works well both alone for ‘no-makeup’ or more natural looks and it can also be used under foundation. It blurs well, and was a staple of mine over the summer."
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Finish: Silky
Shade Range: 14
If you like a no-frills, no-makeup look in the morning, combine the products you were going to use anyway into one clean formula, like this SPF moisturizer. It’s made from hyaluronic acid and licorice root to hydrate, brighten, and give an overall blurring effect. Plus, you can skip adding sunscreen under your makeup base.
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Finish: Natural
Shade Range: 12
Think of this award-winning product as an anti-aging serum and your favorite foundation in one. It offers buildable coverage that will even out your complexion and cover blemishes with a healthy dose of SPF 50 to give you essential sun protection. Then collagen, hyaluronic acid, and antioxidants combine to plump your complexion and smooth fine lines.
“Fantastic product. The coverage is superb,” says one Ipster. “I love that this is the perfect shade for me,” says another.
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Finish: Matte
Shade Range: 12
We have to recommend yet another IT COSMETICS CC cream as one of the best tinted moisturizers around. This one has everything that we love about its counterpart, except in an oil-free matte formula that’s perfect for oily skin. Finally, you can enjoy the light, natural coverage of a tinted moisturizer without going overboard on the dew.
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Finish: Natural
Shade Range: 20
This dermatologist-tested tinted moisturizer delivers 12 hours of hydration and buildable coverage that stays put. It’ll also help keep your complexion looking youthful by reducing the appearance of imperfections with a winning combination of skin-loving ingredients: maracuja oil to smooth fine lines and keep skin looking supple, hyaluronic acid to moisturize, and vegan collagen to firm. This formula is also paraben-free, phthalate-free, gluten-free, vegan, and free of mineral oil, making this good-for-you formula one you can swipe across your face without worry.
"Love this," says Ipster hedevault. "I use it over a vitamin C serum and my skin looks glowy and natural."
Price: $$
Finish: Dewy
Shade Range: 20
We love what’s not in this gel-cream formula just as much as we love what’s actually inside. It’s vegan, cruelty-free, synthetic fragrance-free, and paraben-free (just to name a few), yet it doesn’t cut corners on performance. It offers lightweight coverage that blurs imperfections and multi-tasks as an SPF 30 and an ultra-hydrating moisturizer that helps boost skin by 215 percent (!) in just one week with hyaluronic acid.
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Finish: Luminous
Shade Range: 11
This hydrating skin tint features a blurring effect that expertly diffuses the appearance of large pores while also subtly perfecting any unevenness in the skin tone. With your daily dose of SPF, sheer-to-medium coverage, a dewy finish, and a refreshingly weightless feel, this tinted moisturizer really covers all the bases—and then some.
"Really love this one. It provides long-lasting full coverage without feeling heavy on my skin," says Ipster heartses. "And the shade matched perfectly."
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Finish: Sheer
Shade Range: 14
There’s so much to love about this weightless silicone-free skin tint. There’s the buildable, natural-looking coverage, the 14 adaptable shades, and the nourishing blend of grapeseed, mandarin, jojoba, and avocado oils that convey a gorgeous dewy finish. We also have to give MILK MAKEUP kudos for the packaging made 100% of post-consumer paperboard.
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Finish: Natural
Shade Range: 5
Finding the right foundation for acne-prone skin types can sometimes feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. Foundations can be great for covering up blemishes, but certain formulas may also clog pores, making breakouts worse. This tinted moisturizer is designed especially for this particular skin type. Made with an antibacterial and antimicrobial blend of honey and propolis (the resin from beehives), this formula can actively treat and soothe breakouts while also providing light hydrating coverage.
"This is absolutely the best," one Ipster writes. "I've never used a color correcting cream, and this opened up a whole new world for me! It helps fade the redness in my cheeks and gives me so much coverage. It's lightweight, has great staying power, hydrates my skin, and smells soooo good!"
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Finish: Dewy
Shade Range: 10
This high-tech tinted moisturizer is made by CLĒ, one of the buzziest Korean makeup brands on the market right now. Plus, when it comes to Korean beauty, you know serious innovation is involved. This formula is no exception. The multitasking CCC cream (which stands for “change and control color”) uses a special micro-capsule technology to separate the makeup elements in the formula from the skincare elements by encapsulating the foundation. As you apply the product, the capsules burst, providing a delicately balanced dose of fresh, flawless coverage and hydration.
"I love how it starts out white and turns into pigmentation," one Ipster writes. Another adds, "I really love how little you have to use to make a big difference."
Price: $$$
Finish: Radiant
Shade Range: 3
While some tinted moisturizers feature illuminating pigments like mica to boost glow, this formula bumps up radiance from the inside out using a blend of holistic ingredients like rose stem cells, brightening plankton extract, and antioxidant-rich açai fruit oil. On the coverage front, sheer pigments are combined with mineral broad-spectrum SPF 30 for sensitive skin-approved sun protection that lightly smooths and perfects.
"My absolute favorite BB cream I have ever tried," says Ipster greenball32. "Doesn’t dry out your face but doesn’t make it greasy. Doesn’t bother my sensitive skin either! 10 out of 10!"
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Finish: Satin
Shade Range: 4
This sheer, lightweight formula delivers subtly illuminating natural coverage without making your skin appear orange or flushed. It feels practically weightless on your skin, and it’s loaded with SPF and antioxidants to keep your skin protected from UV and pollution damage. We especially love using it on those days when you want a little coverage while you’re working out, since this formula won’t sweat off your face.
“I like that it is SPF and it feels so good on my skin. IPSY did a good job in matching my skin tone,” raves one Ipster. “I love tinted moisturizers...especially right now having to wear a mask. It's easier to just sometimes wear a tinted moisturizer and call it a day,” says another.
Want to find perfect-for-you tinted moisturizers and more? Take our Beauty Quiz now to get started. Already an Ipster? Refer your friends to earn points, which you can use toward products. Either way, don’t forget to check us out on Instagram and Twitter @IPSY.
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