Since the “clean beauty aesthetic” entered the chat, skin tints and tinted moisturisers have quickly earned themselves a cult status – and with good reason. Think of them as the ideal “skincare-meets-makeup” hybrid product that gives just enough coverage to even out your complexion, while keeping your skin hydrated thanks to an array of included skin-loving ingredients.
With the cold weather not going away anytime soon, our skin could well benefit from an injection of hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, glycerin and squalane. Plus, if you’re not too sold on the full-coverage look, skin tints are great for anyone who gravitates towards a more skin-like finish and weightless consistency – the kind that lets you embrace your skin texture without covering up your freckles and beauty marks. In a nutshell, wearing a skin tint leaves your complexion looking as though you’ve just come out of a glow-boosting facial: dewy, even and plump. Throw that in with a ridiculously easy application process and you’ve got yourself an all-rounder.
Adored by beauty enthusiasts and makeup artists alike, skin tint formulations have also received praise from celebrities, including Hailey Bieber and Sofia Richie. Both trend-setters have previously endorsed the Hourglass Veil Hydrating Skin Tint on more than one occasion, with Hailey praising it in her “go-to glowy summer makeup look” get-ready-with-me video as well as in one of her latest “latte makeup” tutorials on TikTok. So, we thought we’d give you the lowdown on her favourite – and ours.
Best skin tints of 2024 at a glance:
- Best skin tint overall: Fenty Beauty Eaze Drop Blurring Skin Tint, £27, Sephora
- Hailey Bieber and Sofia Richie-approved skin tint: Hourglass Veil Hydrating Skin Tint, £49, Cult Beauty
- Best for undetectable coverage: Glossier Perfecting Skin Tint, £28, Glossier
- Best for a natural finish: ILIA Super Serum Skin Tint, WAS £48 NOW £36, Sephora
Unsurprisingly, skin tints have a lot more in common with tinted moisturisers than they do with traditional foundations, largely due to their incredibly lightweight texture and included skincare benefits. And while most of them excel at sheer coverage, there’s also quite a few skin tints that offer buildable light-to-medium coverage, making them the perfect fit for those days when you want to layer it up.
As someone who has dry-to-sensitive skin, I can confirm that swapping my go-to foundation for a skin tint for everyday wear was one of the best decisions I made. Not going to lie, as a sworn-in medium coverage girlie, at first I found that adjusting to such lightweight coverage was a bit challenging and at times I still felt insecure about my redness peeking through. However, with time, I started to appreciate how hydrated my skin felt throughout the day (no dry patches in sight, whatsoever). And in a way, wearing a skin tint has helped me embrace my natural texture and freckles more than ever. Every time I use a skin tint, I love that my skin still looks like skin, just more glowy and even-looking (P.S. my personal favourite has always been the Fenty Beauty Eaze Drop Blurring Skin Tint).