Summer is on it's way and while I love my liquid foundations, hot and dry So Cal weather has me sweating like a sinner in church. I've never given tinted moisturizers the time of day because I prefer medium coverage all day, every day. Since I've gone down the rabbit hole that is NARS, I decided to give the Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer a go!
{THE BREAKDOWN}
The claims that this tinted moisturizer make is what drew me in the first place. Within 4 weeks, it claims to reduce the appearance of discoloration caused by hyperpigmentation. I've only been using it for about 2 weeks on and off so I haven't seen any differences. It's oil-free, paraben-free, sulfate-free and phthalates-free. There's also some fancy claims about mineral-rich water and percentages but that's just fluffy writing to sell the product. I do appreciate the SPF 30 because I live in a sunny place. The main sunscreen ingredients are Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate (octinoxate) and titanium dioxide, listed as third and fourth in the ingredients list. It claims to be non-comedogenic but some ingredients give me pause; dimethicone is listed as the second ingredient and there are several silicones in this formula. Talc and octinoxate are potentially irritating to some people so I wanted to point that out. Limonene and linalool are used for fragrance properties but again, those are potentially irritating. But what really rubs me the wrong way is that it claims to be synthetic fragrance-free yet lists "fragrance" as one of the ingredients. Granted, it's in the middle of the list but that's deceptive in my opinion. I also have a love-hate relationship with the packaging. The tube makes it easy to dispense the right amount of packaging and is more sanitary than a tub. But the matte packaging picks up all my fingerprints and looks grubby. The product runs out of the tube and gets into the cap. I have a thing about trying to keep my makeup stuff as clean as possible so this bothers me so much! I store it cap side up to prevent the product from running out.
Going off my rant, let's talk about the good things. The first tinted moisturizer I ever tried was the Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer (unboxing) so I don't have a wealth of knowledge to go on. The NARS version is much thinner in texture but not liquidy. I was worried that it wouldn't moisturize my skin at all but it does a good job. I have several dry areas on my face and didn't think this would cut it. Surprisingly, it didn't catch onto the dry spots and actually made the area feel pillowy soft without looking oily. I can use this alone without feeling dry or tight. It definitely lives up to the radiant name as my skin looks glowy without being oily. The tinted moisturizer blends onto skin well but sheer out considerably. Even so, I find that it covers redness well and slightly reduces the look of my hyperpigmentation marks.
The color I have is St. Moritz and it's a bit dark for me right now, as you can see from the swatch. However, when I sheer it out, the difference isn't that stark. There are 11 shades in this range with the undertones clearly stated. I just love how NARS does that because I do most of my shopping online so finding base products that match me is pretty hard. Most drugstore tinted moisturizers come in 3 shades at most so the large shade range will be helpful. The only thing is that the shades might not fit people with fair skin tones as I have a light-medium skin tone and I'm the second lightest shade. The flip side is that it covers darker skin tones well. I've been using it with my fingers and that seems to work well. Because it has limonene, there's a citrus scent. I can definitely smell it when I'm applying it but the scent doesn't linger. Since the coverage is sheer, it's hard for me to tell how long it wears on my skin. After about 4-6 hours, I get quite oily so I need blotting stuff when using this.
{THE SWATCH}
 |
| 1. Cover FX Custom Cover Drops in G40 2. Armani Luminous Silk Foundation in 5.5 3. NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer in St. Moritz 4. Tarte Amazonian Color Clay CC Primer in Light 5. Urban Decay Naked Skin Foundation in 3.0 6. Stila Perfect & Correction Foundation in Tone 7. Benefit Some Kind of Gorgeous in Medium |
Out of all the colors I swatched, Cover FX matched the NARS best.The lighting was a bit uneven so Cover FX looks darker but it's just my bracelet causing a shadow over it. The only thing is that coverage is much more intense with Cover FX since the NARS sheers out considerably.
{THE BOTTOM LINE}
I like it enough. Finding base products that match my skintone and undertone is a struggle so when I find something that works, I never want to let go. However, for 1.9oz, it costs $43usd ($22.63 usd per oz). The travel size, which I bought, costs $16usd for 0.58oz ($27.59usd per oz). I much rather buy a foundation to mix with my moisturizer to sheer it out. I'm glad I gave this a try but unless it helps reduce pigmentation or something, I probably won't repurchase.
{WHERE TO BUY}
What tinted moisturizers do you all like?
Would you rather mix foundation + moisturizer instead?
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