Skin Tint: Five Best Skin Tints For Light Coverage

Sometimes full coverage makeup is a necessity. Formal events, photos, or just noticeable skin imperfections need thicker, creamier, makeup that covers and conceals. 

For the rest of your life, lighter coverage a la skin tint is a better option. Light coverage foundations, BB creams, and CC creams all paved the way for formulas that go on easily, feel virtually weightless, and have all-day wearability. 

Skin tints are a quick and easy way to “hack” flawless skin with minimal effort. You’ll also get the benefit of not looking too “done up,” which can help you keep a bare-faced, fresh-skinned look. 

Here’s everything you should know about skin tints, and how you can mix your own at home with your favorite RMS Beauty foundation to make sure you’re safe from unwanted ingredients. 

What is a Skin Tint?

The beauty industry loves to rename, repackage, and resell the same products to us over and over again. This is true for skin tints. Skin tints are essentially light or less coverage foundations. They are normally liquid, but are also available in powder and cream formulas. 

Skin tints are thin, buildable, and usually offer some other skin benefit (like sunscreen or hydration) in addition to light coverage. Many users love a skin tint because it offers coverage without weight or heavy ingredients that can clog your pores and cause breakouts. 

The real problem with a skin tint also has to do with its coverage; it simply doesn’t offer much. If you need coverage, a skin tint probably isn’t your best option. Continue reading below to find out whether you need a foundation, a skin tint, or a cross between both. 

Is Skin Tint the Same as Tinted Moisturizer?

Skin tints aren’t the same thing as tinted moisturizers, but tinted moisturizers are a form of skin tint. Confused yet? Let us explain. 

For a product to be a skin tint, it just needs to provide minimal coverage. That means that products like tinted moisturizers are technically skin tints. However, a skin tint doesn’t have to have hydrating ingredients; it can just contain pigments to give you a little skin coverage. 

What Can a Skin Tint Be Used For?

You can use a skin tint for lightweight coverage when you want to even out skin tone, prep your skin for color cosmetics, and add just a bit of even skin tone correcting color to your bare skin. 

Most skin tints usually have other benefits, so you can also use them for sun protection if they include SPF, or for hydration if they contain moisturizing ingredients or emollients. 

Is Skin Tint Better Than Foundation?

Comparing a skin tint to a foundation is really apples to oranges. A skin tint provides minimal coverage that doesn’t last a long time. You’ll get a hint of color, but the formula is so lightweight it usually absorbs rapidly and needs multiple reapplications. 

You’ll definitely want something other than a skin tint if you need a water-resistant or sweat-resistant formula. However, we’d recommend you read this before you decide on a traditional waterproof foundation. 

If you’re in need of true coverage, skin tints aren’t the solution. Foundation offers coverage that lasts longer and covers better than a skin tint, and the best part is that you can easily convert your favorite foundation to a skin tint simply by mixing in a little beauty oil. 

Using this hack, you’ll get a lightweight foundation with sheer coverage that lasts, because foundation has more pigment deposit than a skin tint. You can still use this formula for buildable coverage, and customize the amount of correction you need. 

What To Look For in the Best Skin Tint for Light Coverage

All skin tints are good for “light coverage,” because that’s what a skin tint does; cover your skin with just a small amount of color correction. When you’re shopping for a skin tint, you’ll want to look for five key features that make them perfect for light coverage. 

1. Jojoba Oil & Other Nourishing Oils

Skin tints can contain some strange ingredients, including parabens, dimethicone, and chemicals you’d never want near your skin. Because a skin tint is easily absorbed into the epidermis, choose formulas that contain skin-nourishing, safe ingredients. 

Jojoba oil is a plant-based oil that most closely resembles your skin’s natural oil, sebum. As such, the skin absorbs and accepts it more readily than other oils. This means a jojoba oil-based skin tint will keep your skin hydrated and moisturized better than a synthetic-based product. 

2. Buildability

When you want light coverage, you want light coverage as defined by you. That means you need a buildable formula that dries quickly and stays put when you add more product. This allows you to customize the amount of coverage you need, without the need for more products. 

Thick, stick, or pan formula foundations don’t usually work for buildability. They can easily smear, smudge, or clump into one place. Lighter formulas that absorb quickly work well for building customizable coverage. 

3. Luminosity

A skin tint’s main job is to give you coverage that is somewhat ethereal, meaning it has a slight sheen that allows your skin to breathe while still getting a little color correction. Most foundations don’t have luminous qualities. They do a good job covering up, but they don’t leave room for your skin to look radiant. 

Skin-safe luminous ingredients include plant-based oils to help hydrate the skin, and minerals like titanium dioxide and iron oxides. These minerals add pigment and sheen to your skin without exposing you to harsh chemicals that could irritate your skin or disrupt your hormones. 

4. Extra Benefits

No, your skin tint doesn’t have to have bonus features, but with so many available options that do, why would you settle for less? 

RMS Beauty’s foundation formulas are created with the cleanest, greenest ingredients that keep your skin hydrated and healthy, and fight the signs of aging by boosting your skin with antioxidants. 

Our foundations are made with jojoba oil, coconut oil, and caster seed oil to help balance skin’s natural moisture levels, boost hydration levels, and keep skin moisturized hours after application. 

5. RMS Beauty “Un” Cover-Up Cream Foundation

For the perfect skin tint with coverage that actually lasts, here’s our founder Rose-Marie’s personal favorite:

Using RMS Beauty’s “Un” Cover-Up Cream Foundation, squeeze a small amount of product onto a clean surface or in a small container. 

Add one to two drops of Beauty Oil to achieve your desired consistency. The more Beauty Oil you add, the less coverage your skin tint will be. If you use too much oil, add a drop of foundation.

Once you’ve created the perfect consistency, you’re ready to apply the most hydrating and long-lasting skin tint you’ll ever use. 

“Don’t underestimate the power in this little jar, as a little goes a long way since it’s very concentrated. It makes for beautiful skin!” - Rose Marie Swift, RMS Beauty’s Founder

How Do You Apply Skin Tint?

Apply your skin tint like you would apply your regular foundation. You can use it all over your skin, or just in areas that need a little coverage. You can use a makeup sponge or brush for application, or warm the product with your fingertips which allows it to go on easier.

Use sweeping, upward motions to apply your skin tint. Allow the first layer to dry before you decide whether or not you want to build coverage. Apply your skin tint in natural lighting so you can make sure the level of coverage is what you’d like. 

For Extra Coverage

If you want more coverage than a skin tint can provide, but less than you need from foundation, go for a hybrid. 

RMS Beauty’s Master Radiance Base is a product that really has no comparison. 

Part highlighter, part foundation, part luminizer, this skin-quenching primer, and highlighter can be used alone or with your favorite foundation if you need more coverage. It glides on easily and is available in two different shades that can easily be blended with foundation shades based on your skin tone and undertone. 

Watch Out For…

Be aware of the ingredients in your skin tint. They can hide ingredients like parabens, talc, phenoxyethanol (an ingredient usually added for its rose-like scent). Fragrance is a scary ingredient in most cosmetics, including skin tints, because you never really know what you’re getting. 

When shopping for skin care, just say “Eau de NO” and opt for fragrance-free products, or products that contain natural, plant-based fragrances. 

Conclusion

Skin tints can give your skin a radiant finish and healthy glow that lasts a few hours. Unfortunately, most skin tints aren’t long-lasting, which means you’ll need to reapply them to keep your no-makeup makeup look going. 

Instead of opting for the latest product you see on a social media advertisement, try making your own skin tint at home, with your favorite foundation and a little skin-healthy beauty oil. RMS Beauty makes it easy for you to get lightweight, skin tint type coverage that creates the healthy glow you want without having to reapply constantly.

Sources:

EWG Skin Deep® | What is DIMETHICONE 

Parabens - Safe Cosmetics