There’s an art to no-makeup makeup, and it often starts with using one of the best skin tints as your base. Think of yourself as a painter, and your face as the canvas—you’re going to start with a skin-like veil of color (“your-skin-but-better” as the beauty girls call it,) as your base—adding on additional coverage with concealer and continuing with your favorite color cosmetics like blushes and bronzers that deliver a natural flush of color.
Skin tints, not to be confused with foundation, CC cream, or tinted moisturizer, provide a more natural, less detectable finish and usually feel lighter on the skin, too. Many of the skin tints we favor are formulated with skin-care ingredients like niacinamide, hyaluronic acid, squalane, glycerin, and more. Some provide barely-there coverage, while others are buildable in the same way as foundation can be. The best one depends on you how you like to wear makeup, but we tested a bunch to help you find something that might speak to you. Below, a list of our top picks, plus the favorites of some pro makeup artists and aestheticians.
Our Top Picks
In This Story
Best Overall: Danessa Myricks Beauty Yummy Skin Soothing Serum Skin Tint
- Why We Love It: I discovered this skin tint through celebrity makeup artist Amrita Mehta, who credits it as her go-to for achieving a dewy look. “The serum consistency is light on the skin, and the addition of hyaluronic acid leaves your skin looking hydrated all day long.” It leaves behind a light to medium coverage, perfect for days when you want to look fresh and avoid the dreaded “Are you feeling well?” in the office.
- Key Ingredients: Vegan collagen peptides, ceramides, cactus extract
- Shades: 16
- Coverage: Light
- Finish: Radiant
- Size: 45 mL
Best Lightweight: Chanel Les Beiges Water-Fresh Tint
- Why We Love It: If glowy skin is your prerogative, this lightweight tint delivers major glow and maximum hydration (it’s made with 75% water). According to esthetician Elizabeth Grace Hand, “The micro-drops of encapsulated pigments seamlessly blur the pores and smooth the skin—with zero end-of-day cakiness.” Because of its formulation, you end up with a sheer, radiant finish with minimal coverage that sits nicely on the skin.
- Key Ingredients: 75% water, tamarind seed extract
- Shades: 8
- Coverage: Light-to-medium
- Finish: Radiant
- Size: 1 fl.oz.
Best for Mature Skin: Westman Atelier Vital Skin Care Complexion Drops
- Why We Love It: Formulated by the queen of your-skin-but-better makeup, Gucci Westman, Vital Skin Complexion Drops has become a cult-favorite tinted serum. Aharon says, “The fragrance-free formula doesn’t irritate sensitive skin and leaves you with a natural dewy finish.” Perfect for light coverage, it also doubles as a skincare product. Hand adds, “It both improves texture, firmness, and radiance over time and gives the skin the most insane glowing finish instantly with just the perfect hint of tint.”
- Key Ingredients: Tsubaki oil, ginseng extract, pomegranate extract
- Shades: 20
- Coverage: Light
- Finish: Dewy
- Size: 30 mL
Best with SPF: Ilia Super Serum Skin Tint
- Why We Love It: Another favorite of Aharon is Ilia’s Super Serum Skin Tint: “This tint is a fantastic option if you want a clean formula with the added benefit of SPF.” An SPF of 40, to be more specific, so you can enjoy your beach days in peace thanks to amped up UV protection. Plus, this “has buildable coverage and leaves a smooth finish to the skin,” she adds.
- Key Ingredients: Hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, plant-based squalane, non-nano zinc oxide
- Shades: 30
- Coverage: Light
- Finish: Dewy
- Size: 30 mL
Best for Dry Skin: Hourglass Veil Hydrating Skin Tint
- Why We Love It: This hydrating skin tint is definitely sheer, but according to Blunder, it’s more pigmented than our other picks. She says, “This tint is versatile and great for someone who wants something between a foundation and a light tint.” We need a skin tint version of the Richter scale, ASAP. “It also gives such a beautiful and healthy-looking glow.”
- Key Ingredients: Hyaluronic acid
- Shades: 18
- Coverage: Light
- Finish: Dewy
- Size: 1.1 oz.
Best Long-Wear: Summer Fridays Sheer Skin Tint
- Why We Love It: Nothing beats slamming your laptop shut on a summer Friday and heading off on a weekend adventure. If you don’t want to waste any of your precious OOO time, this is just the skin tint for you. Celebrity makeup artist Monika Blunder calls it her personal go-to for lazy days due to its lightweight, breathable formula that offers just the right amount of sheer coverage. She adds, “It has hyaluronic acid and squalane in it, and I love how my skin looks after wearing it all day.”
- Key Ingredients: Tiger grass, glycerin. hyaluronic acid, squalane, vitamin E, safflower, avocado oil
- Shades: 12
- Coverage: Light
- Finish: Natural
- Size: 30 mL
Best for Oily Skin: Fenty Beauty Eaze Drop Blurring Skin Tint
- Why We Love It: Chances are texture and enlarged pores are two of your most plaguing skin concerns. If so, Fenty’s EazeDrop to the rescue! Celebrity makeup artist Lisa Aharon recommends this one for its blurring effect that “truly smooths out any texture.” She also loves it for oily skin types or those who want to minimize their pores. Plus, because Rihanna is on the right side of history, there’s a vast shade range, and it’s wonderful for achieving light to true medium coverage.
- Key Ingredients: Sodium hyaluronate
- Shades: 25
- Coverage: Light
- Finish: Natural
- Size: 32 mL
Best Sheer Coverage: Glossier Perfecting Skin Tint
- Why We Love It: Unless someone held a microscope up to your skin, they’d be surprised to know you had anything on it. This skin tint is super sheer, making it perfect for days when your skin is totally under control. Blunder loves it too, as it “blends seamlessly, giving a barely-there makeup look. It’s great on its own for everyday wear or makes a stunning base for more makeup on top.”
- Key Ingredients: Diamond power, glycerin
- Shades: 12
- Coverage: Sheer
- Finish: Dewy
- Size: 30 mL
Best Stick: Anastasia Beverly Hills Beauty Balm Serum Boosted Skin Tint
- Why We Love It: Want the benefits of a skin tint without the mess of a liquid? Enter Anastasia Beverly Hills’s Beauty Balm which envelopes skin in buildable sheer to light coverage. “This is a great multitasker product, perfect for someone on the go who has minimal time to get ready,” Mehta says. “It’ll give you lightweight coverage and blur any imperfections.” Not that you, dear reader, have any imperfections, of course.
- Key Ingredients: Hyaluronic acid, coconut oil
- Shades: 16
- Coverage: Sheer-to-light
- Finish: Natural
- Size: 0.63 oz.
Best Light-to-Medium Coverage: Yves Saint Laurent NU Bare Look Tint Foundation
- Why We Love It: The name says it all—this skin tint really lets your skin shine through and helps enhance rather than fully cover. “The sheer tint helps to lightly even out the skin while still allowing it to breathe,” says Mehta. She recommends it to her clients with normal to dry skin and says it can be applied with a brush or your fingers. Plus, with 20 shades to choose from, this is a great option if you’re looking to match your skin tone exactly or if you want multiple options for your summer shade, winter shade, and went-overboard-on-self-tanner shade.
- Key Ingredients: Hyaluronic acid
- Shades: 20
- Coverage: Light-to-medium
- Finish: Dewy
- Size: 1 oz.
Best for Everyday: Bobbi Brown Vitamin Enriched Skin Tint
- Why We Love It: When it’s hot outside, nothing sounds more unappealing to me than a full beat. However, I live in a trendy neighborhood and fear ending up on a tiny mic TikTok series, so I reach for this skin tint before heading outdoors. It goes on nicely, provides a bit of coverage, and doesn’t pill no matter how much I sweat throughout the day. I wish there were a bit more SPF (it has only SPF 15), so I make sure to apply sunscreen first and treat this as more of a booster.
- Key Ingredients: Provitamin D, cactus flower, vitamin E complex, hyaluronic acid, shea butter
- Shades: 18
- Coverage: Light-to-medium
- Finish: Natural
- Size: 50 mL
Best for Combination Skin: Lancôme Skin Feels Good Hydrating Skin Tint
- Why We Love It: If you’re in the market for a good oil-free option, this is one of Mehta’s favorites for oily and combination skin. “Don’t be fooled by its thicker texture. Its satin finish provides light to medium coverage and dries down beautifully,” she says. And if you want to add on the drama, it’s buildable and has blurring properties to keep your skin looking its best.
- Key Ingredients: Moringa seed, hyaluronic acid
- Shades: 10
- Coverage: Light
- Finish: Satin
- Size: 1.08 oz.
Best for a Glow: MAC Cosmetics Strobe Dewy Skin Tint
- Why We Love It: Dewy might not be the first thing you think of when you think of MAC, but the brand has come a long way from its heavy, matte roots, now catering to an audience that prefers something more glow-boosting. “This is essentially MAC’s strobe cream with an added tint for coverage,” says Mehta. It’s a 2-in-1 product, so you can forego the highlighter. The pearly pigment in this formula will reflect light and leave your skin looking luminous but not glittery.
- Key Ingredients: Hyaluronic acid, shea butter
- Shades: 14
- Coverage: Sheer
- Finish: Luminous
- Size: 1 oz.
What is a skin tint?
“A skin tint is a lightweight, sheer coverage product designed to even out skin tone and provide a natural, skin-like finish,” says Blunder. It usually has a thin consistency, making it easy to blend—perfect for a no-makeup makeup look. Not to mention, skin tints oftentimes include skincare ingredients or SPF, although Blunder prefers not to rely on makeup products for her SPF—and we co-sign that opinion.
Who should use a skin tint?
Skin tints are great for anyone who wants a quick, minimal, and lightweight complexion product that delivers a more natural, skin-like look—all the while veiling and blurring hyperpigmentation, redness, and enlarged pores without the heavy coverage of a foundation. But skin tints aren’t limited to natural looks: Blunder loves to use them as a base beneath heavier makeup.
How is a skin tint different from a tinted moisturizer?
Per Blunder, the focus of a tinted moisturizer is skincare first, with a bit of pigment, whereas a skin tint primarily emphasizes the type and level of coverage, sometimes with added skincare benefits. “Skin tints are also usually more fluid and lighter in texture compared to the creamy texture of tinted moisturizers,” she adds. Skin tints typically provide a dewy, sheer finish, while tinted moisturizers may offer slightly more coverage and a variety of finishes (matte, dewy, etc.).
Hand likes to think of skin tints as watercolor and tinted moisturizers as paint. Tints are sheer, showing pores and texture, whereas tinted moisturizers offer more coverage and additional hydration to the skin.
Why is a skin tint better than foundation?
We wouldn’t go as far as to say skin tints are better; rather, they’re just different. “Skin tints provide a more natural, less detectable finish and usually feel lighter on the skin,” says Blunder. It really depends on what you are looking for in your makeup. If you want more coverage, go for a foundation. But if you want something minimal and light, a skin tint is the way to go.
What to Look for in a Skin Tint
Finding a skin tint that works for you is highly personal. “I personally like to test a bunch out at once and look for coverage (light/medium), consistency, and feel on my skin,” says Hand. She recommends finding a formula that melts into the complexion, provides just enough coverage, and leaves you with dewy, gorgeous skin. If testing in person isn’t an option, pay attention to the finish and coverage advertised. Blunder notes that you should be able to build up slightly or sheer down, and she prefers something with a very skin-like finish. Some skin tints can be overly oily or fail to set properly, so look for a tint that isn’t just oil and pigment. Ideally, you want something that won’t slip and slide or gather in lines or pores.
Skin tints often work best for normal to dry skin due to their serum or oil-like texture, but there are now options catering to pore-blurring, oil-limiting, and long-wearing needs. “Define your needs and skin type, and dive in from there!” warns Aharon.
Meet The Experts
- Lisa Aharon is a New York-based celebrity makeup artist whose clients include Rachel Brosnahan, Camila Mendes, and Chloe Fineman.
- Elizabeth Grace Hand is a licensed esthetician and founder of Ställe Studios in New York City.
- Monika Blunder is a Los Angeles-based celebrity makeup artist and founder of Monika Blunder Beauty.
- Amrita Mehta is a New York-based celebrity makeup artist who’s worked with Aoki Lee Simmons and Sophia Culpo.