This is coming from a girl who, on a daily basis wears eyeliner and SPF and considers her face complete, and a girl who HATES orange and brown smears on necklines when trying on clothes - but I'm totally loving tinted moisturizers. Sure, it's only my first day wearing it and I really haven't checked a mirror since leaving the house, but my skin feels moisturized and not at all like I'm wearing face makeup. I really hate foundations and concealers and powders and such. I can actually tolerate a powder foundation - I own the Chanel one but haven't made much of a dent in it since I bought it in 2009 - but straight up foundations feel like really serious makeup. Like, where you need actual tools to apply it. I like to keep it real with my makeup and beauty routines. No fuss. I don't keep up with all the newest beauty fads and basically just follow the same simple routine everyday with tried and true drugstore products. But I had been reading a lot recently about how not only does foundation create a nice, even appearance, but it protects your face from "the elements". I don't really know what that means, to tell you the truth, but I do care for my skin, even if I don't spend much time or money on it. So I looked into foundation options and tinted moisturizer seemed best for me since it's still mostly a moisturizer with some color thrown in to even out skin tone. Sounds good, yeah?
After some online research, off to Sephora I went. I'm usually completely lost when I go into Sephora, drugstores, or any makeup counter. I don't know what I need, what colors look good on me (am I a warm or a cool? I will never know), and which products are best. But this time I had read about Maria Duenas Jacobs' easy and natural makeup routine on Into The Gloss, and was after the Dior Hydralife Tinted Moisturizer. It was $40 and only come in three numbered shades, but had SPF which is a huge plus for an anti-light vampire like myself. I went for the 2 and applied it to half of my face with one of those sponges at those mini mirror stations. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I was surprised at how much I liked it. It was so easy to apply, blended right in, and looked natural. What more could I ask for?
However, while in line to pay, I noticed the Laura Mercier travel size for only $20. The smaller sizer came in only two colors - nude and sand. Since it was half the price and I wasn't a complete convert to this whole new tinted moisturizer thing, I figured it would be better to get a smaller size first. So I went and tried on the LM in sand and honestly, both the Dior and the Laura felt nearly identical, with maybe a little more coverage on the Laura. The colors were pretty similar, and they both felt nice and light on my skin. Not make-uppy at all!
In the end, I went for the Laura Mercier because it was cheaper and I thought Laura Mercier had a better reputation for her skincare than Dior, and I was right. The Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer has won several beauty awards and has tons of glowing reviews on MakeupAlley, Sephora, and other sites. The criticizers say it's oily or too yellow (am I yellow?), but I loved it in store and it's held up wonderfully on my dry skin so far. It doesn't cover my freckles or look too flawless, so it's perfect. I find the biggest benefits to be the SPF20 and the fact that it evens out the uneven skin tone I've acquired from wearing sunglasses. Could it be? Me, someone who is always paranoid that skin makeup will smudge onto my clothes and sunglasses, someone who likes to touch her face more often than a normal person should, enjoying a form of makeup that I must smear all over my face like softened, room-temperature butter? Yes, yes it could be. And is!
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