This summer, I’ve been on a quest to find the perfect tinted moisturizer: something that will even out my complexion, cover up the spots, and help me achieve that beachy, lit-from-within look. There are a few in my rotation that I like, but don’t love. I adore the coverage from IT Cosmetics’ Your Skin But Better, but have found that on dry-skin days, it tends to flake. I like the nice, subtle wash of color I get from Glossier’s Skin Tint, but it can be a little runny, and worse, it doesn’t have SPF.
I stumbled across Beautycounter’s Dew Skin online. I was initially attracted to this product for two reasons: the name (“dewy skin” is so literal that it’s enticing) and a big, beautiful, red stamp of approval from Allure. It’s also SPF 20, and uses black currant, peony-flower root extract, and vitamin C to “enhance skin brightness and sodium hyaluronate to promote firmer, smoother-looking skin.” I was intrigued, to say the least. I forked out the $45 to buy shade No. 2, and from the day it arrived, I knew that this product was something special.
Many tinted moisturizers are slippery and runny on purpose, to help users blend them in with ease. But when you pump out Dew Skin, it feels fairly dense and thick. My first thought was that it would surely go on cakey. So then, how is it going to give me the ultradewy, sheer coverage I was promised? My doubt vanished. This product does not make your skin feel icky or pore-cloggy. It actually makes your skin feel nourished, and alive. The first time I tried it was after a series of long plane rides: I was exhausted, and it showed up on my skin. Two pumps of this tinted moisturizer made my skin look like I was the most well-rested, radiant girl in the world. It gave me the kind of hydrating glow I’ve only ever really seen after walking out of an expensive facial.
Here’s how I use Dew Skin: After I’ve finishing my skin care and lathered my face with moisturizer, I use my fingers to distribute two pumps evenly across my face. Sometimes, I’ll take a third pump and dab underneath my eyes with my ring finger, to give a really soft, light under-eye coverage. To make triple sure it doesn’t slip anywhere, I then put some setting powder (my Supergoop SPF) under my eyes and all over my T-zone.
I should note: This is very light coverage, and it’s not going to cover up a blemish (after you put it on, you can do some pinpoint concealing), or completely color-correct your under eyes. But it will give your skin a natural-looking wash of color, making you look — yes — super dewy.
Strat writer Lori Keong went crazy for this tinted BB cream. “Unlike other ones I’ve tried, that leave your skin with an oily film, are watery in consistency, or are a little too sheer,” she says, “this Purlisse cream feels creamier, with just the right amount of hydration and coverage. It combines the dewy effect of Asian beauty products (thanks to its Chinese herb extracts) with the natural feel of French apothecary brands. Wearing it makes me look like the airbrushed, Instagram-filtered version of myself, give or take a little KiraKira glow.”
The Cut’s beauty writer Ashley Weatherford is a big fan of BareMinerals tinted gel cream. “The coverage isn’t particularly heavy,” she says of the stuff, “but that’s also what makes the cream so special. It hides imperfections while still making your skin look like skin.”
“This has been my daily complexion makeup, ever since my massive hoard of Laura Mercier’s discontinued tinted moisturizer ‘crème’ ran out a couple years ago,” says journalist Maureen O’Connor of Laura Mercier’s liquid tinted moisturizer. “As it turns out, the timing was fortuitous: The crème had a silky texture and velvet finish — which completely disgusts me now that dewy textures and radiant finishes are in. Can you believe I used to want my skin to resemble velvet? How humiliating. Now I’m back to the liquid version. So dewy.”
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