Makeup Artists Say This Product Tricks Your Skin Into Looking Years Younger

In a previous life—a life I'll dub BTM, before tinted moisturizer—I stubbornly maintained I just wasn't a fan of tinted moisturizers. They pilled, they didn't match my skin, and they never provided me with the pretty wash of lightweight, subtle coverage they promised. Eventually, after some peer pressure from a friend and fellow beauty editor, I tried a new formula I was convinced I'd hate but, miraculously, became head-over-heels obsessed with.

Turns out, as with literally any product in our saturated beauty universe, it requires some elbow grease to find your perfect formula. Even if the first (or fifth) option fails, it doesn't mean there isn't a glowing new find to be discovered just around the river bend.

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(Image credit: @traceeellisross)

Of course, if at all possible, we want to reduce the number of products you have to wade through to reach that destination, so we turned to three of the industry's top makeup artists to share all the best tinted moisturizers they use on themselves or their A-list clientele. Another perk? Tinted moisturizers are one of the best coverage options for those with mature skin. Keep scrolling for 10 of the very best, according to the pros.

The Best Tinted Moisturizers, Listed

The Best Tinted Moisturizers

Overall Best: Chantecaille Just Skin Tinted Moisturizer SPF 15

Enhance it with: Chantecaille Radiance Elixir

2. Ilia Beauty Super Serum Skin Tint SPF 40 Foundation

Enhance it with: Ilia True Skin Serum Concealer

3. Beautycounter Dew Skin Tinted Moisturizer

Enhance it with: Beautycounter Mattifying Powder

4. Bobbi Brown Vitamin Enriched Skin Tint SPF 15

Enhance it with: Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge for Lips Cheeks

5. Nars Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer Broad Spectrum SPF 30

Enhance it with: Nars Light Reflecting Pressed Setting Powder

6. Yves Saint Laurent Nu Bare Look Tint Hydrating Skin Tint Foundation 

Enhance it with: Yves Saint Laurent Touche Éclat All-Over Brightening Pen

7. Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer Natural Skin Perfector Broad Spectrum SPF 30

Enhance it with: Laura Mercier Pure Canvas Illuminating Primer

8. Kosas Tinted Face Oil Foundation

Enhance it with: The Sun Show Glowy Warmth Talc-Free Baked Bronzer

9. L'Oréal Paris Age Perfect Radiant Serum Foundation With SPF 50

Enhance it with: IS Clinical Hydra-Cool Serum IS Clinical Reparative Moisture Emulsion

10. Saie Slip Tint Tinted Moisturizer

Enhance it with: Saie Dew Blush Liquid Cheek Blush

FAQ

Is tinted moisturizer better than foundation for mature skin?

It's ultimately all up to personal preference (again, everyone is different and everyone likes different things!), but the way tinted moisturizers are formulated makes them less likely to settle into wrinkles or fine lines; they often impart dewy, plumped-up results, and many feature youth-enhancing skin goodies that mature skin will gladly lap up.

If you seek higher coverage, a more traditional foundation or an all-encompassing CC cream might be a better choice (more in just a moment), but if you have mature skin that doesn't need heavy amounts of coverage, makeup artists say tinted moisturizers are definitely the best strategy for keeping skin fresh, even, and as revitalized as possible.

What brand has the best tinted moisturizer?

There isn't one brand we can crown (everyone's skin is different, and everyone has their own favorite formulas!), but the makeup artists we spoke to give high praise to Bobbi Brown, Chantecaille, and Nars for those with mature skin. To find the best tinted moisturizer for your skin type, we suggest checking out our full roundup, which also includes application tips.

What is the difference between tinted moisturizer, BB Cream, and CC Cream?

"A tinted moisturizer is a moisturizer and foundation mixed together," celebrity makeup artist Renée Loiz once told WWW about the product category. "[It] has a very sheer coverage and usually no added skincare benefits." BB creams, on the other hand, tend to come infused with more skincare actives, such as SPF. (Find our favorite options here.) CC creams have an extra color-correcting benefit—CC actually stands for "color correcting," as a matter of fact. "Also, a CC cream is a much thicker formula and has more coverage than BB cream," says Loiz.

That said, the names can be interchangeable. You might find a product labeled "BB cream" that functions similarly to a tinted moisturizer, or a CC cream that's actually more breathable than any complexion product you've tried. The point is that these product categories do not follow hard and fast rules, so it may take some testing to discover your ultimate favorite.

This article was originally published at an earlier date and has been updated.

Beauty Director

Erin has been writing a mix of beauty and wellness content forBest Knockoff Luxury Clothing for over four years. Prior to that, she spent two and half years writing for Byrdie. She now calls Santa Monica home but grew up in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and studied writing, rhetoric, and communication at University of Wisconsin, La Crosse. She studied abroad in Galway, Ireland, and spent a summer in L.A. interning with the Byrdie andBest Knockoff Luxury Clothing family. After graduating from UW, she spent one year in San Francisco, where she worked as a writer for Pottery Barn Kids and PBteen before moving down to L.A. to begin her career as a beauty editor. She considers her day-to-day beauty aesthetic very low-maintenance and relies on staples like clear brow serum (from Kimiko!), Lawless's Lip Plumping Mask in Cherry Vanilla, and an eyelash curler. For special occasions or days when she's taking more meetings or has an event, she'll wear anything and everything from Charlotte Tilbury (the foundations are game-changing), some shimmer on her lids (Stila and Róen do it best), and a few coats of the best mascara-type product on earth, Surratt's Noir Lash Tint.