What Is Skin Tint and How Do You Use It?

What is Skin Tint: Key Takeaways

• Skin tint makeup is a lightweight, breathable complexion product.
• Skin tints give sheer to light coverage for a natural, no-makeup makeup look.
• Compared to foundation, BB creams, and tinted moisturisers, skin tints are lighter.
• They sit between tinted skincare and makeup, formulated with skin-loving ingredients.
• Use a skin tint when you want a quick, lightweight, fuss-free application.

If you’re not currently using a skin tint, or don’t know when or how to use skin tint, you’ve come to the right place. Maybelline is here to break down everything you need to know about the ultra-lightweight, skin-loving formula and how it can fit into your routine.

What Is a Skin Tint?

Skin tints are complexion products that offer some coverage, but crucially, skin tints are not the same as foundations or BB Creams.

In the same way that there are toners, oils, serums, moisturisers, rich creams, etc. that vary in weight and texture in skincare, there is a hierarchy in makeup too. Skin tints are the thinnest, so they would be the lightest in comparison to a full coverage foundation, which would be the thickest.

Technically, a skin tint falls under the umbrella of ‘foundation’, because it’s meant to be used all over your face, but it offers much lighter coverage.

When to use skin tint? Skin tints are perfect for those looking for the most minimal coverage and a super natural-looking finish. If you’re a clean girl makeup lover who prefers getting your glow from skincare rather than makeup, then a skin tint is your go-to option!

Think of a skin tint as your ultimate ready-in-five-minutes makeup. You can smooth it on and be out the door with glowing skin, no matter how many times you pressed the snooze button on your alarm. We call that a skin win!

The best skin tints are packed with skin-loving ingredients. Our Super Stay 24HR Skin Tint + Vitamin C is formulated with brightening Vitamin C, for an added glow that lasts all day.

Skin Tint vs. Tinted Moisturiser

Now, you might be thinking to yourself, wait, there’s already a product like a skin tint and it’s called tinted moisturiser. Well, you’re not entirely wrong. So what’s the deal with skin tint vs. tinted moisturiser?

Skin tints aren’t that far off from tinted moisturiser, but they’re more so sisters or cousins than twins. A lightweight skin tint will have much more of a liquid consistency than a tinted moisturiser. So, if you think about it in terms of skincare, a skin tint feels similar to a serum, which makes sense why many of them come in dropper bottles like Maybelline’s does.

It’s also common for skin tints to be formulated with skin-friendly ingredients, so they fall more in the realm of tinted skincare, while a tinted moisturiser is considered more of a makeup product.

Skin Tint vs. Foundation

Now for the skin tint vs. foundation showdown. You can probably already put two and two together that if a skin tint is lighter than a tinted moisturiser, it’s going to be much lighter than a foundation.

While both skin tints and foundations offer coverage with the goal of evening out your complexion, a skin tint has a sheerer coverage and gives you a more natural, skin-like finish, whereas a foundation will do some heavy-duty covering and can give you a matte or even airbrushed look, depending on the formula that you use.

If you’re someone who prefers a full face of makeup, then a skin tint probably won’t offer you the coverage that you’re looking for. However, it’s nice to have a skin tint in your makeup bag for those no-makeup makeup days when you still want to look polished.

Skin Tint Makeup vs Tinted Moisturiser, BB Cream, or Foundation

	Coverage	Finish	Key Benefits	Best For
Skin Tint	Sheer to light	Natural and radiant-looking	Evens skintone, gives a natural glow	The clean girl “No makeup makeup” look
Tinted Moisturiser	Light	Dewy, hydrated-looking	Hydrates and evens our skintone	Everyday wear or dry skin needing light coverage
BB Cream	Light to medium	Natural or luminous	Combines moisturiser with makeup	All-in-one multitasking coverage
Foundation	Medium to full	Matte, satin, or dewy	Smooths, covers, and perfects	When you want a flawless or glam finish

When To Use Skin Tint?

You can use skin tint makeup anytime you want. For someone who prefers a lightweight makeup look, they may want to incorporate a skin tint into their everyday routine. If you’re more of a fan of the full-coverage glam look, you may still want to use tinted skincare products like our Skin Tint when running errands or lounging around.

If you’re someone who rarely wears makeup at all, a skin tint would be nice for you to use when you do wear makeup, so it doesn’t feel like you’re going from one extreme to the other. A skin tint is also great if you don’t want to be bothered too much by technique or tools – you can easily apply skin tint foundation with your fingers and call it a day.

How To Use Skin Tint for a Lightweight Makeup Look

If all you want to do is even out your skin a tiny bit, then using a skin tint is the way to go. Follow the steps below for a super simple no-makeup makeup look:

1. Prep and Prime

Because skin tints are so lightweight and offer such little coverage, your own skin will get to show through much more, so make sure you’re prepping it well with skincare.

After cleansing, be sure to apply a hydrating moisturiser and don’t forget your SPF! For a blurring skin tint effect, you can apply a smoothing primer, like our Poreless Jelly 24H Hydrating Blur Primer, which will help boost your natural glow even more.

2. Get Even

Shake your Super Stay® 24HR Skin Tint + Vitamin C then dispense a few drops onto your fingers before smoothing it over your face. Using your fingers will give you the most natural look because the formula will melt seamlessly into your skin thanks to the warmth of your hands.

For more of a flawless finish, you can use a damp beauty sponge. Should you want to cover any discolouration, you might want to use a concealer, but for this look, it’s really about letting your natural complexion shine with the lightweight coverage of a skin tint. You can also add a few extra drops of your skin tint as needed to achieve more coverage – it layers beautifully!

3. Add Some Colour

After your skin tint has set on the skin – giving it about 60 seconds to dry should be all it needs – it’s time to play with colour! Dab some Cheek Heat Blusher Cream Blush on your cheeks — because it’s liquid, it plays super well with the fluid skin tint formula. Tap any leftover product onto your nose to create a natural sun-kissed appearance.

4. Keep it Natural

You don’t want to overpower the clean skin aesthetic that you achieved with your skin tint, so keep the rest of your makeup simple. We recommend pairing your skin tint makeup look with a few swipes of Sky High Mascara in True Brown.

You’ll still get plenty of length and volume, but by using brown instead of dark black, it’s a bit subtler and pairs perfectly with the natural skin finish of your skin tint, giving an “maybe it’s her, maybe it’s Maybelline?” moment regarding whether you’re actually wearing makeup or not.

5. Pucker Up

Leave the bold, heavily pigmented lip shades for another time, opting for a high-shine lip gloss like Lifter Plump Plumping Lip Gloss in a neutral shade like Blush Blaze. This plumping and hydrating gloss will add dimension for fuller-looking lips that are match made in heaven with your skin tint-perfected skin.

Want a little more drama? Apply a lip liner too, which will help to define and enhance the look of your lips.

Discover our shades of Skin Tint makeup for the perfect no-makeup makeup look!