The Perfect Tinted Moisturizer

Still looking for the best tinted moisturizer? While there are many excellent tinted moisturizers on the market, you may find that some are too dark, too light, too heavy, or not moisturizing enough — the potential list of problems is virtually endless.

If you still haven’t found your perfect tinted moisturizer, you can try this beauty secret for making your own tinted moisturizer that’s perfectly customized to fit your skin’s needs.

The great news is that the best tinted moisturizer for your skin type and skin tone may already be waiting for you in your makeup bag. Simply mix some of your foundation with your moisturizer and voila! A tinted moisturizer that’s personally customized for your skin.

Our favorite method for making your own tinted moisturizer at home is to use your favorite moisturizer and mix it with mineral makeup such as Bare Escentuals BareMinerals. High quality mineral makeup almost seems to dissolve when mixed with moisturizer and when you apply this homemade tinted moisturizer to your face, it creates light, even coverage as well as the soft glow characteristic of mineral makeup.

Not into minerals? Regular liquid foundations also work great as tinted moisturizers when mixed with your face lotion.

Another advantage to mixing your own tinted moisturizer is that you can easily adjust the color. If you need more coverage, add more foundation. Want a tinted moisturizer to match and enhance your tanned, summer glow? Just mix in a little powdered bronzer into your homemade tinted moisturizer.

Quick Tip: We found that one of the easist and least messy ways to mix your own tinted moisturizer is to use a mini plastic cosmetics spatula (available at most beauty supply stores). These little spatulas make scooping out powdered mineral makeup and mixing it into the moisturizer a snap and they’re also great for scraping that last bit of product from the bottom of a cosmetics jar.

Quite possibly the world’s most perfect eyeshadow

Believe it or not, this universally flattering eyeshadow trick will work for women of any age or ethnicity. Whether you have aging skin and are faced with the problem of finding eyeshadows that will not settle in wrinkles, or if you’re fighting the “mother vs. teen daughter” battle over what makeup a teen or tween can wear without looking too mature or inappropriate — or you’re just someone who has trouble finding great eyeshadow colors for your skin tone, you’ve now got a great solution.

Pressed powder — yes, the stuff for your face — can make an excellent eyeshadow. Since face powder is formulated in natural shades that are designed to accurately match skin tone, you’ll find that, when applied to the eyes, the color is soft, subtle and natural. For a shade to highlight the brow bone, inner corners of your eyes, or to dab on the lid, simply pick a color that is 1-2 shades lighter than your own skin color. Similarly, if you’d like a darker shade for a crease color, pick a powder that is 1-2 shades darker than your natural skin color. Want an even more dramatic, smokey eye look, or a shadow to smudge on as a liner? Go for a shade that’s even darker.

“By considering

all face powders as potential

eyeshadows, you

open up a whole

big, new world of

possibilities. . . “

By considering all face powders as potential eyeshadows, you open up a whole big, new world of possibilities — oil-absorbing matte powder for extremely oily prone skin (or to use as a no-slide eye makeup base), semi-matte for a velvety finish, or a wrinkle-fighting formula that protects the skin as it disguises flaws. Not to mention most powders are now also formulated to be long lasting, which means less eyemakeup mess and fewer reapplications.

The result — particularly if you buy colors from the same line — is a beautiful, highly blendable, low-fuss makeup look that can even be customized for your skin type. If your skin color changes enough that you need to buy different makeup for Winter and Summer, this trick is a great way to use up any leftover powder without having to throw it away. Plus, you get a whole compact full of makeup. Now tell me, what regular eyeshadow can do that?

To try this look out, Loreal True Match Powder is a great starting point, since most stores have a plastic color matching card that makes it easy to find an exact match for your skin tone. Once you’ve got that figured out, it’s a cinch to pick lighter or darker eye shades.
Another great choice is Tru Blend Pressed Powder by Covergirl. Since this “smart” powder works to match 97% of all skin tones, you get a really subtle, well-matched eyeshadow color when you deliberately choose shades that are darker or lighter than your own (since this powder really does match a wide number of skin tones, you’ll probably have to choose shades that appear much lighter or darker than your own).

Other great picks, simply because they have such a silky texture and high-quality pigment are Nars pressed powder and DiorSkin pressed powder.