Laura Mercier’s award-winning Translucent Loose Setting Powder is a firm favourite of ours and, as a result, we expected great things from another of her bestsellers, the Tinted Moisturiser.
Sadly, it failed to live up to its many promises. Instead of boasting weightless feel and offering a sheer hint of coverage for an effortless yet flawless finish, we found it cakey, uneven and the tint faded quickly when worn on its own.
When used with primer, it performed much more admirably but we feel like the primer was doing most of hard work in this instance.
At £35, the Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturiser comes in at the same cost as a high-end foundation yet without quite the same performance and finish.
If this tinted moisturiser could actually replace our moisturiser, foundation and more we’d be more than happy to pay the price but unfortunately, Laura Mercier is asking a lot for relatively little. It’s certainly not a bad product, we just don’t think it’s worth the price. Grab it in a sale if you can.
| Cult Beauty | £35 |
| Space NK | £35 |
Laura Mercier’s brand is passionate about the idea of a “no makeup” healthy, radiant glow and at the heart of this passion is the Laura Mercier Tinted moisturiser – a product we have spent the past three weeks testing for this review.
Available in 20 shades, which is somewhat remarkable and rare for a foundation let alone a tinted moisturiser, it promises to deliver flawless skin with a sheer hint of coverage for an effortless, dewy, no-makeup finish.
READ NEXT: Best tinted moisturisers for all budgets
Just like what we consider to be the best foundation on the market – IT Cosmetics’ Your Skin But Better CC+ cream, Laura Mercier’s tinted moisturiser is hugely popular because it mixes the benefits of skincare and makeup in a single, multi-purpose product.
And thanks to ingredients including Macadamia and Kukui Seed Oils, Vitamin C and E and an SPF 30, this tinted moisturiser also promises to protect and improve your skin over time.
All of these benefits don’t come cheap – £35 for a 50ml tube – so is the Laura Mercier tinted moisturiser as good as the company, and online reviewers claim? And is it worth the price?
WANT TO KNOW MORE? Best concealer | Best makeup brush | Best foundation brush | Best eyeshadow palette | Best foundation | Best foundation for dark skin | Best foundation for oily skin | Best foundation for dry skin | Best contour kit | Best lip gloss | Best lip liner | Best mascara| Best primer | Best highlighter | Best brow pomade | Best blusher | Best setting spray|
For the past three weeks, we have used the Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturiser every day to see how it withstands travelling, working and what the result is like after an eight-hour shift.
These tests involved applying it with our fingers, a beauty blender and a foundation buffer brush and over the three weeks we trialled it as follows:
By changing how we wore the tinted moisturiser, and how it was applied, we tried to cover all bases as to how this product can be used to get true, real-world results. We also wanted to test its staying power.
The texture of the Laura Mercier tinted moisturiser is on the runny side of medium, when it comes to consistency and we’d say it more closely resembles the feel and consistency of a foundation, as opposed to a standalone moisturiser.
This means it has a tendency to come out of the tube a lot faster than we expected and we often squeezed out too much by accident. You don’t need a lot of product, this tinted moisturiser gives you a fair amount of coverage and is buildable. However, at times we had to wipe the excess of our hands and this was a little painful given its price!
It does have a slight chemical smell but that disappears shortly after its applied.
The first week using the Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturiser as a daily moisturiser we found it didn’t blend well into the skin.
It made us want to apply little more than we usually would and we noticed that it sank into the skin showing visible pores – definitely not the poreless, flawless finish look we had expected.
Oily areas were quickly apparent after a few hours of wear and this method felt more cakey than weightless on the skin.
During the second week, when we used the Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturiser in combination with our daily moisturiser, it performed much better than during week one.
The coverage was more even, we had fewer visible pores and the coverage finish was smoother.
Sadly, oily areas were still visible after a few hours of wear, and the tint wore off more quickly than we we had used the tinted moisturiser on its own.
By the third week of testing, we happened upon the best combination – using a moisturiser and primer before applying the tinted moisturiser.
This combination of products gave the tint much more staying power.
It held up well on dry areas of the skin and oily areas weren’t obvious until much later in the day.
With this method, it gave good coverage without using a lot of the product.
It gave a radiant, dewy finish to the skin which we loved.
Laura Mercier’s award-winning Translucent Loose Setting Powder is a firm favourite of ours and, as a result, we expected great things from another of her bestsellers, the Tinted Moisturiser.
Sadly, it failed to live up to its many promises. Instead of boasting weightless feel and offering a sheer hint of coverage for an effortless yet flawless finish, we found it cakey, uneven and the tint faded quickly when worn on its own.
When used with primer, it performed much more admirably but we feel like the primer was doing most of hard work in this instance.
In fairness to Laura Mercier, the brand does suggest using a foundation primer underneath the tinted moisturiser to get the best results, but for a product that promises to replace multiple skincare and makeup products, we had hoped this wasn’t the case. This is even more disappointing when you consider its price.
At £35, the Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturiser comes in at the same cost as a high-end foundation yet without quite the same performance and finish.
If this tinted moisturiser could actually replace our moisturiser, foundation and more we’d be more than happy to pay the price but unfortunately, Laura Mercier is asking a lot for relatively little. It’s certainly not a bad product, we just don’t think it’s worth the price.
If you don’t want to shell out for Laura Mercier’s Tinted Moisturiser, we have two cheaper alternatives that offer sheer coverage and leave you with an even skin tone and a radiant feel – no primer needed.
The first is marginally cheaper but offers much more for your money. The second is an absolute bargain that gives more expensive tinted moisturisers a run for their money.
£29 | Buy from bareMinerals
This tinted moisturiser has a gel-like texture, using minerals to give you a lightweight feel to the skin. It feels like the best of both worlds as a combination of the colour correcting power of a CC cream and the brightening power of the best BB cream. As a result, it gives you great hydration and makes your skin look like skin.
Buy now from bareMinerals
£10 | Buy from Cult Beauty
This tinted moisturiser may not contain SPF – which explains it’s much cheaper price – but you could easily add this on before applying this product (we’ve listed the best SPF products here).
This tinted BB cream gives you eight hours of hydration and comes in 12 different shades. Giving you sheer coverage with a satiny finish, similar to the brand’s unsung hero Angel Veil Skin Perfecting Primer. This tinted skin veil gives you oily control and leaves your skin feeling smooth and natural.
We love NYX Professional Makeup and you can find out why in guide to the best cheap makeup brands.
Buy now from Cult Beauty
