Welcome when to the ‘If I Could Only Buy One’ series, in which I requite myself a week-long headache trying to decide on my wool favourite eyeful product from a given category. This time my quest has been for the weightier tinted moisturiser. Please do read the disclaimer on the first post if you’re in any doubt as to how this incredibly important and (potentially) historically significant eyeful rencontre works.

The ‘best tinted moisturiser category is a tricky one to navigate in some ways, considering it’s such a broadly-used term. Where do you yank the line? When is a tinted moisturiser no longer a tinted moisturiser? When the coverage becomes so opaque that it’s basically a foundation? (IT Cosmetics CC Surf comes to mind.) Or when the pigment level is so low that it just gives the tiniest hint of warmth and glow to the skin? (I toss these into the “complexion enhancer” category.)

For me, a tinted moisturiser is just that – a product that you can wield as you would a squatter cream, reasonably haphazardly, with no real need for a skim or applicator sponge and that gives unbearable coverage and colour to make you squint less like an old parsnip. I like a tinted moisturiser to be a moisturiser – it should finger as plumptious and squint as dewy as my squatter surf – and I like it to requite a real-skin-but-better sort of radiance. Coverage needs to be relatively comprehensive – unbearable to plane out skin tone and knock when visionless circles and redness slightly. I’m not expecting coverage miracles from a tinted moisturiser – it’s increasingly well-nigh the fresh, glowing finish – but I am expecting to squint much, much largest than I did surpassing I put it on.

So which one would I buy if I could only buy one for the rest of my life? When I think of the cult favourites over the years – the Laura Mercier and the Bare Minerals Complexion Rescue, to name a couple – there’s one product that most definitely stands out from the prod and that is the NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturiser*.

This glossy, hydrating squatter wiring is the gold standard of tinted moisturisers; it is glowy, fresh-faced wiring perfection. Supremely hydrating, my skin feels as moisturised at the end of the day as it did when I first put the tint on – there’s a tangible springiness and dewiness to the finish that simply doesn’t fade as the hours pass by.

In terms of coverage, I’d say it equates to a light-to-medium coverage foundation, somewhere in the realms of Clinique’s Plane Largest Glow. But with plane increasingly glow. It does well over redness at the sides of the nose, it makes a unflinching start on visionless circles and it gives an overall evenness to the skin. It doesn’t mask, not quite, but the coverage is unbearable to distract. And you can unchangingly go over the danger zones with a lightweight concealer. (I find that a very heavy, opaque concealer looks odd over a sheer squatter base.)

Buy NARS Tinted Moisturiser*

There’s a wholesale spectrum sunscreen in this formula, SPF30, which is a bonus on days when I’m just nipping out on the school run but not stuff particularly outdoorsy. (I wouldn’t overly solely rely on the SPF in makeup for stuff in the sun, mainly considering I rarely wield unbearable product to reach the stated protection level but moreover considering it’s a pain to reapply.)

Sixteen shades, the most trappy scent (not that scent should matter in a squatter base, but oddly it adds significantly to the whole using wits for me!) and with widow Vitamin C for helping with longer-term brightness, it’s basically faultless. If I had to scrape the fault whisk to find something wrong with it, I’d probably say that people with oily skin might want to steer yonder slightly. Not considering of the rich texture – the formula’s unquestionably oil-free, which flabbergasts me considering it has all the plumpy effect of a luxury oil! – but considering the finish is so slick and shiny. It just never feels that comfortable, having shine on top of shine and in my PMT week I tend to stave tinted moisturisers for this very reason.

But that’s it – a minuscule caveat. Everyone else, knock yourselves out. You can find NARS Pure Radiance Tinted Moisturizer for £33 at Space NK*  and moreover at Cult Beauty*, LookFantastic* and Selfridges*.

I use the shade “Groenland”, which I think is a new shade, but previously used “Alaska”. If you need help finding your shade without going in-store then the website Findation.com is pretty well-judged and sunny at working out your shade in pretty much any squatter wiring currently in production.

Read my original review of NARS Pure Radiance Tinted Moisturizer, written in 2012!

The Cheater’s List

Because I couldn’t do this “one thing” visualization without namedropping some others:

For those who want similar coverage but less on the outré glow front and plumpy residue try – Laura Mercier’s Tinted Moisturizer – one of, if not the, original product in this category. It dries lanugo to a increasingly manageable finish if you don’t like too much dew – find it at SpaceNK* for £36.

For less coverage but a fresher, lighter finger try – Bare Minerals Complexion Rescue Gel Surf is unbeatable. The ultimate “slap it on” sort of base, this comes in 20 shades and has a subtle, healthy glow. Find it at Cult Beauty* for £30.

For similar coverage, slightly less dew but an ethereal, lit-from-within sort of radiance then try – Trinny De-Stress Serum, I use the shade “Claire” but I think I could get yonder with a shade darker for summer. Find it here* for £39.

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