A Skin Tint Roundup | Kosas Tinted Face Oil, Milk Makeup Sunshine Skin Tint, & Glossier Perfecting Skin Tint

When it comes to foundations and base products, I certainly have a type. If it’s marketed as lightweight and glowy, I’m there. Recently I’ve picked up the Kosas Tinted Face Oil (ed note: it was recently when I started writing this blogpost in November, whoops), and I wanted to see how it compared to two of my favorite skin tints: the Milk Makeup Sunshine Skin Tint and the Glossier Perfecting Skin Tint. All three promise similar things: light coverage that smooths over the skin and leaves a natural, radiant finish.

The first thing I notice is that the Kosas is the runniest of the three, and the Milk Makeup is the thickest (or it seems that way at least because of the packaging. You have to be careful to not let pretty much the whole bottle of the Kosas Tinted Face Oil spill out into your hand, despite it having one of those dropper spouts. The Glossier Skin Tint has a similar delivery system, and it comes out drop by drop.

Consistency-wise, the Kosas feels like a dry oil and sinks into the skin quickly while leaving the veil of pigment behind with a satin finish. The Milk and Glossier feel more emollient, gliding over the skin as you blend them in and leaving quite a dewy finish. I’ve noticed if my skin is not exfoliated and moisturized properly, the Kosas will show dryness, while the Milk just glides over and hides this. The Glossier is somewhere in between, not totally gliding over dry patches, but not catching on them as much as the Kosas. This is not to say the Kosas is not for dry skin types - it really is, you just have to prep your skin properly.

Over the course of the day, all three fade evenly. I’d say the Glossier lasts the longest on me, followed by Kosas, and then the shortest wear time is Milk. Glossier and Milk remain quite dewy throughout the day without veering into greasy territory (though my skin is on the dry side), and the Kosas gets a little dewier over time - it starts out as a satin finish and ends up being quite glowy by the end of the day. This also never gets greasy on me, and it certainly looks better and better as you wear it. If I find it catching on a few dry patches when I first apply it, I always notice it goes away and looks smooth and even after about an hour of wear.

Despite all having the word “tint” in their names, I find these all have quite different levels of coverage. The Kosas has the highest coverage of the three, although it’s still quite light and allows some imperfections to show through. I’d say it’s a step above typical light coverage - maybe on par with something like the Charlotte Tilbury Light Wonder Foundation. The Milk is next on coverage levels and has about the same as a tinted moisturizer. I think it has similar coverage to the Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer or the bareMinerals Complexion Rescue. The Glossier has the least coverage of the three by far - this has just a whisper of coverage, just offering a sheer veil of color to gently even out the skin.

I’ve been asked a lot which is my favorite of these three, and honestly I can’t pick one. I always think I have a favorite and use it constantly, and then I start using one of the other two and fall in love all over again. Right now I’m using the Milk Sunshine Skin Tint almost daily - my skin is majorly dry right now, so this is the most forgiving formula.

If you’re just looking for a lightweight foundation, I don’t think you need all three. I’d go with Kosas if you’re looking for coverage, Milk if you’re looking for a serious glow, and Glossier if you want something to even out your skintone on minimal days.

Which one would you pick?

This post contains affiliate links. Glossier Skin Tint was gifted.

New "Clean" Beauty Favorites | Kosas + Jillian Dempsey

Beauty sales season hit me hard this fall - I grabbed a few too many things in the Sephora VIB Sale (let me know if I should write a post on that, too), and then I was sucked in by Credo Beauty’s sale. I had never ordered anything from Credo Beauty before, but the shipping was so fast, and there’s so many brands there that I’ve been meaning to try, so I think this might be the start of a dangerous obsession.

I made a beeline to the Jillian Dempsey and Kosas Cosmetics sections as soon as I saw them both offered - I’ve heard nothing but good things about both brands and had a couple things I wanted to try from each. I ended up getting the Tinted Face Oil and Lipstick in Rosewater from Kosas, and two Lid Tints and two Cheek Tints from Jillian Dempsey.

Kosas Tinted Face Oil & Lipstick

T-B | Jillian Dempsey Cheek Tints in Petal & Rosy, Lid Tints in Lilac & Bronze, Kosas Lipstick in Rosewater

The Kosas Tinted Face Oil is something I’ve been wanting since its launch - a tinted face oil sounds right up my alley. It comes in 10 shades, which is not the most inclusive shade range, but since it’s very light coverage it is forgivable if the shade isn’t a perfect match. I got shade 01, and it seems to be a great match. You have to shake up the bottle before dispensing to make sure the pigment is dispersed in the oil, which always gets me weird looks when I’m applying this at my desk at work. It’s a super runny, thin oil and you have to be careful when you tip the bottle over. It blends so easily and smoothly into the skin that I can slap it on and have it looking good in about 10 seconds flat. I do find that if I don’t wait long enough after applying certain moisturizers (like the First Aid Beauty Priming Moisturizer), it can pill, but it’s usually not an issue. I don’t use it over a primer, and I don’t powder it either. You’d think this would look greasy as the day went on, but it just looks more and more beautiful with time. It actually has a bit of a satin finish on me when I first apply, slowly becoming the best version of dewy over time. My favorite thing about it is how beautifully my cream products apply and blend on top of it - I’ve actually fallen back in love with my Tom Ford Shade & Illuminate again because of how easily it glides over the Tinted Face Oil. This has been my everyday go-to since I got it, and I definitely feel like it was made for me. I do find that by the end of the day, it’s mostly faded away, but it fades away so evenly (and was light coverage to begin with) so it’s hard to even notice.

The Kosas Lipstick has also become a fast favorite. I’m not sure if it’s just because the tube is the same, but it really reminds me of the NARS Audacious Lipsticks. It’s smooth and creamy, but has great pigmentation and a satin finish. The shade Rosewater is one of the best my-lips-but-better shades I’ve found - if you took my natural lip color and made it a tiny bit more pink. this is the shade you’d get. It’s perfect for adding a quick, subtle flush of color to the lips, and the formula is super comfortable and wears down to a lovely stain over time.

Jillian Dempsey Lid & Cheek Tints

I’ve seen the Jillian Dempsey Lid & Cheek Tints all over Instagram lately, so I had to try them out for myself. I had heard the Lid Tints crease pretty quickly, but I love a good messy, glossy lid so I didn’t mind and ordered a couple. I got Lilac, a pale pinkish-purple, and bronze, a sheer wash of bronze-y brown. They are so beautifully juicy and glossy, and yes, they do crease - probably within 30 minutes for me. But you know how there are some products that crease, and then when you try to blend them back out, they disappear? These aren’t like that. They’re easy to manipulate right back into place without losing any product, so I really don’t mind the creasing at all. I just tap my eyelids every so often throughout the day and know they’re still going to look good. I’m so tempted to just order all the other shades now.

The Cheek Tints are the standout favorite of this whole haul - I actually only got one shade initially, and went back and ordered a second as soon as I tried it. It has more of a cream-to-powder formula than the Lid Tints, so they stay put all day, and I can see them working well on more oily skin types, too. I first got the shade Petal, a subtle pinky-peach, and then went back for Rosy, a bright pink. They have the perfect amount of pigmentation - they pack a decent amount of color right away without having to layer lots of product, but it’s not so much pigmentation that it’s hard to blend out and doesn’t look clownish. Petal is going to be perfect for when I’m wearing red lipstick this winter as it’s such a lovely subtle shade, and Rosy has already become my everyday go-to - I love a good healthy flush on my cheeks, and this is one of the best shades I’ve found. They blend out effortlessly despite feeling a little bit stiff in the pan and instantly become one with the skin. I actually went a little overboard with Rosy the other day and had someone ask me if I had a fever - they thought it was just my cheeks naturally flushing rather than me piling on too much blush.

So overall this Credo Beauty haul was such a win - have you tried either of these brands?