I probably wear foundation 10 times a year. Reserved exclusively for special occasions that I feel require just a smidge more effort in the makeup department, foundation is just not for me. It's not that I don't appreciate it or feel as though my complexion couldn't majorly benefit from its disguising, blurring powers, it's just that I don't like it. I don't like the way it makes my face feel dirty, I don't like the way it transfers onto everything from clothes to the screen of my phone, and most of all, I don't like the way it makes my skin look less like my skin.
When it comes to base products, I want something that becomes one with my skin—not a formula that sits on top of it like a heavy drape used to hide whatever's underneath. I want something that makes me feel better about my skin's natural flaws—something that brings out the best in it while still fully accepting its intricacies.
Above all, I want my base to both look and feel natural, and it's for this reason I have such a strong love for skin tints. Unlike thick foundation, a skin tint's primary goal is to act as a blurring veil that still allows you to embrace your skin's very best assets—and I think I've found the best formula out there.
Shannon wears Summer Fridays Sheer Skin Tint with no other base products.
Summer Fridays is a brand dear to my heart. As far as I'm aware, it's never brought out a dud product. The newly launched Shadedrops SPF is easily in the top three best SPF products I've ever used, while the cult Jet Lag Mask has become a nourishing go-to for beauty editors and celebrities alike. So when I heard that Summer Fridays was launching Sheer Skin Tint, it's safe to say I was hyped.
Promising weightless, sheer, but buildable coverage, the product comes in an impressively diverse ten shades, all of which are genuinely stretchable. Besides the pigment and coverage, Sheer Skin Tint is formulated with hero antioxidant ingredient centella asiatica (or tiger grass/cica, as it's commonly known) to deliver soothing comfort and plumping hydration. With the ability to take down redness almost instantly, the theory is that using Sheer Skin Tint will drastically reduce your need for other products, including concealer.
On top of that, it also contains hyaluronic acid and glycerin to help hydrate and plump the skin while nurturing its barrier function. The icing on the cake? An impressive nourishing concoction of squalane, vitamin E, safflower oil, and avocado oil to help give that super-smooth, skincare-like result.
When all of these things come together in one aesthetically pleasing bottle of skin tint, you get pure makeup magic. Sheer Skin Tint is the single best everyday base product I have ever used—no exceptions. I slap it on, brush up my brows, apply some mascara (if I want to), and I'm good to go. Forget layers of priming skincare, forget highlighter, and forget layers and layers of concealer—this product is genuinely the does-it-all, no-makeup makeup base I've been searching for my entire life.
If, like me, you dislike foundation and are in the market for a lightweight base that delivers subtle coverage with genuinely skin-like results, I urge you to give this a go. In fact, I've never felt more passionately about a recommendation in my life. While other skin tints and tinted moisturisers out there have been known to leave my skin looking shiny, oily, and sometimes flat, this stuff goes basically undetectable. It takes redness right down, blurs pores, and leaves skin looking naturally radiant without the need for powder.
Does it deliver heaps of coverage? No. If you like to use a full-coverage foundation every day, this isn't the product for you. But if you're looking to adopt a more laid-back, natural-looking approach to your makeup, Summer Fridays Sheer Skin Tint is the place to start.
Shop More Summer Fridays Products
Easily my favourite skincare launch of 2022 so far, this SPF has become my most adored everyday sunscreen in existence. Lightweight, milky, and great for sensitive skin, it leaves skin with a subtle glow that doesn't feel oily or greasy.
While social media's obsession with this ultra-nourishing, glow-boosting mask seems to have died down in recent years, my love for it remains strong. Whenever my skin is looking dry and lacklustre, it's the first thing I reach for.
With vitamin C to deliver antioxidant protection, help fight dark spots, and boost glow, this illuminating serum is a best-seller for a reason. Plus, squalane helps protect the skin barrier and deliver quenching hydration.
Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm is one of my go-to's whenever my lips are feeling particularly dry and irritated. It's thick, sumptuous, and glossy without being sticky. This poppy-hued version is a nourishing winter alternative to lipstick.
If it's dark circles you're trying to beat, this eye cream is sure to help. Formulated with vitamin C to brighten and peptides to help plumping collagen production, it's a truly stunning eye cream.
While Jet Lag might be Summer Fridays MVP mask, if you're asking me, Overtime is equally as good—just for very different reasons. With pumpkin and apricot seed powder to deliver physical exfoliation and oat kernel protein to minimise irritation and inflammation, it's a glow-boosting delight.
I've gone through approximately four pots of this stuff. Thanks to a cooling, lightweight texture that doesn't leave skin feeling greasy or oily, it makes for the ultimate daily moisturiser.
Because limbs shouldn't have to miss out on skin-loving goodness, this coconut-scented body lotion is my post-shower reach-for. Even hours after application, the skin on my body is left looking healthy and radiant.
Next up, these are the five makeup brands that every French girl swears by.
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