How to make your own tinted moisturizer

Tinted moisturizer can be an awesome product. It will moisturize your skin as well as help to brighten up and hide imperfections. Ever since I heard about it first, which is like 4-5 years ago, I have been dying to try one.

They are not available locally. I had to get them from aboard through third parties, so not a lot of option for first hand testing. I did my research, saw swatches, read reviews and bought a few of them over the period of last few years. Almost all of them had some kind of problem

• Not available locally 
• Not a lot of shades, specially for sub-continental skin tones. 
• Not suitable for my skin type…it is the worst of all. I have really oily skin which never even needs moisturizer during summer. Most of the tinted moisturizers I have used made my skin more oily, even the ones for oily skin. One or two of them were okay, but not as good as the moisturizer I have been using for my oily skin. I think this is the biggest problem of tinted moisturizer, you can never really find one as good as your current moisturizer. 

So I started thinking...why not make your own tinted moisturizer? It is quite simple actually; all you need is a moisturizer and a foundation. I mean what is tinted moisturizer really; it is just a moisturizer with a hint of tint/color.

I cant take credit for the idea though, it is really popular in net and blogs. I can just add my two cents.

So in this tutorial, I will be using my favorite summer time moisturizer (the best one I have found so far, for my extremely oily skin) Pond's Vanishing cream, the warm classic.

It has a mousse like texture; totally water based and doesn’t feel heavy at all. It gets absorbed pretty quickly and keeps my oil free, even my T-zones, for hours.

You can use whatever moisturizer you prefer, oil based one for dry skin or normal moisturizer for normal skin. This is the beauty of D-I-Y tinted moisturizer, you do not have to try products after product to find the perfect one, you can use your existing favorite!

For foundation, I will use L’Oreal Bare Naturale mineral foundation. It is really important that you use mineral foundation, not liquid of any other kind. This is because when you put on moisturizer, it gets absorbed by your skin. So if you mix liquid foundation with moisturizer, some of the liquid foundation will also get absorbed by your skin which can lead to various problems. The molecules of mineral foundation are larger than liquid ones so it can not be absorbed by skin. Again, not my own theory picked it up from various expert blogs/beauty websites on DIY tinted moisturizer.

Now for the actual process:

Take your favorite moisturizer. If you have oily skin it should have some oil control properties and if you have dry skin it can be oil based either way it will not be a problem.

• Step-1: Start with clean hands. Take your usual amount moisturizer on your palm. I normally need less than a quarter size amount.

• Step-2: Now add some mineral foundation. The amount will depend on the kind of coverage you want. If you want little coverage add less and if you want more coverage add more.

• Step-3: Use your finger to mix the foundation and moisturizer well. It will have the texture almost the same as your moisturizer and not at all as thick as a foundation.

But it will have a foundation like coverage.

• Step-4: Use it as you regular moisturizer. You can smooth it using your palms and apply all over the face or you can use your finger to tap some products all over your face and then smooth it. Either way, it will be really easy to apply, just like your regular moisture, not the complicated process of using a foundation with brush, sponge, blenders etc.

The duration would totally depend on the quality of your moisturizer and foundation, but mine usually stays put for 5-6 hours.

It gives a really natural look without the fuss and mess. I never look like I am wearing any foundation or anything.

It also saves me a lot of time as you can use both your moisturizer and foundation at once as opposed to putting moisturizer and wait then primer and wait and then foundation etc.

Not to mention it saves the money I would spend trying to buy the perfect tinted moisturizer which probably doesn’t exist because it took me years to find the perfect moisturizer as it is.

Finally this tinted moisturizer can totally double as bb-creams depending on the moisturizer you are using. BB creams are simply tinted creams that can improve your skin, fade marks, add brightening effects, has added sunscreen etc. So if you use a cream that has such properties ( for example Pond's white beauty, Olay Natural White, Healthy Shop Brightening Cream etc), it will totally do the same.

So try this Do It yourself alternative for tinted moisturizer/BB creams and let me know what you think…