For people like me, who hate foundation…

Part of being the sort of weird, androgynous, half girly, half tomboy creature that I am (aside from a penchant for leather boots and jackets, and refusing to grow my hair long) is the absolute loathing for any sort of foundation on my face. The only time I’ve really embraced it is back in my punk rock days, when I’d slather on a full face of Siouxsie Sioux makeup, the whiter, the better. There was a period a couple of years ago when my skin was looking pretty bad, due to being severely stressed out, when I was having to wear a full coverage foundation – and I hated every second of it. Once I left the sociopathic ex-con boyfriend, my skin cleared right up – imagine that.

But I digress…

Point is, I love my makeup, but I loathe covering up my natural skin – and, as well, my baseline is low maintenance makeup (cat-eye liner, mascara, nude lips kinda thing), as opposed to the elaborate eye makeup phases that I sometimes share on the blog. For me, skin care is far more important than fancy foundation. I far more frequently go out bare-faced with a bit of concealer under my eyes and around my nose than not, because my skin generally looks fine without makeup. But, I do like a bit of colour sometimes, just a sheer wash to tie it all together, especially if my colour is looking a bit off, as it sometimes will when my autoimmune illness is kicking up.

You all know my love of face oils, which have been a godsend when it comes to giving my skin a boost of healthy moisture, vitamins, antioxidants, anti-aging benefits, anti-inflammatory benefits, and all over glow.

And so, when Kosas came out with a tinted face oil, I squeeeeed in delight! After checking the ingredients for any obviously comedogenic oils (all clear), I knew I had to try this puppy out. Now, first things first – because there is nothing more assholish than getting people all hyped up about a product that is based on skin tone, then being like, whoops, sorry non-white people, you’re not included. Kosas’ shade range is pretty damn good, especially considering how sheer and adjustable the shades are. The Kosas Tinted Face Oil range has ten deeper shades, six of which are suitable for black skin tones – and I don’t mean that shitty orange-undertoned stuff you see so many companies doing, either. These are beautiful, wearable shades. And the light-medium range is gorgeous, too. Nothing too pink or too yellow. Oftentimes, I’m wearing the lightest shade in foundation/BB creams, and I matched with their shade 03 (granted, it’s the end of summer, but I didn’t get a ton of sun, either).

Now, on to the oil itself. As you might have guessed, this is a face oil, at the heart of it, even though it’s in their foundation section on the Kosas website, it does say “tinted face oil” right there on the bottle – so if you have a lot of stuff that needs covering up, or you are looking for a medium to full coverage, traditional foundation, this will not be your cup of tea. Other than that, unless you have extremely oily skin, this product should be suitable for just about every skin type; my forehead and nose still get a bit oily in the summer months, but this stuff doesn’t make it worse at all, in fact, my skin looks more balanced when I wear it. Glowy, not oily.

This tinted face oil is like a sheer wash of colour dropped into your face oil – it will make your already nice skin look even better. More radiant, even-toned, and healthy.

One drop goes a long way!

Swiped once…

…and fully blended. It’s virtually undetectable!

I asked my very observant roommate what she thought, and she said “it looks like you have a really nice glow!”

Speaking of ingredients, here’s a full list, taken straight from the website:

The other oils are all great for your skin – the only one I’m a bit meh about it the first one, which is a coconut oil derivative. But since it’s not straight up coconut oil, it’s not the nightmare acnegenic, Pore-clogging nightmare that I always avoid like the plague.

On the skin, this oil feels wonderful – it’s not greasy, heavy, or overly shiny. It makes my skin feel hydrated and comfortable after putting on all my other treatments. A word to the wise, though – if your skin isn’t properly hydrated, or you have overdone it with too many serums (especially Niacinamide or Hyaluronic Acid heavy products) without allowing enough time between applications, or used too heavy a hand – or you haven’t exfoliated in over a week, this stuff will show flaky skin, or pill on you. What I do to ensure this doesn’t happen is just make sure I’m on top of my exfoliating (never too much, obviously, but it does have to be done), and I don’t use more than three serums in one sitting – and just a couple drops each. And let them dry fully! Just about any foundation or BB cream will pill if you don’t take these steps. Both Niacinamide and Hyaluronic Acid are notorious for this, so I try not to layer them over each other if I can avoid it. Or, find a serum that uses them both, and use a very light hand. Then, hang out for 20 minutes before moisturizer.

You’re welcome.

In short, this has become my staple, going-out ersatz foundation, which doesn’t feel or look like a foundation, and let’s my real skin shine through. I have found my HG, the one that can finally take the place of my way-too-expensive Le Metier de Beautè Peau Vierge not-a-foundation tinted treatment.

Kosas Tinted Face Oil lets all my hard-earned skincare efforts shine through!

So, my Little Kumquats, it is most definitely a thumbs up for this stuff! You can purchase the Kosas Tinted Face Oil for $42 at Sephora, or straight from the Kosas website.

I hope you enjoyed this post – next up, my review of the African Botanics eye cream!

XO, Cori Monday