How many face tints and sheer foundations are too many? There's no answer to this question really a today we have drugstore players in this discipline.
The Essence Hydro Hero 24H Hydrating Tinted Cream is a new tinted moisturizer from your favorite drugstore brand. It has SPF 15 and 88% of natural ingredients together with hyaluronic acid that are supposed to give you light to medium coverage and even skintone. It is fragrance-free, silicone-free, oil-free and alcohol-free and it comes in underwhelming 3 shades. I have the shade 05 Natural Ivory. Its price is somewhere $4.60 which is to be expected as Essence is an affordable brand. The shade range is pretty bad considering that this is the lightest shade and it isn't even that light. The darkest shade is barely medium.
It comes in a squeezy tube which is quite convinient and the texture is very liquidy. You get 30ml of product. According to the website it is also supposed to be non-comedogenic and vegan, which is very nice. It is quite thin and does remind me of a very runny cream. The pigmentation does not look the most even upon application but it gets better as you blend it out. For this type of consistency, I would recommend using a brush or a stippling brush as sponges tend to suck it all up. The coverage is definitely light in my opinion.
The application is a little tricky and does not go on very evenly. You really have to work it into the skin to get a smooth finish and you have to go little by little. It feels very hydrating and nice on the skin, almost like a moisturizer. I can see this being a desired "everyday" products for many people as it doesn't have the feeling or finish of a foundation.
Wear test
I applied the tinted cream with my brush but it was quite streaky so I switched for a more dense brush to really stamp it into the skin. It was sitting a little weird over my pores and dry skin but once I powdered it kind of went away. I applied a cream blush to see how it goes and it didn't disrupt the base at all so I think creams will play well with this base product.
List of used products
Catrice Clean ID Pore Perfecting Primer
NYX Plump Right Back Plumping Serum + Primer
Essence Hydro Hero 24H Hydrating Tinted Cream, shade 05 Natural Ivory
Essence Camouflage+ Healthy Glow Concealer, shade 10 light ivory
Kiko Milano Mood Boost Perfecting Powder
Jeffree Star Cosmetics Magic Star Powder Luminous, shade Translucent
L.YS Higher Standard Satin Matte Cream Blush, shade Kindness
L.YS No Limits Matte Bronzer, shade Motivate (Light)
Essence Glowing Golds Vitamin C Baked Highlighter
Kiko Milano Wonder Woman Power Last Duo Define & Fix Brows, shade 01
Sigma Eyeshadow Base Primer, shade Ignite
Revolution x Soph Mini Spice Palette
Colourpop x Raw Beauty Kristi BFF Creme Gel Liner, shade Woodsy
Rival Loves Me Happiness Liquid Eyeshadow, shade 01 Good Vibes
NYX Cake That! Powder Eyeliner, shade Black + Rich Brown
Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara
Catrice Clean ID Glow Prime & Fix Spray
Fenty Beauty Slip Shine Sheer Shiny Lipstick, shade 05 Glazed
Wear time 9 hours
I was mostly at home today with one yoga workout and lot of normal work in my schedule and honestly I am not very impressed by this skin tint. It looks fine from my forehead down to my brows minus the little budging happening. Around my mouth, chin and cheeks it's a disaster. The tint just climbed into my pores and created so many dry patches it's unbelievable. I have dry patches around my nose and it just clinged onto them like crazy. I am not happy with how the bottom half of my face looks and I wasn't even wearing a mask today! It looks quite fine from a distance but up close under direct light it really looks bad. My chin and jaw look like they've been totally dehydrated and the base is almost crumbling off. Not a good look. The top of the face is fine though...I don't understand this product.
Final thoughts
After wearing this tinted moisturizer many many times I have decided that I am not a big fan. I usually need my makeup to stay in place a look decent for at least 6-8 hours and this does not make the cut. I cannot go without powdering my face but even with the less drying powder I have and with many different primer/powder combinations I cannot make this work for an extended period of time.
I would say that it's not a bad product but my semi-dry skin is just not happy with it. The texture is nice and it does feel hydrating when you apply it so without the powdering it could be a decent moistruzier with a slight toning effect which might be exactly what you're looking for. In that case, I would say go for it if you want to try a products like this because it doesn't break a bank.
However, if you use tinted moisturizers like me and kind of substitute foundations by them in a full face look, it's probably not gonna be it. That being said, my usecase and my skin type was not a good combo for this products and I will be probably gifting it to some of my friends with less need for powder.