Sample Roulette: Stila Illuminating Tinted Moisturizer

Rusty

I order from Sephora kind of a lot. Because of this I have a giant box of samples just hanging out, waiting to be used. This… is… SAMPLE ROULETTE. Due to the brief nature of the use, I will assign ratings as 0 (stay away) 4 (I liked it, but didn’t love it) or 8 (love it and will probably be dropping my own money on it in short order). Enjoy!

Tinted moisturizers, particularly those with SPF, are a godsend for women who enjoy a morning beauty routine that lasts under ten minutes. That’s me, except for the days my morning beauty routine lasts no minutes because once I get my teeth and hair brushed I call it “good enough” and sail out to the living room, because I am drastically under-employed at this time. But I digress. Stila’s Illuminating Tinted Moisturizer seemed like just the thing for the days I would actually have to interact with other people. 

While the moisturizer did indeed offer some moisturizing and helped even out my skin tone, where it fell flat for me was the “illuminating” part. The moisturizer is shimmery when in the bottle, but when I spread it on my face I looked indisputably shiny. Something we tend to use makeup to avoid. Now, putting powder over it did help alleviate the shininess, but that adds an extra step to the process and sort of takes away the convenience of the tinted moisturizer with sun protection thing. 

I get the desire for a dewy glow from cosmetics, but I feel like that type of effect is best left in powder form since the diffuse nature of powder spreads it out better than something with a lotion like texture, which gives a more solid coverage and turns the shimmer to shine. I might want shimmery cheeks, but I definitely don’t want shiny cheeks. 

For whether I’d recommend buying this I’m giving it a 0 out 8. I like the idea of a tinted moisturizer that offers some coverage and sun protection, but not one that makes me look shinier than I did before I put it on. 


Rating: 0/8 tentacles

More Sample Roulettes: Bumble & Bumble Thickening Hairspray, Fresh Soy Face Cream, Ole Henriksen Truth Serum, and Cover FX Nourishing Foundation.