Best Tinted Mineral Sunscreens & Moisturizers for Your Face

Use These Tinted Mineral Sunscreens and Tinted Moisturizers with SPF

As the years pass by, we all come to the realization that proper skincare is incredibly important. Protecting our skin from the sun becomes a critical task. Some may start in their early 20s, others in their late 30s, 40s or 50s, but we all eventually recognize the necessity. And since we apply an array of products to our face each day, why not choose a sunscreen that is tinted to even out your skin tone and eliminate redness? Plus, you’ll probably be able to skip the foundation on a super hot and humid day if you use any of these tinted mineral sunscreens.

It’s important to get our daily regimen down to a tee, so we don’t have to expend extra effort each day figuring out how to protect our face from UVA and UVB rays. Yes, there are two different kinds of sun rays to protect yourself from. UVA rays are the long waves that create wrinkles and age spots over time. UVB rays are shorter waves and what causes tanning or a sunburn. In order to guarantee that you will be protected from both UVA and UVB rays, choose a sunscreen with the words “broad spectrum” on the label. And you’ll want to use a mineral sunscreen where two of the active ingredients are natural minerals – zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. These minerals sit on top of your skin and reflect away all those UV rays.

Tinted Mineral Sunscreens

Elta MD UV Elements Broad Spectrum SPF 44

Elta MD UV Elements Broad Spectrum SPF 44 is the holy grail product. It is water resistant for up to 40 minutes, looks good under makeup, and doesn’t settle into fine lines or wrinkles. Elta MD actually sells a lot of tinted moisturizing products, which can make it a bit difficult to decide which product to choose. But this particular product, UV Elements Broad Spectrum SPF 44, is the standout. Because the product is tinted, it does a really good job color correcting redness and other skin imperfections which allows you to wear less makeup or even no foundation at all. It applies nicely and leaves no white cast, and is decently hydrating even though it is mineral based. It contains 10% zinc oxide and 5.5% titanium dioxide. The sunscreen comes in a 2 ounce bottle so you will be able to pack it into your carryon. Elta MD UV Elements Broad Spectrum SPF 44 only comes in one shade, unfortunately, so if the tint doesn’t match well with your skin tone, you should check out the next tinted sunscreen on our list. 

Compare prices on Amazon | Dermstore

Australian Gold Botanicals Tinted Face Mineral Lotion Non-Greasy SPF 50

If you want a sunscreen for a trip to the beach and are looking to protect yourself from harmful sun rays, Australian Gold sunscreen with SPF 50 is the product you have been looking for. The mineral lotion is comprised of 25 ingredients including 4% titanium dioxide and 4% zinc oxide and the product comes in three different shades: fair to light tint, medium to tan tint, and rich to deep tint. It’s also incredibly affordable. Australian Gold is truly a tenacious sunscreen and will last all day. This is also what makes it so ideal for the beach. It can be a little bit drying, but nothing major – the lotion settles a bit around the eyebrows so be cognizant of that when applying. The tinted mineral sunscreen is 80 minutes water resistant and is reef friendly, paraben free, cruelty free, fragrance free. 

This is a sunscreen you can use absolutely instead of makeup. It gives a really nice tint to the skin, stays in place, and it has much more of a matte finish than your typical sunscreen which also keeps the product from accentuating pores. Australian Gold never feels greasy on your skin from application through full-day wear.  And, of course, everyone’s skin is different, but this sunscreen does not break me out at all.  It can be difficult to remove, so it is best advised to use an oil cleanser. 

Compare prices on Ulta | Amazon

CeraVe Hydrating Sunscreen Sheer Tint SPF 30

CeraVe Hydrating Sunscreen is a tinted lotion with a whipped texture, so it is very hydrating.  It’s simple to apply, and rubs in easily. The tint isn’t too noticeable, but the product does have a nice, luminous finish. Makeup goes on well over the CeraVe – especially powder makeup – and the product doesn’t settle in to fine lines and wrinkles. This product is ideal for anyone with dry skin as it is a little bit greasier on the face when applied but it does dry well. It shouldn’t leave a white sheen across the face like so many other sunscreens do; however, if you do have a medium to dark skin tone, you may be better off with another product as some have had issues with white cast. CeraVe Hydrating Sunscreen contains 5.5% titanium dioxide, 10% zinc oxide, but it is not water resistant so you should probably wear Australian Gold if you have plans to hit the pool or the beach on your travels. 

Compare prices on Amazon | Ulta

Self Tan Face Products + Mineral Sunscreen: 

Tinted mineral sunscreens are magic, but these products are tenacious and can be heavy for daily wear. So, when I am not traveling, I use the St. Tropez Self Tan Purity Bronzing Water Face Mist every other day to tan my face and then put on the CeraVe AM Facial Moisturizing Lotion with SPF 30 for sunscreen. The St. Tropez face mist tint is perfect for my skin tone and the CeraVe AM is lightweight and nourishing. If I had more yellow undertones in my skin, I would use the Isle of Paradise Self Tanning Drops and mix that in with my CeraVe AM moisturizer. All you do is mix a pump of moisturizer with two to three tanning drops to the palm of your hand and you’ll apply an even product all over your face. I love how easy it is to use tanning drops, but unfortunately, the color profile of the Isle of Paradise is a little off with my skin tone.

CeraVe AM provides the same protections as the tinted mineral sunscreens listed above, but it’s much lighter and blends seamlessly into the face. At home, this routine works fabulously; but, when traveling, I am certainly not putting a leaky spray bottle filled with self tanner in my toiletries bag. Also, why carry two products in your compact toiletries bag when you only need one? Furthermore, this routine doesn’t even out my skin tone the same way as using a tinted mineral sunscreen would, so I apply a tinted moisturizer on top of my St. Tropez tint and CeraVe AM. And that tinted moisturizer is…

Tinted Moisturizers with SPF 30+

Bare Minerals Complexion Rescue Tinted Moisturizer and Mineral SPF 30

Bare Minerals Complexion Rescue is a tinted moisturizer, not a sunscreen, although it does contain SPF 30. Because it is a tinted moisturizer, this product makes your skin look incredible. Having worn it every day for years, Complexion Rescue is a game changer in the summer heat because I have no need for foundation. However, this product does not list zinc oxide as an ingredient which is a key to UVA protection. It does contain titanium dioxide (6.2%) which technically makes it a mineral-based sunscreen. So with that in mind, I suggest applying this product over any one of the sunscreens I have listed above, especially if you go the “self tan + non-tinted sunscreen” route.

Bare Minerals Complexion Rescue leaves a beautiful luminous, radiant finish to your skin and is very glowy which I absolutely adore. It comes in 20 different shades, so it should be easy to find a skin tone match. The moisturizer is light coverage, and it does an excellent job of evening out your skin tone without covering up your freckles. It’s recommended to apply the Complexion Rescue with your hands which certainly makes things easier when traveling – that’s one less brush to pack – but I prefer using the Smoothing Foundation Brush for the application. 

Compare prices on Amazon | Sephora | Ulta | bareMinerals

Do you use any of these tinted mineral sunscreens? If so, which is your favorite and if not, what is your go-to? Let us know your methods in the comments below! And, don’t forget to check out these other posts on WOAW!

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