I rely heavily on expensive skin tints to give me a glowy base, but this £7.98 complexion enhancer has replaced all of them
What is this sorcery?
I've never been one for foundation - I've yet to find one that doesn't feel like it's sitting on my skin, acting like a mask. Instead I like a lightweight base with skin-loving ingredients that nourish my dry skin. Skin tints have been my go-to now for many years - they make me look like myself, but better.
My favourites are the Hourglass Veil Hydrating Skin Tint, Ilia's Super Serum Skin Tint and Les Beiges Water-Fresh Complexion Touch from Chanel. Each one makes my skin sing - when I'm wearing any of these my skin looks hydrated, plump and dewy. I honestly couldn't imagine a world without them. However, these retail at £49, £48 and £55 respectively. Not cheap. I am incredibly fortunate that these came into my possession thanks to my job - it is after all my job to test and trial all manner of complexion products, From the best tinted moisturisers to powder foundations, and everything in between. But it's the skincare make-up hybrid nature of a skin tint that I personally love. And my three favourites have set the bar high.
However, recently I have shelved the spenny bases, in favour of a product that costs £7.98 and quite frankly face (and bank balance) has never been happier. Enter: L'Oréal Paris Glotion.
L'Oréal Paris Glotion landed on my desk months ago and I didn't immediately think much of it, but added it to my ever increasing pile of products to take home and test. One day I absentmindedly swatched it onto the back of my hand whilst on a work Zoom call. I was surprised with how skin-like the finish was. I had initially thought it was going to be a bit a white, sparkly, iridescent cream - the shimmery packaging is fairly misleading I'd say - but in fact, it's more like a wash of warm, luminous colour.
So after my call finished, I applied it to my face. The results were incredibly pleasing. Much like my beloved skin tints, this gave me a hydrated, radiant glow, but thanks to the fact that I had taken the medium shade home, it also added warmth that I would typically have to get from my bronzer. Incidentally, there are four shades to choose from - Fair Glow, Light Glow, Medium Glow and Deep Glow. It's also formulated with glycerin and shea butter for hydration, which as you know I look for in a base.
And this what makes Glotion so completely brilliant - it is, for want of a better word, a skin enhancer. There's no other way to describe it.
In the days after, I was on TikTok doing some research for a story and my feed was taken up entirely by Glotion. Every single beauty creator was using it. And it's quite the multi-tasker - some people were using it as an illuminating primer before foundation, others as a highlighter or a bronzer, with the lighter and darker shades. However, I love to apply it all over.
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I cannot get enough of how it makes my complexion look on a daily basis, and I'm also in a state of disbelief at the price - £11.99 normally, but currently £7.98 in the Amazon Prime Day deals. So whilst skin tints will forever hold a very special place in my heart, at least I now know that when my bank account is looking like a barren wasteland, I can still have expensive looking skin.
Katie Thomas is the Senior Beauty Editor at Marie Claire UK. With over 10 years of experience on women's luxury lifestyle titles, she covers everything from the best beauty looks from the red carpet and stand out trends from the catwalk, to colonic irrigation and to the best mascaras on the market. She started her career on fashion desks across the industry - from The Telegraph to Brides - but found her calling in the Tatler beauty department. From there she moved to Instyle, before joining the Marie Claire digital team in 2018. She’s made it her own personal mission to find the best concealer in the world to cover her tenacious dark circles. She’s obsessed with skincare that makes her skin bouncy and glowy, low-maintenance hair that doesn’t require brushing and a cracking good manicure. Oh and she wears more jewellery than the Queen.
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