I'm overjoyed - I’ve finally found a product that evens out redness without making the rest of my skin look dull

As someone who has sensitive, redness-prone skin, finding skincare and make-up products to suit my temperamental skin type can be a bit of a faff. Well, I’ve discovered a product that acts as a tinted moisturiser, SPF and anti-redness product all in one: the Cetaphil PRO Tinted Moisturising Day Cream.

As Marie Claire UK’s Junior Shopping Editor, a huge part of my role includes trialling and reviewing the best beauty products out there, and for every product that I give a rave review for, there are countless others that simply haven’t worked for me. Being disappointed with new products is part and parcel of my job sometimes, but when I tried this particular tinted moisturiser I knew I was onto a winner.

When it comes to skincare and make-up for redness-prone skin, the only products that seem to really neutralise redness for me are super concentrated green-tinged formulas, which work exceptionally well on the red parts of my face, but are hard to blend in and look unnatural across the more neutral areas.

Sometimes the simplest formulas are best. I’m a huge fan of the ‘unsexy’ beauty product trend that has been doing the rounds on TikTok lately. For me, the best products don’t necessarily look the prettiest, but instead are genuinely effective at what they do - with an affordable price point to boot.

Enter: the Cetaphil PRO Tinted Moisturising Day Cream, which is part of the brand’s range tailored to sensitive, redness-prone skin. It claims to hydrate, protect and soothe the skin while evening your skin tone - all for under £20. So, how did I get on using this product? You can shop it for yourself below and read on for my in-depth review.

Cetaphil PRO Tinted Moisturising Day Cream reviewed

Let me start by telling you a bit more about my skin, which is sensitive and usually mostly red and aggravated around my nose and all across my chin. My skin is also quite acne-prone, so I have the occasional red spot and some scarring and pigmentation on my cheeks which I like to blur with light-coverage, natural-looking formulas.

The only problem? I’m not the biggest fan of wearing foundation every day - in fact, I’m downright lazy about my base nine days out of 10. So a tinted moisturiser which evens my skin tone, provides sun protection and hydrates my skin is right up my street.

I won’t beat around the bush: when I first tried this tinted moisturiser I immediately fell in love. Upon first application, it looks quite thick and pigmented but it actually blends in quickly and seamlessly (see the pictures below for proof). When sheered out on the skin, the coverage from this tinted moisturiser is barely discernible - no caking or heavy coverage.

True to its claims, it makes my skin look plump and hydrated - without feeling at all greasy or oily - but the way it evens out my skin tone is what truly won me over. It somehow manages to balance out the redness in my skin without making it look dull or washed out. The natural-looking finish looks like I’m wearing nothing at all, while my areas of redness seem to have been magically erased.

Do note: it won’t completely mask your skin and cover spots, like a full-coverage foundation would. Instead, it evens out skin tone, blurring, rather than covering my spots completely.

If I wanted more coverage without disturbing the barely-there finish, I’d go in with a thick concealer (like Laura Mercier’s Secret Camouflage) using a tiny brush to cover the darker spot alone.

Back to the tinted moisturiser: I’m a huge fan of the pump packaging, which prevents me from having to dip my fingers into the cream directly. In terms of this product’s soothing properties, I experienced no irritation when using this product, so can attest to it being a great day cream for sensitive skin.

My only gripe is that this tinted moisturiser only comes in one shade, which likely won’t work on deeper skin tones. In my opinion, it’s this product’s only downfall. However, if you have a light-medium skin tone, experience redness and sensitivity and love a multi-use product, I couldn’t recommend this tinted moisturiser enough.

Shop the rest of the Cetaphil PRO Redness Prone Skin range