The fresh-faced, no-makeup makeup is here to stay. But the minimalist trend is getting a nourishing upgrade with the emergence of hybrid beauty products that essentially fuse two products in one. We’ve been seeing these multitasking products everywhere over the last few years — notably, Ilia’s Super Serum Skin Tint, which caught our hearts in 2020. But thankfully for our skin, there are new iterations entering the market daily. To discover the best of the best, we’ve perused our favourite retailers and taken a peek into the world of hybrid beauty products.
Is makeup bad for your skin?
The novelty of skin-caring makeup leads one to wonder if traditional makeup is bad for your skin. It’s a complicated question, but let’s make one thing clear. Classifications like “clean” and “natural” do not mean that these formulas are safer for you. While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is yet to provide clarity on what criteria do these claims constitute, we see them as evidence that skin-friendly ingredients are at the heart of these formulations. It’s all about understanding the ingredients inside each product in your routine — just as you would with the food you eat or the ingestible you take.
It is this philosophy that has inspired many of our favourite brand founders to create products full of desirable and easy-to-understand ingredients. Saie founder and CEO Laney Crowell tells Vogue that she wanted to start her brand to offer makeup products that serve our bodies. “When you start formulating makeup with really clean ingredients that are good for you, you’re left with skincare,” she says.
What is a skincare makeup hybrid?
Kosas founder Sheena Yaitanes shares a similar sentiment. “Great makeup needs to give you the what it promises, look great for the whole day and feel weightless on your skin so that it doesn’t distract you,” she says. Ultimately, skincare is meant to provide a positive, measurable change in your skin over time — so a skincare makeup hybrid should do both of those simultaneously.
“As a professional makeup artist, I know that good makeup does not happen without good skincare as well — in fact, it is the symbiotic use of both that elevates makeup to a professional level,” notes Sephora beauty director David Razzano. “This philosophy has led to the creation of hybrid products that melt the artistry of makeup with the science of skincare so anyone can easily use and benefit from them.”
Razzano continues that these hybrid beauty products are trending right now thanks to consumers educating themselves on product benefits through social media and increased retailer guidance. “People want makeup that performs to the standards they expect and is going to help improve their skin along the way.” So, it’s no surprise that Sephora is seeing a growing fan base of this product category. To help you make an informed decision, we've tapped into the knowledge of our experts as well as our personal beauty trials. With that, we have curated this assortment of products that blur the lines between makeup and skin care. Read on to discover our edit — along with some helpful ingredient callouts and resulting benefits.
Ilia Limitless Lash Mascara
Deemed one of the best mascaras, we’re repeat buyers of Ilia’s Limitless Lash Mascara. We don't just love it for it's potential to be buildable, but also for it's flake-free formula, it's ability to lift, curl and add volume with ease.
Key Ingredients: A 99% naturally-derived formula infused with bee and caranuba wax, shea butter, and keratin.
Skin Benefits: Gentle for sensitive eyes, this nourishes, conditions and enhances each lash over time.
Chanel N°1 de Chanel Lip and Cheek Balm
From the recent launch of No. 1 de Chanel’s comes this multipurpose lip and cheek pigment. Available in six vibrant shades, the lip and cheek balm melts into skin to add a touch of sheer colour wherever necessary.
Key Ingredients: A 97% naturally-derived formula, powered by the red camellia — a botanical rich in antioxidant protocatechuic acid.
Skin Benefits: Thanks to its antioxidant properties, expect this to soften and plump, while aiding skin barrier function.
Kosas Revealer Concealer
If you're anything like Hailey Bieber, you're probably sure to make it the concealer of choice too. Sheena Yaitanes, who considers this product her all-time favourite, said, “It has the perfect amount of coverage and the prettiest finish I’ve ever seen, and it stays put and doesn’t crease.” What’s more: it blends like a dream (some people even wear it as foundation!) and is available in 28 shades, so everyone can find their perfect match.
Key Ingredients: A vegan, cruelty-free formula infused with caffeine, pink algae, arnica, vitamin B5, peptides and hyaluronic acid — free of parabens, sulfates, silicones, and fragrance.
Skin Benefits: Along with its concealing benefits, this works to brighten, soothe and plump skin — similar to your favourite eye cream.
Merit Shade Slick Tinted Lip Oil
Certainly one of the best lip oils to sport year-round, Merit’s high-shine variant is crafted to this lightweight, buildable tint into a sort of a lip oil-lip stain hybrid.
Key Ingredients: A clean, vegan, cruelty-free formula packed with fatty acids, shea butter, rosehip, grapeseed, and jojoba oils.
Skin Benefits: Thanks to the essential fatty acids and botanical oils, this gives lips a moisture surge that conditions and softens while providing a protective barrier to your pout.
Jones Road Miracle Balm
From acclaimed makeup artist Bobbi Brown’s coveted beauty brand, Jones Road products are expect to be clean and high-performing. We're obsessed with its Miracle Balm, which delivers the ultimate soft-focus minimalist pigment.
Key Ingredients: A light-reflecting, weightless moisturiser powered by jojoba oil.
Skin Benefits: This tinted balm can be used on its own or under foundation to hydrate skin, while delivering the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of jojoba oil.
Tata Harper Be Adored Tinted Anti-Aging Lip Treatment
Prepare to pucker up with Tata Harper’s tinted anti-aging lip treatment in this versatile rosy, berry shade.
Key Ingredients: A concentrated formula of botanical oils, vitamins and minerals (like olives, green tea seed oil, cocoa butter and calendula flower extract, to name a few). It is free of synthetic chemicals, toxins, artificial colours and fragrance.
Skin Benefits: Expect this blend to bestow youthful-looking lips over time thanks to its plumping, hydrating and wrinkle-reducing properties.
Saie Slip Tint Broad Spectrum SPF 35 Tinted Moisturiser
One of Crowell’s favourite products, she considers this tinted moisturiser your skin prep and your makeup in one. This product is available in 14 shades for lightweight coverage over your daily moisturiser or to be used as it instead.
Key Ingredients: "Slip Tint is packed with hyaluronic acid, elderberry extract and licorice root extract for brightening. Those are just true skincare ingredients,” explains Crowell of this sheer, dewy formula suitable for even acne-prone skin. “Then, of course, the mineral zinc oxide for SPF.”
Skin Benefits: “The liquorice root is really beneficial to fight against dark spots or any sort of discolouration that you have. I’ve been wearing the product for two years now — my skin has completely transformed,” she notes. Equipped with hydration, antioxidants and SPF 30, there will be no more need to search for anything else.
Westman Atelier Vital Pressed Skin Care
Setting powders get a skin-friendly upgrade with this Westman Atelier pick. It has been formulated as a powder made from supercharged skincare actives that lock your makeup in place.
Key Ingredients: It's a sheer, weightless powder featuring the brand’s Skin Defense Shield Complex. It is made from vitamin c, probiotics and quinoa seed extract.
Skin Benefits: While delivering the shine reduction and makeup setting properties you’d expect from a face powder, this helps minimise the look of pores, shields against free radicals and helps control sebum production over time.
Saie Sun Melt Cream-Balm Bronzer
“This beautiful bronzer melts into the skin creating the perfect sun-kissed look that can be applied all over the face or strategically where you want,” explains Razzano of what we believe is the best bronzer for a glossy glow.
Key Ingredients: A lightweight, creamy bronzer featuring a blend of colloidal oatmeal, elderberry extract and grape seed oil.
Skin Benefits: According to Razzano, “this formula is packed with skin-loving ingredients like colloidal oatmeal to help soothe and smooth the skin. It also has grape seed Oil which hydrates and packs an antioxidant punch.” What’s more, the elderberry extract helps balance the skin’s microbiome.
Ilia Color Block High Impact Lipstick
“We often forget or neglect skin care for our lips , yet they are often one of the first areas to see the signs of environmental damage and ageing,” explains Razzano. “So, if you love wearing bold, beautiful lipsticks, consider this formula which will also boost your overall lip care.”
Key Ingredients: A vegan, clean, handcrafted full-coverage creamy lipstick infused with mango seed butter, apricot seed and castor seed oils. Available in eight nude, red, and berry shades.
Skin Benefits: “The infusion of apricot seed oil, castor seed oil and mango seed butter will lock in moisture, soothe and smooth the lips, while helping to boost elasticity,” says Razzano.
Kosas Cloud Set Setting Powder
“Even face powders can now benefit your skin, like we see with this amazing powder from Kosas,” Razzano explains. “It will create smoother, perfect-looking skin while setting your makeup as well.”
Key Ingredients: A clean, vegan baked setting powder featuring Chinese peony, bamboo stem and passion fruit extracts. It is infused with hyaluronic acid and algae extract.
Skin Benefits: “The skincare ingredients in this product help to absorb excess oil without drying, minimise the look of pores and even help reduce the look of fine lines and wrinkles over time,” he notes.
Tower 28 Bronzino Illuminating Cream Bronzer
Get that summer glow year-round with Tower 28’s creamy colour available in five shades. It's super easy to build and blend with this product.
Key Ingredients: A vegan, silicone-free illuminating pigment made with 100% mineral pigment, along with mango butter and green tea extract.
Skin Benefits: Along with that bronzy sheen, expect a calming antioxidant protection and unmatched nourishment for a lit-from-within glow.
Sephora Collection Best Skin Ever Full Coverage Multi-Use Concealer
“This full coverage concealer can hide any imperfections or under-eye darkness with ease,” explains Razzano of Sephora Collection’s new full-coverage, natural finish concealer.
Key Ingredients: A lightweight, vegan concealer with the Sephora ‘Clean Stamp of Approval’ infused with hyaluronic acid and algae extract.
Skin Benefits: “The formula contains hyaluronic acid and algae extract, which helps boost your skin’s hydration and protects it from daily environmental damage,” says Razzano. “That added boost of hydration also helps the full coverage formula blend onto the skin seamlessly and create a smooth finish.”
RMS Beauty Luminizer
The best highlighters not only leave a luminous glow but like this RMS pigment, can support healthy skin, too. A cult classic for a reason, this delivers an effortless light-reflective highlight that’s neither greasy nor glittery.
Key Ingredients: A sheer, luminous cream highlighter infused with vitamin E, coconut and castor seed oil.
Skin Benefits: This works to reveal youthful-looking skin through its moisturising, smoothing and anti-inflammatory ingredients.
Rose Inc Blush Divine Radiant Lip & Cheek Color
“A good cream blush can be the perfect finishing touch to your complexion,” Razzano notes. “This clean formula has a smooth, creamy texture that feels wonderful while applying.” Founded by Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, this versatile pigment is available in 11 modern longwear shades housed in refillable packaging.
Key Ingredients: A creamy, buildable pigment packed with squalane, vitamin E, and hyaluronic acid.
Skin Benefits: Per Razzano: “Rose Inc incorporated squalane and sodium hyaluronate (hyaluronic acid) to add deep hydration to the skin while also giving the formula its luxurious feel, and ceramides within the blush help to strengthen the skin barrier as you wear it.” In short, it’s ideal to treat dull skin.
Kjaer Weis FeatherTouch Brow Gel
Achieve your brow goals with the help of eyebrow serums or this tinted brow gel by Kjaer Weis. This gel can grooms arches into place with soft, flexible and long-lasting holds.
Key Ingredients: A brow gel formulated with certified organic ingredients, including rice flour, lavender water, coconut oil and chestnut extract.
Skin Benefits: Its nourishing ingredients help condition brow hair, which promotes hair growth over time.
LYS Beauty Triple Fix Serum Foundation
“This lightweight foundation can go from sheer to medium coverage, all while retaining a beautiful skin-like finish,” says Razzano of this pick from Tisha Thompson’s lineup. “This product also comes in a very large and balanced shade range (35 shades, to be exact) so everyone can find their perfect match.”
Key Ingredients: A weightless serum formula featuring a blend of Ashwagandha, turmeric, hyaluronic acid and avocado oil.
Skin Benefits: “The added benefit of Ashwagandha and turmeric helps to soothe the skin from daily stressors, even out skin tone and minimise signs of aging. Hyaluronic Acid infuses the skin with plumping hydration that adds to the overall perfected look of the skin,” Razzano explains.
This article first appeared on vogue.com
Also read:
Vogue's summer guide to clear skin and the products you need to ace it
The best of makeup - foundation, concealer to the best brow products #VBF2022
8 Products that can help maintain a healthy skin barrier
All products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.
