little white truths

I received this 5ml sample of ASAP's Sheer Tint Moisturiser with a recent order from the Bellabox shop (thanks Bellabox!). I'd seen it listed as a popular tinted moisturiser on a few different websites/blogs and was excited to try it. Don't you love it when you receive samples of things you've been desperate to try? Doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's like winning the lottery (or maybe that's just me hehe).

I've almost finished the sample now and feel able to give it a proper review. Since I prefer a lighter coverage most days, I'm something of a tinted moisturiser/BB cream/CC cream junkie - so I've tried a (ridiculously) large amount of these types of products. This means I've been somewhat spoiled in this department and the bar is set pretty high, so I guess it's hard to impress me - the same way it's hard to impress me when it comes to Thai food, because I spend half my life in Thai restaurants.

ASAP Claims

See above swatch on my wrist, blended patch above and unblended one below. The colour is a bit light for me, but normally this isn't a major issue with these kinds of products because they tend to adapt to your skintone. This one didn't, I have to say - it's too pale for me.

You'll note especially from the wrist swatch that the product is greasy (probably due to the sunscreen) and gives a shine that, to my mind, goes beyond dewy and crosses into oily territory. Points lost there.

Above is clean skin and below is skin with two coats of the product - I needed two to get any noticeable coverage. 

You'll see there's a definite difference in terms of smoothing out my skintone, but it does make my colouring lighter and I'd prefer a darker tint. Photos aren't always exact and the below photo probably doesn't show clearly enough just how washed out and ashy this makes me look.

Verdict

You can probably tell that I didn't like this much ; ). And I was expecting to love it! Boo foo boo. Isn't it weird how sometimes other people's favourite products look shitehouse on you? Hoh well.

My major issues with the product were the visible grease-factor, the oily feel on my face (I needed to apply unusual amounts of powder after each use to combat this) and the lack of impact; while it does even things out with two coats, I've used plenty of other (cheaper!) products that do it better in one. And since it retails for a rather large $45 (for 75ml), it's just not worth the price tag - not for me, anyway. Unless this tint looks awesome on you, I reckon you're better off buying a pharmacy brand product on special (try Garnier's BB Cream Miracle Skin Protector or L'Oreal's Nude Magique CC Cream - I like the anti-fatigue version in the purple tube). I've also recently reviewed Maxfactor's CC cream (see here), which far out-performs this one - for me, anyway.

Also, while one generally expects a bit of grease from products with sunscreen in them, this one is only SPF15. Not high enough I reckon - not for us lasses in the Land Down Under.

Anyhoo, them's my thoughts. Anyone else used this?