little white truths

I bought all three shades of this Natio Tinted Moisturiser last year in one of Priceline's big sales, and I bought them because I wanted to use them as mixers for my foundations.

Reason being, I've tried using concealer for this in the past but have struggled to find shades that are yellow enough to do what I need them to do for my yellow-based skintone (this is also why I struggle with whitening drops), and I also thought that if I bought all three shades, I would be able to mix a couple of them together and use them as my tinted moisturiser.

Unfortunately I can't use the product as my tinted moisturiser because it doesn't have enough coverage (it 'dyes' the skin like a tint does, rather than evening it out), and I've also found that Neutral is too pink for my skintone to use as a foundation-lightener so I'm currently mixing it with my sunscreen in order to finish it.

Natio claims/product details:

• Inspired 3-in-1 formula creates the ultimate in barely there makeup perfection
• Combines the benefits of a moisturiser and a sunscreen, with a hint of colour for a fresh, natural satin finish
• Provides light to medium coverage
• Lightweight and hydrating formula leaves a healthy-looking, natural, glowing complexion
• RRP $18.95 AUD for 50ml, but do shop around (I bought mine at half-price)

Below are light and heavy swatches of Neutral, indirect sunlight:

Direct sunlight:

Natural light:

And below I've swatched Neutral alongside the other two shades so you can see the differences between them.

Direct sunlight: 

Indirect sunlight: 

* L-R: Neutral, Beige, Honey

Verdict

This isn't a good product and while I don't regret buying it because I paid very little for mine and I have found some use for it, I wouldn't recommend it and I certainly wouldn't buy it again.

Also, please note that while I'd initially planned to review the three shades together, I've decided not to because I haven't used the other two much yet and I'm about to finish Neutral (meaning it will be gone before I can use the other two enough to review them), and I've also detected slight differences between the consistency of Honey and the other two - so I want to check whether they in fact do perform the same because they mightn't. Hence we're doing separate reviews for all three.

It's a standard tinted moisturiser that comes in a tube and smells a little like sunscreen. It spreads and applies well, and it has a shiny finish so do be aware of that: I personally prefer to powder it.

What surprised me about this product when I first used it was just how little coverage it has. Indeed, I just went to apply it again this morning and it does absolutely nothing for me - aside from turning my face a slightly pale, pinkish colour that doesn't look good. So I'm annoyed that this claims to have 'light to medium coverage'. No it does not. I'm not sure I would even call it sheer.

The other thing to note is that the shade Neutral oxidises and also dries down a little bit darker (I understand that 'oxidising' and 'drying down' like paint are slightly different things). You'll notice that the swatches of the three shades above show the product looking significantly darker around the edges, but you should also be able to tell that Neutral looks palest in the centre of the swatch, then it gets a little darker towards the rim, and then darker again once we hit the edge of the swatch where it's starting to dry.

Indeed, I have noticed this getting darker on my face a few minutes after I've applied it, but it doesn't look any better on me once it's done that because it still looks too pink.

Overall I don't think this is a good product and I can't recommend it. It doesn't cover anything and the formula also darkens on application. Thankfully I've been able to use mine by mixing it in with my facial sunscreen to make that last longer, but that's all I can do with it.

Blurgh.