Calling it “tinted moisturizer” instead of “makeup” seems to make men more comfortable with the idea of wearing it. But are you comfortable with men wearing it? You should be. In case you needed any convincing of its unisex benefits, we applied tinted moisturizer to the faces of our colleagues at Deadspin. Check out how beautiful they became.
Here’s the thing: tinted moisturizer is magical. A light-weight foundation that evens out skin tone in with a natural look that not only quenches skin but typically contains some level of SPF protection? It’s like the makeup equivalent of finding out that Doritos are heart-healthy—except it’s real.
I feel bad for anybody who isn’t hep to its powers, but particularly bad for guys who are up against the kind of implicit gender biases about makeup, as though wearing tinted moisturizer would somehow make them less manly. It’s a stupid concept that isn’t fair and doesn’t make sense. More and more men are starting to realize that, though, and the stigma around tinted moisturizer is gradually being lifted.
When I told Deadspin’s Tom Ley [pictured above; bare-faced on the left; with tinted moisturizer on the right] that Scott Disick wears tinted moisturizer he said, “I don’t know who that is.”
“He impregnated Kourtney Kardashian. Twice,” I told him, “And he was kind of secretive about wearing tinted moisturizer, but when she found out she was really supportive and said, ‘Tinted moisturizer is amazing to use. It’s awesome.’ And I agree with her.”
I used CK One 3-in-1 Face Makeup with SPF 8 on Tom. Sure, it’s actually titled “makeup” instead of “tinted moisturizer,” but CK One is a notoriously unisex beauty brand.
When I asked Barry Petchesky about his own personal beauty regimen he laughed at the silliness of my question.