Product Review: Marcelle Sheer Tint Fluid Moisturizer SPF 15

Hello all! Hope you had an amazingly fabulous long weekend! Mine was fairly low key, but after the craziness of last weekend, it was a welcome respite.

For those of you lucky enough to get away to some sunny spot, you'll no doubt be sporting a healthy, happy glow back to the office on Tuesday. All that fresh air and R&R, plus the knowledge that the upcoming workweek will only be 4 days long adds up to a vibrant visage. (You will note that even I am impossibly cheerful, and wayyy before noon too! It's a miracle!)

But, for those of us who weren't quite so lucky to get away, there's another way to get that mini-vacation glow. Marcelle (a Canadian cosmetics company) has launched a new, light reflective version of their tinted moisturizer, that promises to deliver "radiant skin at the height of perfection". Oh my!




I had actually purchased this because I was sleep-deprived, confused, and bleary-eyed one day, and got the fancy to go out and purchase a moisturizer to keep at my office. But, because I obviously can't read properly in that state, I ended up with the Sheer Tint Fluid Moisturizer in Luminous Beige. Good thing it's awesome!

With all this talk about "luminous" and 'light-reflecting", I was a little worried that I'd look like Sparklelina Sparklepants at her prom. Fortunately, this wasn't the case. It did look a bit too shiny right after application, but if you let it sit for a bit, the gleam goes away. (Or if you're impatient and paranoid like me, just dust with translucent powder.) It doesn't offer much coverage, but it does even out redness and blotchiness, and gives a nice, diffused, soft-focus look to the face. Here is Marcelle's uber helpful and very educational diagram on how this works:




The internet teaches you physics, kids!!

Anyway. I usually pair this with the Sephora Professional Makeup Base to help it last a bit longer. It doesn't stop oil as well as the Almay Smart Shade, but it's pretty good, especially for a tinted moisturizer. It's also faster to apply than the Almay, as you don't have to be so careful with the blending. When combined with the primer, my skin feels so soft that it's almost as if I'm wearing a great moisturizer instead of makeup. Those with dry skin will want to use moisturizer underneath anyway, but for gals with normal skin, you should be able to get away with just using the tinted moisturizer.

So far, the Luminous version only comes in 2 shades, Luminous Beige and Luminous Amber. For me, Sheer Tint gave just a hint of a tanned look, but that will depend on your own skintone. This should suit those with fair/medium to medium skin, but very pale or darker hued ladies might find it hard to match. Testers were available, and their regular line of tinted moisturizers (without the light-reflecting bits) come in more shades.

Those with oily skin might find this a bit too gleamy, but overall, I think it does a wonderful job of evening out the skin and giving it a boost. Perfect for the morning after an all nighter, and I can't wait to see how it fares in the winter. Maybe I'll finally be mistaken for someone who's just spent 2 weeks on the Riviera in the dead of February!