Summer Essential || NARS Radiant Tinted Moisturiser

I wasn't sure what I expected when I bought NARS' Radiant Tinted Moisturiser when I was in Barcelona in April. I had wanted a tinted moisturiser for those days when I didn't want to deal with a fuller coverage and the inevitable melting for the warmer temperatures. I grabbed the lightest shade that I could find, 1 - Finland. I tried it when I was in Spain and nearly died when I first tried it. It immediately looked like I was spreading jaundice onto my face. I brought it home, I calmed down and I tried it again and again. 

I brought this on the cruise with me because I thought that it would be good to use on those days when I was going on an excursion and I had some time to tend to my face as I wanted some coverage to my face so that I didn't look like too much of a hot mess. I would rub in the moisturiser with my fingers as I would with any other moisturiser and then apply some concealer and carry on with a no-makeup-makeup routine. Plus, it has an SPF of 30 in it which skips that part nicely as a lot of sun creams feel extremely oily on my skin. Basically, they make me feel like I'm melting or that you could fry an egg on my forehead. Not a good look. 

I basically wanted to look nice and have the confidence to pose for some photos whilst out should I wish to do so. P.S. I didn't get any photos taken really but that was more of a body issue than a face one.  

My initial shock of the colour hadn't dissipated from April and it still makes me nervous to use it. I applied it with my fingers but I did something else. I allowed it to settle. Why had it never occured to me to let it settle? (Because I'm an idiot!) That's what I didn't let it do on my initial first impression. I didn't let it settle like I would let any other moisturiser do. The tint calms down from that initial yellow to a more non-sickly natural shade. 

The pigmentation of the moisturiser lasted through the hottest of days. I was in hot countries, walking a lot and sweating buckets. When I removing this later in the day, there was still strong pigmentation coming of on the cotton pads. I couldn't believe that through the sweat, it lasted. Thumbs up! 

Do you want to know the surprising part and what made me love this so much? This protected my face better than my actual SPF did. I used a sun cream from Nivea with the same SPF Factor yet I ended up with the tell-tale red spots of burn on my face when I used it. I even had some lightly burning on my shoulders. When I wore the NARS moisturiser, there wasn't a blemish or hint of burn on my face. Double thumbs up. 

I will definitely be using this more during the summer. I think that it will be great for days when I'm running errands and want some coverage but don't want to melt. It evens out my skin tone nicely once it has settled and dried. I do need something that will even out my skin because of my freckles, blue under-eye area and other slight pigmentation issues. 

I just need to get over the initial shock of looking jaundiced for a few minutes.