When W3LL People came out with the Bio Tint moisturizer, I got so so excited! I’ve been searching for an all natural tinted moisturizer to try for a while now. And because I love their bio-correct concealer (you can check out my review on it here) I felt to try this one first!
W3LL People | Bio Tint Multi-Action Moisturizer
in the shade Light
★★★☆☆ | €33
The new Bio Tint comes in their new sleek grey package design and an airless pump, with 35.5ml product that will hopefully last a while. One of the impressive things about this tinted moisturizer is that it contains 20% Zinc Oxide to protect your skin from both UVB and UVA rays. 20% is what’s in ThinkBaby SPF50 sunscreen that I normally use (review here), and it’s quite thick.
So I was very intrigued to look at how W3LL People have managed to incorporate this amount and make it into a tinted moisturizer – which usually are quite light and sheer. Another similar product is Suntegrity’s 5-in-1 Tinted Sunscreen, that I have yet not been able to test to compare in this review as it’s not easy to come by and is crazy expensive counting the shipping!
Super Powers
- High-Tech Airless Pump
- SPF 20
- Water Resistent
- EWG-verified
- Fragrance-free
Beneficial Ingredients
- Broccoli Seed Oil
- Pomegranate
- Coconut Oil
- Green Tea
- Aloe
- Ginseng Root
- Peptide Complex
- Algae Extract
Shade Selection
The W3LL People Bio Tint comes in four shades: Fair, Light, Medium, Medium Dark (Tan).
Before my purchase I tried finding swatches and demos on the different shades. But because it’s a relatively new product, it was very hard to find! I checked the videos of Laura’s Natural Life, IndieGoKat and Integrity Botanicals, everyone used the shade Light. It’s very confusing how the shade comes out different on every person and seem quite dark for being ‘Light’. But I wouldn’t go as far to say that the formula adjusts to your skin tone… Or maybe it does slightly?
I usually fall between shades of light and medium (especially during winter) that lean towards neutral/yellow/golden undertones, however pure yellow and golden shades can sometimes be too much for me. So I always go for something that’s called ‘Light Medium’ and for/after summer ‘Medium’ does the trick.
But in this case there wasn’t a shade like that to select, and W3LL People did not either come out with a shade selection chart or a better description of how the shades look in natural lighting, the only one who’s swatched more shades than Light was Integrity Botanicals video; and from just looking at that, Medium looked a tad dark for me at the moment and Light seemed to fit perfectly.
Packaging
I love these types of packaging, even if the cap can get a bit messy. You always get better control over the product when it’s in an airless pump tube. And with this one 1-2 pumps are enough for the whole face. But overall it’s easy to adjust the amount you want with the pump.
However, there’s one downside to this, which I recently discovered, and it has to do with the formula. The product is recommended to be shaken before every use. But when it’s in a vacuum packaging, that’s quite hard to do! It’s counterproductive. Which will bring me to my next thing…
Formula
This is not your usual tinted moisturizer, the formula in this one is much denser and the coverage is medium to slightly heavy. While it’s called “tint”, it’s more of a medium coverage foundation.
Like I said, it’s recommended that you shake it before every use to blend the product. I’ve tried shaking it and squeezing the tube in hopes to better mix and blend the moisturizer, but it doesn’t feel like it does much when it’s in a vacuum packaging.
The product I squeeze out doesn’t look anything close to the picture on the website, nor does it get any closer when I start blending it out with my fingers. Which makes me question how they even made the website shots?!
Update: After having it for two week, somehow the formula managed to mix and looks much more blended like it does in the pictures. However, there’s still a slight white swirl when you press it out.
The product comes out very dark, but it transforms when you start blending it into your skin; the color goes more towards beige. Then it kind of goes into shade. I can only speak for the shade ‘Light’ and I would personally say it’s a warm neutral. But not really for folks like me who got a slight yellow undertone as it’s got somewhat reds in it. The texture does slightly resemble the Bio Correct concealer but is a bit more liquid-y and at the same time has a pasty feel when trying to work it into the skin.
Somehow it does kind of blend with my skin tone if I use it lightly, but it’s not my perfect shade. I’ve tested it on my boyfriend and my mom. On me, I end up looking slightly pale. On them, they end up looking slightly too beige. And then the texture, it’s very much like sunscreen: quite dry(?), you feel like you have to be quick with this product. This will definitely not go well with dry skin.
Best way to apply it would be with the fingers, I find it too stiff with a brush. I’ve also tried it with a BeautyBlender, and though it gives the best and natural result, I believe it applies too sheer for the sunscreen to be effective.
It does sit very good on the face and is hard to wash off, so definitely recommend double cleanse with a makeup remover!
I would say that the tint or formula oxidizes as it will turn more matte. Depending on how much you put on: sometimes in a good way, other times in a bad way. I had one incidence where I had to redo my whole face because I ended up looking too pale, too made up as the makeup was looking too heavy . And you’d expect a more care-free use with a tinted moisturizer?!
Unfortunately, the camera won’t pick up how the Bio Tint makes me look slightly pale. Instead it looks really good on camera. (Like wtf?) But seriously, it’s not like I’m imagining stuff! When it does dry up and oxidize, my face looks much more “brighter” in a 1-shade-lighter-kind-of-way. In my case, my skin shade, I feel it’s almost no difference to wearing this one compared to regular sunscreen that leaves a white cast. While I can work around it, I rather would want it to be an exact match or make me look slightly more tanned and healthy.
On the skin, it doesn’t feel tacky at all. But when touching your face it does feel like a lot like having sunscreen on, unless… You mix the foundation with a drop of oil, then the formula becomes much easier to blend and you get a more natural luminous finish and feel, however… It’s not advised blending a sunscreen with oil, as this will dilute the zinc pigments making the protection less protective.
As the day goes on, the tint looks better, less heavy, and more natural… However, it’s almost like it gets brighter with time and turns me more pale. And this was exactly what I wanted to avoid by buying a tinted sunscreen!
My Experience
I know, this review has become way to long! But the Bio Tint Moisturizer has me left very confused as what to think of it. I don’t hate it, but I definitely do not love it the way I had hoped.
All I’m sure of is that I’m quite disappointed with the formula. My hopes were that it would be like a complimented version to the bio correct concealer; which has a very light feel and looks very natural on the skin with a luminous finish. I believe that if they had went the route to make the bio correct concealer in a bigger format for the face, this foundation would appeal to many more.
I bought the bio tint in the hopes it would be anything like the concealer, but it’s no where near the same airy feel and application.
A little goes a long way, however its rather dry texture makes it sometimes hard to work into the skin without it looking a bit too much. And I completely disagree with anyone saying that it “looks natural”. It doesn’t. Mainly because of its satin finish. Which I’d say goes more to a powdery matte finish to describe it at best.
Other’s Experience
My mom noted on this and felt like the matte powder finish made her look older. She also commented on the dry thick texture. I thought the shade would suit my boyfriend better. He’s not very fond of the ghost-like appearance all natural sunscreen gives him, and would rather go without. He didn’t mind the color being a bit too warm/beige on him, but he didn’t like the powdery unnatural finish that gave off the fact that he’s wearing make up. However, he said it could do if I couldn’t find him anything better.
It also has medium to heavy coverage that, while definitely covers some redness and evens out the skin tone, makes the face look a bit made up. If you think the coverage looks natural, then you’ve been wearing foundation for too long – just saying! (OBS! On the pictures I only took a very small amount for demonstrate a light and more natural finish and how a little goes a long way. But I would normally have used more if I were going to use it as a sunscreen.)
Because of these qualities it looks really good on camera, giving you somewhat an airbrushed look; but in real life, I feel like my natural skin and undertone doesn’t get to peep out for that true “natural look”. Unless I use a very tiny amount of it. Even more so if the shade is wrong, which it slightly is on me.
One of my main reasons that I bought and wanted to try it was because I’m soon to go on a sunny vacation. And while I want to protect my face with a physical sunscreen, it’s unfortunately hard finding one that doesn’t make my face look ghostly white. And sadly, because of the shade showing up slightly too bright on me I’m still left searching…
Conclusion
However, with all that said and complaining about the wrong shade. I don’t think I would like the Bio Tint more if I had it in the right shade though; As the formula is not as airy and light as what I expected and wanted from this type of product. I also don’t like the powdery and “obvious-that-I’m-wearing-foundation”-look of it. Though airbrushed is a wonderful thing, this just looks very caked on and heavy on me.
If I could return it, I would. For now, I will just have to make it work or lay off the carrots for a while. But I’ll admit, that maybe this review is a bit bias to me not getting the shade right, and so I apologize for that. But like I mentioned, I’m not very fond of the finish either.
Someone said that W3LL People worked 7 years on developing this formula, whether this is true or not, I truly don’t want to be the first one to diss this product. But I believe the bio tint can be improved in the future to be lighter and easier to work with. And perhaps live up to actually being a “tint” and not the sort of “paste” it actually is. It feels like the 20% Zinc Oxide is what’s making the texture dense and not optimal as a tinted moisturizer. If I could get my hands on a sample of the medium, maybe I’ll update this review in a more positive light. But like I said, I would really want to see a face-version of the Bio Correct Concealer.
Otherwise, I hope this was helpful in figuring out what shade you should go for and what to expect out of the texture and wear!
UPDATE: I’ve let it sit in a drawer for months and decided to pick this up again. Still don’t like it :(
