Kosas Tinted Face Oil: An Honest Review

Main Image – Live That Glow

As someone who likes their makeup on the dewy, I-always-look-like-this-honest side I was really excited to discover US brand Kosas and their signature foundation, the Tinted Face Oil.

Promising natural-looking, light coverage in a skin-friendly formula this oil combines natural ingredients with mineral pigments for glowing, nourished skin.

Kosas Tinted Face Oil

Containing a blend of jojoba seed, avocado, meadowfoam seed and raspberry seed oils to nourish skin, green tea seed extract here also provides anti-oxidant protection- great for outdoors or city types.

The foundation is also cruelty-free, vegan and free from sulphates, PEGs, silicones or parabens.

The Full List of Ingredients

Coco-Caprylate/Caprate, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Octyldodecanol, Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Oil, Silica, Kaolin, Mica, Oryza Sativa (Rice) Bran Extract, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Extract, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Extract, Tocopherol, Limnanthen Alba (Meadowfoam) Seed Oil, Camellia Oleifera (Tea) Seed Oil, Rosa Canina Fruit Oil, Rubus Idaeus (Raspberry) Seed Oil, May Contain Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Iron Oxides (CI 77491, 77499, 77491, 77492)

The Shades

Available in 16 shades, according to Kosas, the mineral pigments in this are able to adapt to multiple skin tones meaning those 16 shades can actually match 48 complexions.

Since this foundation is mainly available online (and who doesn’t hate playing guess-the-right-shade using the tiny screen on their phone?) they recommend using the pictures on their site as a guide and to go one shade darker if in doubt.

The company also offers Tone Selector Cards or you can email them a picture of your makeup-free head and shoulders and they’ll recommend a shade.

On the Skin

A dry oil (meaning it absorbs fully for a non-greasy finish), this also absorbs into skin really quickly- great for makeup on the go but doesn’t give me a lot of play time to really blend this so I try to work quickly when using this.

Its liquid texture comes out of the bottle in droplets though, making it easy to measure how much you’re using and its serum-like feel is easy to work into skin.

After blending in, this offers a really lovely, natural-looking finish with just enough coverage to make me look like I’ve slept more than 6 hours (but without being obvious I’m wearing makeup), as well as an imperfection-blurring effect that still looks like my skin but better.

But while I really like the finish, unfortunately, the shade I ordered, 03, is too light for my (normally vampire-like) skin tone.  While it’s not too big a deal because I use my Drunk Elephant D Bronzi Anti-Pollution Sunshine Drops to warm the shade up a little- but it does make me wonder whether the shades are quite as adaptive as they sound.

I also know that not everyone will have a product to hand that they can use to mix this with if they don’t get the right shade so I do recommend using the email shade selections service Kosas offers.

And while I do really like the finish this gives, I do also find this has a tendency to settle in any dry areas slightly so I moisturise well before using.

How to Use it

Kosas recommend using between 1 and 6 drops of this (depending on the amount of coverage you want) blended with fingers over the skin.

Also although this is really easy to use with fingers, for more serious coverage this works well stippled with a foundation brush, while a damp Beautyblender drinks a lot of this up so works better for very sheer coverage.

Since this is an oil product though, while what you apply this with doesn’t matter too much, what you layer this foundation with definitely does- since water-based moisturiser or primers under this can cause the foundation to ball up or separate, so I tend to stick to other oil-based or emollient products to pair with this.

And finally, for those who like their foundation look on the super dewy side, I occasionally like adding more oil or a silicone-free liquid illuminator to this for a really healthy-looking glow on no-makeup-makeup days.

The Takeaway

Overall I still really love the concept of a natural, glowy foundation formula which is both quick to use and easy to wear as part of a makeup-makeup look. The payoff does come with a slight downside though, and that’s being careful to pair this with the right products (as well as ordering the right shade in the first place).

Great for: Dewy, natural-looking skin in a formula that is super quick to use.

Not-so-great for: Oily skin types who might not enjoy the feel or glowy finish of this. Also, those who enjoy their skincare and makeup on the yummy-smelling side as this has a slightly salad-y/avocado oil scent which might not be everyone’s idea of luxury.

Kosas Tinted Face Oil is £40 for 30 ml, Cult Beauty UK and $42 for 1 oz/ 30 ml, Sephora US