For my first foundation review this month, we are not looking at a traditional foundation but a skin tint. Skin tints, or light weight, light coverage foundations are currently all the rage, especially if they also include some skincare properties. The Nabla Skin Realist skin tint is one that instantly appealed to me when I heard about it. I love a lightweight texture in my foundations and I love Nabla as a brand but so far their base products were all quite full coverage. So when this launched, and I knew I wanted to do a full face brand review of Nabla, I knew that this would be something I would have to try. And try it I did, let’s see how this went.
Review: Nabla Skin Realist skin tint 1 Fair
Nabla has quickly become one of my favorite brands to try products from and there is a lot they do that I love. Their eyeshadow is great, I love their Skin Glazing cheek products and they do some lovely products in their range. The Skin Realist Skin Tint is priced similarly to other Nabla products: not exactly drugstore/ affordable pricing, but also not all the way up to high end. They are a bit more of a mid range brand and this skin tint retails for €30. You get a lot of product tough! The bottle is huge and contains 48 ml of product. That is more than the usual 30 mls that come in a foundation bottle.
What does this skin tint have to offer?
So a skin tint to me is no more than a lightweight, sheer to light coverage foundation like product with or without added skincare benefits. Nabla call this product a tinted balm with hyaluronic acid and ‘microspheres’. Not quite sure what they mean by that, but I am sure the claims on this mean it is supposed to be a hydrating product and do something more for your skin than just covering it up. It comes in only 7 shades, which seems to be the trend: if a product is lightweight, brands tend to do fewer shades claiming the shades will ‘adapt’ to your skin tone, which is hardly ever true. I bought the lightest shade to test out.
What is the product like?
Nabla Skin Realist was released around the same time as the Fenty Beauty Eaze Drop skin tint. It seems as if the people I have heard try both always like one or the other. Never both. People who love the Fenty aren’t a huge fan of the Nabla and vice versa. I think I am more on the Nabla side as well. The Fenty has a soft matte texture and on my dry skin it accentuates fine lines and dryness much more easily I find than this does. The Nabla Skin Realist is not as hydrating as it claims to be though. I find it is not as dewy as I’d like and if I don’t get my skincare just right, it can still look a little bit weird on the skin. That is also due to the fact that the undertone of this skin tint isn’t the best for me as it is quite yellow as you can see below.
How does the Nabla Skin Realist swatch?
You can already see in these initial pictures that the skin tint is probably far too yellow toned for my fair skin with a cool to neutral undertone. Where I can get away with a more yellow toned foundation because of that neutral undertone, I tend to prefer a foundation that leans more pink toned, as that I feel matches my skin much better. The texture is nice: it is lightweight and slightly dewy and it blends into the skin seamlessly and very easily. I like what this looks like when it first goes one, but I have to be careful what powder I use on top as some powders can always adhere to the product and make my skin look less great than it is.
What does this product look like on the skin?
Of course we want to see what the coverage is actually like. As you can see it has a very natural coverage that really looks like skin. My skin is naturally quite red and it has no trouble evening that out and making it look much more even and skin like. My only issue? The shade! When I wear the rest of my makeup it is not too bad, but the foundation makes me look a little jaundiced with how yellow it is. I wish Nabla would extend the shade range and include more undertones so the product can cater to more people.
What is the shade match like?
As you can see here, the shade match is okay save for the undertone. In terms of how deep this product goes, I feel the shade is light enough for me (but that leaves out many people who are even paler than I am). However, the shade is far too yellow toned and it clases with my natural skin tone. In fact, in some lights this even makes me look a bit green. Great if you have an olive undertone, but not so great if you have cool undertone like I do.
My final thoughts
The Nabla Skin Realist skin tint is one that I am a bit in two minds about. I love the texture and it works really well on my dry skin, better than the Fenty. However, the undertone isn’t quite right and while I can get away with it, I don’t think I will be using up a full nearly 50 ml bottle of this stuff. Yes it is nice, and I will want to go back to this, possibly in the summer time when my skin is a bit darker which is when those neutral undertones come into play a bit more. So I think I can make it work, but it’s not 100% perfect.
Would I recommend the Nabla Skin Realist skin tint?
I think this skin tint is a good one, and one that is great if you are looking for something that is right for dry skin. Better than other skin tints I have tried so far. However, it is not perfect as the shade range is very limiting and not the best if you were to ask me. This product has a few notches it can improve on, but also has a lot going for it. If it appeals to you, it is definitely worth the shot, but I think there are other lightweight foundations on the market that can do a similar thing.