Kiehl's Ultra Facial Tinted Moisturizer SPF 15

Guest blogger Nancy Rommelmann writes...

At the risk of having Jack convene some sort of cosmetic intervention, you are looking at my entire cache of make-up. Oh, I have a few eyeshadows in the sorts of colors with which you'd paint a nursery, as well as a bunch of lip-glosses Hill gave me last year, but I don't really use them. Nor, I am half-sorry to report, did my lipstick idyll work out. But last week, in preparation for interviewing one of my two favorite authors, I decided that, as much as I needed to finish his latest book, I needed some tinted moisturizer.

I looked, first, at the boutiquey sort of make-up store that carries five brands only and where the clinicians are sure any one of them will work on you. None of them did, and after having a chirpy girl smear and buff and dab me with five different bases for 45 minutes, and after trying to assess them in what I can only call hideous lighting, I left feeling ratty and ugly. It was raining; my hair started to frizz. I just wanted to go home, but across the street I saw Kiehl's, a store I've always liked because the products strike me as industrial and precise.

The woman at Kiehl's handed me a bottle of Ultra Facial Tinted Moisturizer, the only kind they carry. I put it on myself, and though she told me it looked really great, I wasn't so sure, still feeling as I was a little raw and nasty. I did not buy it, though as I drove home, I looked in the rearview mirror, and thought, huh; not bad.

"Wow, mom, you look really great," said my daughter Tafv, 17 and not one to equivocate about beauty products. I told her, I'd tried on some make-up, but hadn't bought it...

"Why not?" she asked. I had no good answer.

The next afternoon, I went back and bought it. It's lovely; super-smooth, and idiotically easy to apply, as in, I squirt a little blob on my fingers and rub it on my face. Total time: 14 seconds. It gives a nice glow, and does not look like make-up at all. I wore it during the interview, which went so well, we went out for drinks afterward. Confidence in a bottle.

Also so-far great and from Kiehl's: the sample they gave me of Powerful-Strength Line-Reducing Concentrate, which makes my face feel as though it's made of baby powder.

Comments

[Jen]

I've never used kiehl's because it's hard to find outside of america but i hear it's good stuff!

[Sharon]

Isn't wonderful that some of the best discoveries appear when you are tired of looking?

Tinted moisturizers are a huge plus during the summer months as many carry a decent SPF rating. What's the SPF of the tinted moisturizer you bought?

[nancy]

SPF 15, though I believe they have other sunscreen-sunscreens. More, based on the tinted mois. as well as the cream samples they gave me, they now have a customer for life.

[hillaryjohnson]

I was visiting Nancy last weekend and tried this stuff, and I'm going to buy some. It's sublime, and yes, very perfect for summer. It gives just that tiny bit of coverage I need for my ruddy cheeks, just evens everything out. Better than photoshop!

[Jackie Danicki]

I am a fan of Laura Mercier's tinted moisturizer. Never want to give any money to Kiehl's after feeling quite bamboozled by the Creme with Silk Groom hype as a teenager. I realize that my grudge-holding on this one might be considered extreme, and should really be taken out on fashion editors and PRs, but still.

[Joy]

Me-- wondering how to pronounce "Tafv."

[Jackie Danicki]

TAH-vuh

[MJ]

I've bought some Paula Begoun stuff before (could only get plain and fragrance free but strong beta hydroxy acid from her - and it was reasonably price, and great, and my pores would die without her now) - she has great tinted SPF 20 too and reasonable prices. Very nice product for those times when you don't want to look made up.