ROAD TEST: "I tried Zoe Foster Blake's sparkly new Go-To Zincredible tinted moisturiser."

I’m a tinted moisturiser kind of woman through and through.

Honestly, I couldn’t tell you much about foundation. But want to know about tinted moisturisers? I’m your lady.

Growing up with a face jam packed with freckles, applying a full face of foundation never felt like me. A tinted moisturiser makes me feel done up enough to go about my day, but that I still look like me in the mirror.

The main problem I’ve encountered on my search the find ‘the one’ is that a lot of tinted moisturisers have a sliding scale of sun protection versus coverage. The one I currently use has a great amount of coverage, but no sun protection. Others can be SPF 50, but will slide off my face after my morning commute.

SPF products are notoriously so tricky to get right, especially in Australia where the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has strict guidelines regarding what products can advertise themselves as sun protection.

This week, I was sent Zoe Foster Blake’s newly released Go-To Zincredible SPF 15 Tinted, $45 to try. Go-To even sent a peach coloured coffee van full of free samples around Sydney to launch their new baby into the world. Me and my face were very excited.

A post shared by ZOË FOSTER BLAKE (@zotheysay) on Nov 19, 2018 at 10:05pm PST

What is Go-To Zincredible SPF 15 Tinted? Let’s break it down:

• Go-To Zincredible SPF 15 Tinted is daily moisturiser with antioxidants, physical SPF 15 protection and a sheer glow.
• It’s a zinc oxide broad spectrum physical sunscreen with no chemical UV filters, silicones, sulfates, parabens, or synthetics.
• Unlike a chemical sunscreen which destroys the sun’s rays using chemicals within the skin, physical sunscreens like Zincredible bounce the rays off your skin and back into the environment. (More on chemical vs physical sunscreens here.)
• Has a strong-ish lemony scent, doesn’t smell ‘sunscreeny’ but still has a fragrance to it.
• The product has exactly the same formula as Go-To’s original Zincredible, except for the addition of mineral powders to add the glowy tint.
• Go-To Zincredible SPF 15 Tinted is available in one universal tint.

Using no less than three pumps (remember, you need to use enough to to get the adequate amount of SPF), I warmed the product by gently rubbing my hands together before going to town on my face. Because it's a moisturiser, you don't need to be as careful about blending and having too much in one spot/not enough in another. Rub it in as you normally would your moisturiser, avoiding the eyes because, sunscreen.

If you're a lover of or are familiar with IT Cosmetics CC Cream, I would describe Zincredible as her younger, more laid back cousin. The product feels like It Cosmetics when you're applying it because it's got that thick, zincy texture, but the colour really rubs down into more of a sheen.

My before and after photos show a really subtle difference - skin tone evened just enough, redness reduced and an overall dewy glow, as promised. Of course, we'd always love more SPF. Zoe's been honest about how long it took her team to finally get Zincredible's formula right and approved in Australia at SPF 15 (four years), and she's also spoken about tackling an SPF 30 next.

The best way I can think to describe it is applying a lovely subtle filter to your face rather than covering anything up. My freckles still show through. To finish off, I went about my everyday makeup routine - bronzer swept across and up my cheekbones, along my hairline, down my nose and over my eyes, and around my jawline, cream highlight on the very high points of my cheekbones, a touch of brow pomade brushed through with a spoolie and a rosey nudey lip colour.

To test the universal tint-ness of the product - something which has a lot of people confused because, how can one tint shade suit all skin colours - I applied some on the back of my colleague Nama's hand.

Her skin tone is a number of shades darker than mine (she describes it as a brown chocolatey olive), and she was genuinely impressed with how the product's tint blended and sunk into her skin leaving a glowy, dewy finish - not ghosty or like the colour was sitting on top of her skin.

The key I think is understanding what the aim of this product is. Go-To Zincredible SPF 15 Tinted is a daily moisturiser with SPF 15. It also advertises a "hint of colour, and whole lot of radiance". In that context, I feel like the product does what it says it does, no more and no less.

If you're an avid foundation wearer, you'll be disappointed with the lack of coverage, as will anyone who relies on their base to make them feel more confident about pigmentation, blemishes or acne scars.

For those who, like me, prefer a tinted moisturiser over a foundation, Go-To Zincredible SPF 15 Tinted feels like a tiny half step down from a tinted moisturiser's coverage, but what it lacks in pigment, it makes up for in dewy glowyness.

Put simply, this is my ideal weekday 9-5 tinted moisturiser for days I don't have any meetings, or on the weekends when I just want to feel like I've got something 'on', you know what I mean?

Have you tried Go-To Zincredible SPF 15 Tinted yet? Let us know in the comments!

P.S. Mamamia's beauty guru Leigh Campbell explained the difference between chemical and physical sunscreens in more detail on the you Beauty podcast, get it in your ears below.

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