Skincare make-up hybrids have never been more popular but are they doing anything?

Let’s investigate the skincarification of, well, everything.

I’m going to tell you a secret. Recently, while testing a then-unreleased product for a
well-known beauty brand, my face erupted in red splotches. Angry and sore, they bloomed under
my eyes, on my chin and between my eyebrows, exactly aligned with where I had placed the
concealer I had been trying. When I fed back to the brand about what had happened, I expected
the response to be gentle consolation; on rare occasions, some people’s skin just won’t agree
with its product. What I heard instead: “Oh no. Another one.” Er, what?

As it turned out, I was one of many who had found that the incredibly high percentages of active
ingredients infused into the product had caused their skin to flare up immediately. The
confluence of vitamin C and niacinamide had proved too much for my, admittedly, sensitive
skin.

This isn’t unusual. Scroll through any popular online beauty and skincare retailer and the
prevalence of skincare-make-up hybrids grows larger by the day. BB creams and foundations
imbued with moisturising hyaluronic acid, concealers stuffed full of smoothing niacinamide,
mists, serums and sprays all boasting both make-up and skincare benefits. It seems, then, that
we’ve reached the pinnacle of our beauty regimes: make-up that conceals, blurs and brightens
but also treats our skin at the same time. Right?

Well, sort of. Part of my job as a beauty editor is to wade through the deluge of products,
formulations and innovations that land on my desk. Many are ingenious, some are not. And,
with every product, make-up specifically, I have received recently, one thing is true: they all
claim some sort of skincare benefit. So, what’s the truth? Will the hyaluronic acid in my CC
cream really improve my dry, thirsty skin or is it something slapped onto bottles to encourage
people to add to cart? Let’s look into it.

There’s the vitamin C on your bathroom shelf and the one in your foundation. While both are
forms of ascorbic acid, they likely won’t be used in the same percentages or potencies.

“Generally speaking, a skincare serum with an active ingredient such as vitamin C will be
designed to penetrate the skin and deliver the product to where it’s needed within the epidermis
(the top layer of skin). A make-up product, like a concealer, is designed to function differently.
Primarily, to remain on the surface of the skin for an optical (observable effect),” Skin+Me
dermatologist Dr Beibei Du-Harpur explains. So, while they are technically the same, the delivery
process is not. Added to that, the concentrations of the vitamin C are likely to be different, also.
“Skincare-make-up hybrids typically contain lower concentrations of active ingredients when
compared to standalone skincare products,” chemical engineer and founder of Skin Masterclass
Cigdem Kemal-Yilmaz explains to me. “For instance, a vitamin C serum might boast 15%
concentration (if the active ingredient is L-ascorbic acid – the most potent form of vitamin C),
whereas a concealer might only contain 0.05 to 5% of the active ingredient.”

Short answer, yes. Long answer, yes but they’re much more beneficial when used alongside other
skincare-specific products.

Take foundation. One that includes hyaluronic acid (a skin-pluming molecule that pulls
moisture towards it) could make dry or thirsty skin look more hydrated and full. It could also
mean that it sits more evenly over drier or rougher patches of skin. Or, an under-eye concealer
that contains vitamin C – there will be a brightening effect that takes place, in the immediate
and possibly in the longer term. Dr Du-Harpur warns, though, that relying on the skincare
infused into make-up as your only form of active ingredients won’t generate the same results as
a targeted skincare routine.
“Make-up infused with SPF is the most common example,” she describes. “The sun protection
factor of a product is determined by the quantity, it’s unlikely that you would use enough of the
make-up to achieve the stated SPF – whether that be SPF 25 or otherwise.” (They also, she goes on to warn, do not provide any UVA protection which is important for both skin ageing, pigmentation and skin cancer.)

Extrapolate this to a make-up product with vitamin C in it. It’s highly unlikely you’re slathering
enough on to have the same effect as a standalone vitamin C product. If your skin can tolerate it,
though, using the two together could give you more bang for your buck, although, the heavy
lifting will be done by your skincare.

Tolerance and efficacy are the two biggest downsides when it comes to skincare-infused
make-up. For me, the double-digit vitamin C concentration in the base product I used, caused a
reaction immediately. Were I to already have had a vitamin C on my skin, the result could have
been even more pronounced.

“With active ingredients, it’s important not to ‘overwhelm’ the skin by using too much. For
example, layering multiple skincare or make-up products containing the same active ingredient
can lead to irritation, sensitivity or an adverse reaction,” advises Kemal-Yilmaz. “Whilst
skincare-make-up hybrids offer convenience, be mindful of ingredient concentrations,
formulation differences and the potential impact they could have on your skin health.”
So, what have we learned? Don’t rely on the skincare or SPF in make-up to do the job a
standalone product will. But, that doesn’t mean discounting it entirely. Layering both together
can (if your skin can handle it) provide a slew of benefits. The key is to make sure you’re not
causing more inflammation or irritation in doing so.