The Best Matte Face Moisturisers In 2021

Finding a formula that doesn’t strip your skin or clog your pores can seem like the quest for the Holy Grail. Though you might feel tempted to give up the moisturiser altogether and just let your oily skin do its thing, the reality is, you still need to moisturise. Though your skin might feel slick, without regular moisturisation, you run the risk of it drying out, and then breaking out. 

When your skin is dry, it tends to produce more oil to overcompensate for what it’s lacking. This could lead to acne and dull, lifeless looking skin. What you need is a moisturiser that combats clogged pores, mattifies the skin and keeps you hydrated without the excess shine. 

When picking a matte face moisturiser you want to choose a formula that strikes the balance between hydrating, smoothing and mattifying. Greasy, heavy face creams might cause you more problems, so it’s all about finding the perfect daily product for you. 

Makeup tips: Minimise the Appearance of Pores

What is Matte Moisturiser?

A matte moisturiser has been specifically designed to stop your skin from looking shiny and feeling oily. Absorbing excess oil and helping to fight breakouts, the best matte moisturiser often includes ingredients such as Salicylic Acid, Niacinamide, Licorice Root and Green Tea, which all work to keep your complexion clean, clear, healthy and shine free. 

If you suffer from frustrating shiny patches and imperfections, you also might want to try a tinted moisturiser matte finish formula. It will help keep shine at bay and offer your skin a touch of colour, which will help even out your complexion. 

What are Best Matte Face Moisturisers?

From a matte gel moisturiser to the best moisturiser for oily skin and open pores, you can help control the slick and shine with a mattifying moisturiser. Whether you’re looking for the best matte moisturiser for dry skin or a matte moisturiser with SPF, we’ve found the formulas that will help your skin stay healthy, hydrated and shine free.

One of the best matte moisturiser for oily skin this aromatic formula is cruelty free, vegan, sulphate free and Australian made. The perfect post-cleansing formula for skin that suffers from breakouts, you’ll love the way your skin feels after every application. Boosted with Vitamin B and Vitamin C, this antioxidant formula is ideal for oily and combination skin types. If you live in a warm humid climate and your skin often suffers as a result, apply this solution to balance everything out. 

Perfect for all ages, the Aesop B Triple C Facial Balancing Gel contains a complex skin defence system, which helps to keep you shine free and perfectly matte. Nourishing the skin and keeping it hydrated, this formula will help brighten a dull complexion. Formulated to soften skin and leave it looking replenished, you’ll love how cool and healthy your skin looks and feels.

Targeting your pores and helping to reduce sebum production, this formula will help you stay matte without making your skin look flat. Designed to optimise the health of your skin and reduce shiny patches, this formula offers your skin lightweight hydration and a comfortable feel. Keeping you shine free, your skin won’t feel tight or uncomfortable after you apply this moisturiser. 

The La Roche-Posay Effaclar Mat Anti-Shine Moisturiser has a lightweight, breathable formula that’s non-comedogenic, which means it won’t clog your pores or leave your skin feeling congested. A best seller across Europe, this formula is a highly-rated and beloved acne treatment. Offering a silky-smooth, powdery-matte finish, you’ll be able to apply makeup and not worry about it sliding off of your skin. Sebulyse reduces excess sebum at its source and LHA offers a gentle exfoliation.

If you’re looking for a moisturiser that offers a powder-matte finish, the Dermalogica Clear Start Matte Moisturizer will help extend the life of your makeup and give you skin you’ll feel proud of. Though oily patches can feel like a serious problem, it’s also important you keep your skin protected. A great, best matte moisturiser for oily skin with SPF, this formula will help keep you protected from short bursts of direct sun rays. 

This matte formula won’t dry you out or leave you feeling uncomfortable. The Dermalogica Clear Start Oil Clearing Matte Moisturizer SPF15 controls oil production but won’t leave your skin looking or feeling unbalanced. PETA-accredited and cruelty free, this formula contains Clary Oil, Liquorice, Eucalyptus to calm the skin, and Willow Bark Extract, which is one of the best, natural acne fighting ingredients. Fighting breakouts and helping to reduce irritation, apply this moisturiser after cleansing and toning to experience instantly mattified, healthy skin.

If you love the idea of a Clarins matte moisturiser, you’ll love the way this formula works. An anti-ageing solution that provides serious hydration and a lightweight touch, your skin won’t look and feel clogged or greasy. Offering a powdery-soft, matte finish, this moisturiser acts as the perfect base for your makeup. Hydrating the skin lightly and helping to reduce the amount of breakouts your experience, your skin will look and feel better than ever after just four weeks. 

Crafted with a blend of antioxidants to repair the skin and help keep it protected from environmental aggressors, the Clarins Extra-Firming Day Wrinkle Lifting Cream for all skin types minimised fine lines and wrinkles. Hyaluronic Acid and Oat Sugars help smooth and tone the skin and Lemon, Green Banana, Thyme and Bocoa Extracts work to reinforce the collagen and elastin, so you enjoy a more toned, firm complexion. Perfect for all ages and genders, this formula will lift your look and give you a radiant, healthy complexion.

Designed to perfect your complexion and keep it feeling comfortable, this mattifying primer helps keep makeup in place, regardless of the weather. The totally translucent formula can easily be worn on its own to combat shine and any redness is minimised and reduced. If you’re struggling with uneven texture and visible blemishes, this formula will give your skin a clearer appeal. 

If you have very oily, shiny skin, keeping it matte throughout the day can feel like a bit of a chore, the Benefit Porefessional Matte Rescue smooths over the appearance of pores, while also helping to prevent shine and bring skin back to a sense of balance. Suitable for all ages and genders, this rescue formula smoothes easily over skin that’s uneven and oily. After performing your usual skincare routine, apply this primer to area your skin needs it most.

Perfect for normal and oily skin types, this mattifying formula controls oil and leaves your skin looking and feeling fresh. A Clinique matte moisturiser that’s received rave reviews, this formula works to refine the look of large pores and helps support the skin’s structure. Curbing excess oil for up to eight hours, this oil free formula keeps your skin hydrated without leaving it looking and feeling greasy. Artificial fragrance free and sulphate free, it’s a gentle solution that your skin will drink up. 

The Clinique Pore Refining Solutions Stay-Matte Hydrator works to keep your skin looking and feeling comfortably matte. If you have trouble with your T-zone, this formula will help it look shine free, and blemishes will begin to reduce over time. Perfect for skin that breakout often, all ages and genders will enjoy this lightweight lotion. You’ll love how even and refined your skin looks when you start using this mattifying formula.

With a light touch and a hit of hydration, this formula soothes and calms skin that looks and feels a little troubled. Working to improve the overall appearance of your skin, this formula offers light exfoliation and continued hydration. Leaving you feeling fresh, nourishing and matte, this cream will all help keep your makeup in place as your day goes on.

Having troubled skin can really knock your confidence. The Cosmedix Shineless Oil-Free Moisturiser is a calming cream that helps even out your skin’s tone and bring your complexion back into balance. Designed to strengthen the skin’s natural barrier and mattify your complexion, this moisturiser reduces blemishes and redness. Suitable for combination and oily skin types, this formula includes antioxidants Mint and Green Tea, which give the moisturiser a clean, fresh scent.

This lightweight moisturiser works to future-proof your skin against the signs of ageing. From pigmentation to fine lines around the eyes, your skin will be more protected than ever when you apply this moisturiser with SPF50. Featuring Vitamin B and Vitamin E, this moisturiser hydrates the skin and gives it a nourishing feel. Providing a matte finish, so you can easily apply makeup, this cream doesn't leave a chalky, white cast. 

If you struggle for time in the morning, you’ll love the dual-purpose of the Alpha-H Daily Essential Moisturiser SPF50+. Designed to keep you shine free and hydrated, the SPF50 keeps your skin protected from the sun’s harmful rays. A daily essential moisturiser that’s been intelligently blended with a cocktail of antioxidants, your skin will look and feel better than ever after every application.

The perfect. Luxury formula to help keep shine at bay, but also hydrate your skin, this gel formula has a lightweight, silky feel that helps keep the skin bright and calm. Super silky and comfortable to wear, all ages groups and genders will enjoy this moisturiser. Perfect for dull, dehydrated skin that’s lost its shine, this formula will keep your complexion looking healthy, even on a very hot, humid day. 

Made with a nourishing blend of botanicals, the Erno Laszlo Hydra-Therapy Gel Cream works to keep skin looking bright and even. The Roman Chamomile Floral Water helps reduce inflammation or redness on the skin and the Flax Seed Oil, which is rich in fatty acids quenches the skin’s thirst and leaves it naturally soothed and rejuvenated. The Cottonseed Oil Extract features a potent concentration of Vitamin E, which helps protect the skin from aggressors and free radicals, that can cause ageing to accelerate.

If you’re looking for a matte tinted moisturizer for oily skin, you’ll love this formula from Avéne. Designed to help banish pesky blemishes, your skin will look clearer and feel smoother after every application. Mattifying the skin and giving you a more even complexion, this formula improves the skin’s overall texture without clogging pores or making imperfections worse. An oil-free formula with a universal sheer shade, you’ll love the way your skin looks and feels when you use this formula. 

One of the best matte moisturizer for oily skin, the Avène Cleanance Expert Tinted 40ml helps eliminate mild to moderate skin imperfections and evens out the skin’s tone with a light touch. Non-comedogenic and hypoallergenic, this cream formula will give you a mattified finish without drying your skin out. Apply the solution to clean, toned skin and touch-up whenever you feel necessary.

This mens matte moisturiser balances out skin that’s oily, shiny and greasy. With a light touch and blend of nourishing ingredients, your skin will look soothed and stay hydrated, regardless of what your day throws at you. Balancing out skin that is oily and shiny, this moisturiser for men helps mattify the skin’s surface. The Sunflower Seed Oil, Cucumber Extracts and Barley all work together to help your complexion peak with health. One of the best face moisturisers, your complexion will instantly brighten and improve when you use this formula. 

If you’re suffering with oily, shiny skin, it doesn't have to stay that way forever. Designed with a blend of nourishing, natural botanicals, this formula is perfect for normal to oily skin types. Easy-to-use and great to travel with, if you’re on holiday in a warmer climate this formula will help keep your skin shine-free on even the hottest day. Once you try the Clinique For Men Oil Control Mattifying Moisturizer you won’t need to keep patting down your shiny face mid-morning. 

Why choose a matte moisturiser? 

A mattifying moisturiser tends to be more lightweight than a normal moisturiser, which means it won’t clog your pores, cause blackheads or create more shine. Though you want to cut down on the oily patches, it’s important you keep your face hydrated and nourished. 

Crafted to help tone down oily skin and still give your complexion room to breath, a matte formula will help keep your make-up in place as the day wears on. You might find you need fewer concealer touch-ups, less powder and over time, you’ll experience fewer pimples. 

Shiny skin doesn't have to ruin your day. Help get things under control with a mattifying formula you can rely on. From imperfections to a T-zone that shines awkwardly, invest in a mattifying moisturiser to hold your head high and walk with confidence.

Oily & Acne Prone Skincare Routine For 30s 🌞

Brand and product inclusions are at the sole discretion of Adore Beauty’s highly trained Customer Service team. We do not seek or accept payment from brands or individuals listed in our guides.

This article has been updated on 16/02 to replace discontinued products with our recent product recommendations.Gemma from our Customer Service team has helped to bring you our most recommended products and up-to-date information.