In 1944, a Miami pharmacist and wartime airman named Benjamin Green started using red veterinary petrolatum as a physical sun barrier for soldiers. The stuff was sticky and the color of a stop sign, and it was called, with some affection, red vet pet. He later added cocoa butter and coconut oil, and the result became Coppertone. So the first mass sunscreen was a pigment you could see, and I find that oddly comforting when I look at a modern tinted bottle.

La Roche-Posay tinted sunscreen is that idea grown up. The brand was founded in 1975 by the pharmacist René Levayer, its Anthelios sun range arrived in 1987, and L'Oréal bought it in 1989. The tinted mineral fluid is the pharmacy brand's answer to people who hate white cast. It is 100% mineral, with titanium dioxide and iron oxides doing the tint, and it comes in four shades: Tinted, Medium, Medium-Deep and Deep. The American Academy of Dermatology notes that tinted products, because of their iron oxide, help with visible light, which can worsen dark spots. The tint is functional first and cosmetic second.

The trick is to pick a shade like you would pick a base. The Anthelios Mineral Tinted Ultra Light Face Sunscreen Fluid SPF 50 is the flagship, the brand says it is water resistant for 40 minutes, non-comedogenic and fragrance-free, and it has its own antioxidant complex called Cell-Ox Shield. The Anthelios Mineral Tinted Fluid Face Sunscreen SPF 40 is the second tinted option. Next to them sit the everyday formulas: the Melt-In Milk Body and Face Sunscreen SPF 60, the Clear Skin Dry Touch Face Sunscreen SPF 60, the Toleriane Double Repair moisturizers with SPF 30 in matte and regular versions, the Cicaplast Balm B5 UV with SPF 50 and the Anthelios UV Pro-Sport SPF 50.

Swatch a tinted sunscreen on your jaw, not your wrist, and check it in daylight. A tint that looks invisible on your hand can turn gray or orange by the time it reaches your face.

Shade range is the real test of any tinted sunscreen, and La Roche-Posay itself is open about its limits. Its own advice is that a tint gives a touch of makeup coverage, and that a limited shade range and some color transfer are the caveats. So the other brands matter. ISDIN's Eryfotona Ageless Tinted and Eryfotona Actinica Tinted are both lightweight mineral moisturizing options. Tower 28's SunnyDays Tinted SPF and EltaMD's UV Restore Broad Spectrum SPF 40 Tinted are the two that a lot of people know by name. Avène makes a Mineral Sunscreen Multi-Defense Fluid Tinted SPF 50+ and a Mineral Tinted Compact SPF 50, so you can take the fluid home and the compact in a bag.

Bubble's Plus One Tinted Daily Mineral Sunscreen is the everyday daily-wear option, and Utu's SPF50 Lightly Tinted Mineral Sunscreen Stick is the one I would put in a tote bag, since a stick is easy to swipe on in the car.

A pairing I like: an untinted sunscreen as the base layer, with a tinted one on top where you want a little color. La Roche-Posay's own guidance is to layer it that way.

What I would skip: a tinted sunscreen in a shade you chose in a shop's overhead light. Try it by a window.

Look at your hairline and jaw in the mirror after the tint goes on. If you can see a line, blend it out with clean fingers rather than more product.

When the coverage should do more, a skin tint with SPF covers the same ground. Supergoop's Protec(tint) Daily SPF Tint is SPF 50 with ectoin, and it is the one that keeps the SPF number highest. Laura Mercier's Long-Wear Tinted Moisturizer and NARS's Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer are the classic tinted moisturizer shape at SPF 30. Kosas's Revealer Skin-Improving Foundation has SPF 25 and sits at the lower end of the group.

IT Cosmetics has two CC formulas here, the CC+ Nude Glow Lightweight Foundation and the CC+ Cream Natural Matte Foundation with SPF 40, so you can choose dewy or matte. Hourglass's Illusion Luminous Glow Foundation has SPF 30, and Tonal's Sunveil SPF 50 Skin Defense Foundation is the one built around SPF first.

The AAD is clear that SPF in makeup still needs reapplying about every two hours outdoors, and that is where foundation becomes awkward. A full face of it at midday is not a great plan, which is why the last grid exists.

What I would skip: relying on a foundation with SPF as your only sun protection on a beach day.

Reapplication is the step nobody does, so make it small enough that you will. A powder in your bag takes ten seconds and does not disturb your makeup.

Supergoop's 100% Mineral (Re)setting Powder is SPF 35 and designed for exactly this gap. Tarte's creaseless SPF 30 mineral powder and ciele's filter & PROTECT SPF 30+ blurring finishing and setting powder do the same thing with a slightly different finish. ONE/SIZE's On 'Til Dawn Makeup Setting Spray with SPF 28 is the spray version for anyone who would rather mist than dust.

Lips burn too, and they are the part of the face people forget. Ultra Violette's Sheen Screen SPF 50 Hydrating Sunscreen Lip Balm, Supergoop's Unseen Lipscreen Sheer SPF 30 and INNBEAUTY Project's Sun Balm Mineral SPF 30 are the balms. Naked Sundays' Go + Glow Lip Oil with SPF 50 is the glossy one, nice over a tint.

A lip balm is also the easiest habit to build. Keep one in a coat pocket and one by the bed, and you will reach for it without thinking about sun at all.

What I would skip: a powder as your first layer of protection. It is for topping up, not for starting the day.

My pick for a first one is the tinted mineral fluid from the first grid, in the shade that disappears on your jaw. I would wear it every morning, add a powder for the afternoon, and reapply whenever I was outside for long.

I would also tuck a lip balm in the same bag, since lips are the spot everyone forgets. Benjamin Green's red vet pet was easy to see and hard to forget. A tinted sunscreen today is the same idea with better manners: you can see it working, and nobody else can. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Bare Minerals Complexion Rescue, the Tinted Gel Cream With Mineral SPF.

If you want the tint and the sun protection in a single step, I picked out the best tinted moisturizer with SPF separately.

Since sun protection pairs with it each morning, I also covered the La Roche-Posay vitamin C serum and the SPF to wear over it.