BB cream is slowly picking up in the Western countries and with that, there’s so many articles out there telling you it’s this and that. I have to say, I don’t agree to many things that has been written/blogged/published about and here’s why I’ve decided to write a post on All about BB Cream that you need to know.
Note: These are of course my own personal opinions, so don’t hold me against it.
FACT #1 : BB cream be it Blemish Balm or Beauty Balm is still a makeup product.
A moisturiser is there to moisturise and a sunscreen is there to protect your skin. (Exception: If you have really oily skin and provided you use a good serum you can skip the moisturiser step.) BB cream has those ‘added benefits’ to continue work on your skin throughout the day so they won’t dry out or appear like ‘make up’ on your skin. Those ‘added benefits’ will not do wonders on your skin if you neglect your base skincare routine.
Therefore, BB cream does not replace your moisturiser or sunscreen routine. Under no circumstances, should a makeup product like tinted moisturiser or foundation or BB cream should replace your moisturiser and sunscreen skin care step. EVER, period.
FACT #2 : BB cream should be amazing at coverage.
A true BB cream should have magnificent ability at coverage, at least this is true for the ones that are Made in Korea or other parts of Asia. After all, it is designed to cover scars/blemishes on face post surgery. Personally, I find that most of the BB cream developed and marketed for the Western world appear to be really watery and appear to be nothing like a BB cream (that I am used to) and more of a tinted moisturiser with ‘added benefits’ to appeal to the wider market.
For a BB cream that provides no coverage or ability to cover up scars, blemishes, angry acnes; that doesn’t qualify as a BB cream for me.
FACT #3 : BB cream will always have a dewy finish.
That’s what makes a BB cream, the dewy finish – the ‘your skin but better and healthier’ look. At least, that’s what the original BB creams came about with.
If you’re after non-dewy BB cream, I’m sure they are plenty of foundation in the market that targets people who prefer the non dewy, matte finish. I’ve seen BB primer, BB powder, BB cream foundation, BB makeup remover, BB mousse, BB jelly, BB lipstick! To me I reckon those products are just riding the BB wave and more often than not does not truly represent what a BB cream is.
FACT #4 : BB cream will always have limited shades.
Most brands offer one to two shades to choose from, not very helpful if you don’t fall into the ‘universal skin’ shade category. If you’re after perfect matching shade, I’d say either find a way to trial it first before purchase or do extensive research online. More often than not, those ‘Asian’ brand BB cream can be quite greyish on the skin so far I’ve only come across two BB cream (out of 20) that did not look too brown, too white or too grey on my skin and match me perfectly.
FACT #5 : BB cream might not be everyone’s cup of tea.
Just because everyone else are hyping it, it doesn’t mean that the product will work for you. For me, Rosehip oil did nothing and broke me out; so you need to be smart and test to see if BB cream is for you. I’ve met people who have tried BB cream and didn’t like it, which is perfectly okay.
After all, BB cream is a lot thicker than what we are accustomed to and it has a dewy finish which is very unusual in the Asian market where everything is all about matte and oil free.
Good luck with your BB cream journey and feel free to ask me any questions that you might have about BB cream.
UNT Color Miineraluxe BB Cream is also known as UNT Skin Perfecting Precious Mineral Corrector BB Cream
Why I love it:
- Comes in a sleek tube but actually is a pump tube packaging
- Be careful with pumping as one full pump will give you quite a bit of products, I’d usually use half a pump controlling as I press the pump
- Doesn’t break me out after two weeks of wearing this everyday (as some BB cream tend to break my skin out, looking at you Missha)
- Amazing at oil controlling (this one survived 33 degrees day without having to blot throughout the day and all I did was dab some loose powder over my whole face in the morning)
- Infused with skin loving ingredients like lllite powder, licorice extract, arnica montana flower extract and achllea milleflium extract.
- Blends really easy, I find many BB cream has the tendency to be too rich or sits right on the surface of skin but this lightweight BB cream blends into skin easily without leaving streak marks, or weird grey/too white colour
- Doesn’t oxidize on my skin and change colour either (this one is a big WIN for me)
- Finish is very dewy, one of the dewiest BB cream I’ve tried. For some, this is perhaps not something you’re after during Summer but definitely a winner for Winter. However for me, this healthy dewy is a welcoming change
- Coverage is medium and my skin instantly brightens, smoother, unified and looks clearer, it has no issues covering my acne scarring and pigmentations flawlessly. However, I find it not as effective in covering redness. Redness isn’t my main issue; dullness is, so I’m loving this BB cream.
- I recommend to top up with a dusting of loose powder over the T-zone area or all over your face if you’re that type of gal and this BB cream will stay put all day long!
- Great for sensitive skin or acne prone skin
- Application tip: Pump half a pump, dot the BB cream in 5 points of the face and blend out with fingers.
Half a pump
Other notes:
Made in Korea
My shade: #BX05
UNT Mineraluxe BB Cream is available to purchase in Shop UNT (it is currently sold out but should be available back for stock in Feb)
RRP AUD$34.75 (I bought mine when it was on promotion and got a full sized UNT Mineral Compact)
Product is recommended to use 12 months of opening to promote maximum efficiency
Test a small amount by the ear lobe as a sensitivity test prior using the product
The free UNT Mineral Compact worth US$21.99.
I use this as a powder step to buff with a brush over T-zone area after the BB Cream step.
Why I love it:
- Available in 2 shades – Light & Medium (I am using #light and it appear to have a tint of brown in it)
- Designed to hydrate -with skin loving ingredients like Vitamin C, beautify – coverage to hide imperfection and protect (SPF 15) skin
- Texture wise, it is very watery, something I did not expect as traditional BB cream are rather thick and creamy
- The finish of this BB cream is smooth, even and luminous. However, I did find that the finish was a little too glowy (yes there is such a thing and I appeared more greasy than glowy. Perhaps I was too heavy handed on this as it is very watery?) As a result, I had to set with a translucent powder after to tone down the ‘glow’
- Coverage wise, this is sheer to medium
- Another thing I have noticed is that my skin did not appear ‘brighter’ like other BB cream does. One of the biggest thing for me is definitely the ‘brightening effect’ from BB cream; however this does not deliver that instant visual result even though the key ingredient contains Vitamin C that brightens skin in a longer run.
- Oil/fragrance free and dermatologically tested
- Much like my chat with Kimmie regarding BB creams; to my eye this is not a BB cream, at least not in the category I am accustomed to. In principle, Garnier has nailed quite a few of the elements like delivering the bare skin effect, developing the formula to being lightweight/breathable on the skin and injecting skincare ingredients (from naturally derived ingredients) to the skin to keep skin hydrated and even toned in a long run.
- To be fair, this BB cream is more of a hybrid tinted moisturiser that is beneficial to your skin and delivers coverage (more than your usual tinted moisturiser).
RRP AD$13.95
Available in counters now
In case you missed it over the weekend, read about me preaching about BB Cream all over The Plastic Diaries and thanks to the lovely Kimmie for letting me to do so.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with VICHY, it is a French brand (part of L’Oreal group) that pride themselves on high protective sunscreen products and a brand that is designed for sensitive skin (or skin that has just undergone plastic surgery). They are very popular around Europe, America and Asia; due to the SPF30 restriction in Australia we are unable to have them on counters (what a bummer!).
Previously, Tine recommended their BB cream and raved about it, so I pleaded with Tina to get it for me in her recent trip to Asia. It was definitely worth the pleading as it turn out; the BB cream is my current favourite!
Perfect if you have sensitive skin and have always wanted to try BB cream but is not too sure if your sensitive skin can try it. Personally, I don’t have sensitive skin but this one still works just as well for me.
Aera Mineral BB SPF20 combines mineral ingredients and thermal spa water (free from alcohol, colourant, paraben) to:
- allows skin to breathe
- instantly unify skin tone including redness to correct the look of blemish and wrinkles
- contains both UVA and UVB protection
- keeps skin hydrated without emphasizing my flaking dry bits or smudging by noon time
I find this BB cream appears to have a hint of white cast (not grey) upon application but after couple of hours of wear it looks perfectly fine. Most of the foundation that I wear oxidizes on my skin and makes me look tan and yellow! What I like about this is that once it oxidizes, it still gives me the fair complexion finish that I love and doesn’t make my skin white/grey looking either.
While I am not sure how many shades they are available, my gut feeling is telling me there’s only one shade, I definitely recommend this BB cream to fair skin ladies. This will definitely not go with a tan body or bronzer lovers!
For more information about Vichy, click here.
Apparently, this is the ‘new’ batch of BB cream available across their site now. The older one had little to no coverage but this one has bit more of a sheer coverage and is buildable.
They look exactly the same, you can’t even tell if there’s any change in packaging, the only thing that’s different is the batch code at the back.
The difference is the old version is darker in shade and is more watery whereas the newer version is lighter in shade and is creamier.
- Of course, I love the newer, better version because it is moisturising, evens out my skin tone, matches my skin perfectly even though it comes in one shade only, finishes powdery matte and comes with sun protection
- This BB cream is very unique because unlike the traditional thick consistency one, this is super lightweight
- With BB creams, always start with a pea size and add more when needed and only use on area that is required, do not mask the entire face. Usually I top up with concealer when needed
- BEST OF ALL? This is the first BB cream that I have tried which gives me amazing skin after I remove it with makeup remover thoroughly. It feels like a medicated BB cream that works to treat my skin while it was on during the day.The results is instantly brighter skin scarrings look dramatically lighten.
For those of you who asked what’s a BB cream, I thought I’d put together a list of some helpful links to read all about it. BB Cream is also known as Blemish Balm Cream originally designed for post-op patients.
- Here is a list of BB cream I have previously reviewed*. Click here for the archive: http://www.ponikuta.com/search/label/BB%20Cream
- This link has really in depth how-to videos and compiles a list of BB cream reviews and options to consider. http://www.squidoo.com/b-b-cream
- BB cream can be tricky, sometimes it can be perfect for some people but not so great on others. Especially now there’s hundreds of brands out there that carries BB cream including MAC, Maybelline, Clinique and what not in Asia, you pretty much have to do heaps of research, testing and to find out what suits your skin tone best. To me sometimes it can be a case of hit or miss.
- BB cream only look good on skin if you use a tiny amount of it, anything more it will have a reverse effect on the skin and won’t look natural.
- Where can I get BB cream? You can pretty much find them everywhere online from eBay to dedicated BB cream shops. Some of the rather popular and reputable ones are:
*I have also used BRTC Whitening & Repairing BB Cream that I love but didn’t got around to reviewing it (I might in the future) and Naruko Narcissus Total Defence BB Cream Essence which I didn’t like as much and do not intend to review. My personal favourite is still between Skinfood, BRTC and Estee Lauder.
This BB Creme promises
- brightening over long period of use and instant brightening,
- natural coverage flawless skin with
- high level of broad spectrum SPF 35++ protection and
- enhanced UVA protection
- to help skin maintain its porcelain look longer
- Star ingredients: Wheat germ, Vitamin E, light reflective pearls and colour correcting pigments
I don’t know about you but this sounds like a dream to me. After trialling out this BB Creme and Lancome’s at duty free; I decided to go with this as it goes onto the skin better without looking like I had something on. Surprisingly, there’s only one shade for this BB Creme as well.
My experience:
- This BB creme texture is much like most BB creme texture a creamy consistency but with easy spreadable formula
- What I really like about this other than the high SPF factor, I liked how my T-zone doesn’t get as shiny or greasy as I normally do, so there’s some shine control action going on in there
- Natural coverage without making my skin look ash white or grey; I’d say the coverage is natural sheer to medium. So if you’re after heavy coverage, this wouldn’t be my pick.
If you have Asian skin type or similar, I’d recommend for this BB creme as a great addition to your foundation/tinted moisturiser routine. One thing though, on the box that I already threw away before I came back to Australia, it did say that this BB Creme is ‘Specifically created for and tested on Asian skin in Asia’.
