During the past year or so there's been a lot of talk on YouTube about BB creams from various makeup gurus (Bubzbeauty, Frmheadtotoe, and hollyanaeree). My sister introduced me to their channels and ever since then I've been hooked. Before I get into the review, I want to give a little background on why I was interested in BB creams. I personally do not wear makeup on a daily basis for a number of reasons. One, I believe that putting makeup on would only make my acne problems worse so I just didn't experiment too much with makeup. Two, I'm just too lazy to get up early and put on makeup every single morning. I slowly got into makeup during my last year in high school. I tried out Bare Minerals because I thought it was the best foundation for my combination/acne prone skin type. The coverage wasn't that great but at that time my face didn't have a lot of acne so I didn't really need a full coverage foundation. Over the past two years, however, my face began to break out a lot more (probably due to stress) and I started searching for a new foundation. Several makeup gurus mentioned how great BB cream was for acne prone skin and that it even had some whitening properties that helped to improve the appearance of acne scars so, naturally, I wanted to try it out.
With that being said, I'm a total noob when it comes to makeup/fashion and I'm definitely NOT trying to become a makeup artist/guru. I just want to share my experience with BB creams and other Asian cosmetic products for those of you who are curious about trying them out. Now, on to the products!
The first BB cream that I purchased was the Missha Perfect Cover in #23 Natural Beige (for MAC products, I'm NC30-35 depending on the season). I heard about this product from Bubzbeauty and decided to do a little bit of research on it as well before I purchased it. I heard a lot of good things about it but I was worried that the color would be too light on my face. Eventually, I convinced myself to buy the 20ml one from a top rated seller on ebay (I'll list where/who I bought each of the products at the end of this post) for about $11 with free shipping and 3 random samples of other Missha products.
I squeezed out a small pea size amount on the back of my hand and used my finger to dab spots onto my forehead, cheeks, nose, and chin area. I used my hands to evenly spread out the BB cream over the rest of my face and immediately noticed the grayish cast it left on my face. I wasn't too alarmed by this because I had read that this particular BB cream would oxidize after a few minutes and blend in with your natural skin color. I used the Bare Minerals Mineral Veil to set it and noticed that the gray cast was gone. The shade matched my skin color perfectly. I also noticed that it did an amazing job of minimizing my pores and I didn't even use a primer. It didn't give me the full coverage that I wanted (it was more of a medium coverage) but my initial impressions of the product were positive. It didn't give me a shiny or overly matte finish but after about 4 hours of wear I started getting oily around the forehead and nose area. As far as the smell goes for this product, it has a nice flowery scent to it that isn't too strong or overpowering. The product claims to have SPF 42+, anti-wrinkle, and whitening properties. I don't have wrinkles and I can't really say much about how good the UV protection in this product was but I can say that I didn't notice my acne scars getting any lighter. After trying the product out for a month, I broke out in areas close to my hairline and ears. I wasn't sure whether it was stress, hormones, or the BB cream that was causing my to break out, so one day I decided to just use a small amount of the product on one side of my cheek. The following day, there was a pimple on the same spot I had applied the BB cream. I'm not going to say that the BB cream caused me to break out, but I will say that this correlation was enough for me to stop using it altogether. I was extremely disappointed because I really liked the product, aside from the break outs that seemed to crop up every time I used it. This BB cream might be better suited for dry skin types, but I do realize that not everyone will have the same reaction to this product that I did. I just want to let you know about my own experience with this product (and others) to help you make your own decision about whether to try it out or not.
Needless to say that my experience with the Missha Perfect Cover made me wary about BB creams, but I was still determined to try out other BB creams before giving up hope on them. After watching hollyannaeree's video review on products that she used to help fade acne scars, I decided to purchase Lioele's Triple Solution BB cream. Below are pictures of the tube and swatches.
This product contains SPF 30, whitening, and wrinkle improving properties.
The texture of this BB cream is pretty thick compared to the Missha Perfect Cover.
Gently blending into skin.
Fully blended into skin.
I've been using this product for about a year now and I love it. The coverage is medium but can be built up to full. A little bit goes a long way. I like the pump dispenser of this product because you can control how much product you want to use. I use half a pump of this product to cover my whole face. I tried a variety of ways to apply this product and found that I liked using a stippling brush because I feel it gives the most even and natural finish. I put a small amount of product onto the back of my hand, dab a few spots onto my face, stipple the product evenly and blend. There was one time where I used almost a full pump of product and it made my face look really pale compared to my neck area so I don't use a lot of this product on my face. I also notice that it helps to lighten my acne scars as well. After about 4-5 hours of wear, I need to blot my face but I don't believe this product makes my skin any more oily than it normally is throughout the day. I have noticed that whenever I set it with my Blotting Powder from MAC, my face doesn't get shiny for 8 or more hours so if you're worried about shine, I'd definitely recommend the Blot Powder. Overall, I really love this product and I'd definitely repurchase it.
Missha Perfect Cover: bought from ebay seller named Ruby
http://stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/RubyRubyshop__W0QQ_armrsZ1Lioele Triple Solution: purchased from ebay seller named BELLOGIRL
http://stores.ebay.com/BELLO-GIRL?_trksid=p4340.l2563
NOTE: All of these products were purchased with my own money. I am not paid to review any of these products. Everything I write is my own opinion and what works for me may not work for you.
