Let's talk about the item touted as the next beauty product extraodinaire - the BB Cream! I found out about BB creams via MissGlamorazzi's Youtube channel where she was waxing poetic about the Skin79 BB Cream.
What is BB Cream? Most sites I've checked out define BB as blemish balm. It was originally used to hide the recovery bruises of plastic surgery patients - providing a practically flawless appearance. Sensing a major business opportunity, it was then commercialized for the beauty market by South Koreans and made famous by their movie stars. This beauty trend has now begun to spread beyond the shores of South Korea to the rest of the world with more mainstream cosmetics company, such as Maybelline, coming up with their own versions of the BB cream.
At the heart of it, commercial BB cream is basically the Asian version of foundation. I would describe it as a cross between a tinted moisturiser and a lightweight foundation. It's claimed to be healthier for the skin as it allows the skin to breathe and also posesses some skin healing properties.
I got my bottle of Skin79 Super+ Triple Function BB cream from eBay for $14 plus with free shipping which is a bargain as some places are selling this particular one for close to 30 bucks. Skin79 brand is by Wizcoz, a South Korean cosmetics company, that specializes in BB creams and they have many different lines of BB creams under the Skin79 name. This particular cream I got has whitening properties, anti-blemish and anti-wrinkle ingredients as well as contains SPF. It is supposed to provide full but light coverage and will colour correct to a natural shade similar to the wearer's skintone as well as provide a brightening effect. With consistent use, it will lighten skintone and also improve skin elasticity. Sounds like a mircale in a bottle, right?
MissGlamorazzi's continuous use of this product in her makeup tutorials convinced me to give this a go. She is Eurasian so I figured if it suits her, it should be okay for me as well. Once I got mine though, the realities set in, namely, the one shade fits all. Ok, if we're honest, the BB cream shade was created with the very snowy white complexion of the Koreans and Japanese in mind, not really meant for those with a more olive complexion with yellow undertones. When I squeezed the pump the first time, I looked at the colour of the cream and became very apprehensive. The cream is a light ashy yellowy beige shade and I wondered if this was going to work on me at all. It did not help that I unwittingly fully depressed the pump and a lot of the cream came out. The consistency of the cream is rather thick when compared to liquid foundations and even tinted moisturisers. When I applied it to my face, it was more like I was trying to slather on heavy night cream with the amount I had, lol. Since I was rushing for work, I didn't have time to fix the mess so I had to wash it all off and revert to my Revlon PhotoReady foundation.
During the weekend, I decided to play around with it. I knew I'm not that much darker than MissGlamorazzi so I was determined to find a way to make it work for me. After some trial and error, I finally came to a pump ratio that would allow the product to actually colour-correct rather successfully to my skintone. It self-adjusts as much as possible but I still think it appears a smidge too light for me and in certain lighting, I look washed out. Once the product is on the skin, it feels very light - as if barely there which is really good as I hate the rather heavy feel of foundations sometimes. However, the coverage is not enough to cover my hyperpigmentation so I cannot use this on its own just yet. I think, eventually, I'll be able to get away with just this sitting on my skin. But for now, I am using it as my primer in my daily makeup routine.
Final thoughts: It's been 3 weeks since I began regularly putting this on my face and so far, so good. I like it, I don't think it's causing me to break out but I don't think it's stopping any blemishes from reappearing either - I tend to get breakouts on the same spots over and over again. I do think it's helping out with the hyperpigmentation. I like that it has SPF. I would prefer if there were more than just the one shade so that a better colour match can be had.
What is BB Cream? Most sites I've checked out define BB as blemish balm. It was originally used to hide the recovery bruises of plastic surgery patients - providing a practically flawless appearance. Sensing a major business opportunity, it was then commercialized for the beauty market by South Koreans and made famous by their movie stars. This beauty trend has now begun to spread beyond the shores of South Korea to the rest of the world with more mainstream cosmetics company, such as Maybelline, coming up with their own versions of the BB cream.
At the heart of it, commercial BB cream is basically the Asian version of foundation. I would describe it as a cross between a tinted moisturiser and a lightweight foundation. It's claimed to be healthier for the skin as it allows the skin to breathe and also posesses some skin healing properties.
I got my bottle of Skin79 Super+ Triple Function BB cream from eBay for $14 plus with free shipping which is a bargain as some places are selling this particular one for close to 30 bucks. Skin79 brand is by Wizcoz, a South Korean cosmetics company, that specializes in BB creams and they have many different lines of BB creams under the Skin79 name. This particular cream I got has whitening properties, anti-blemish and anti-wrinkle ingredients as well as contains SPF. It is supposed to provide full but light coverage and will colour correct to a natural shade similar to the wearer's skintone as well as provide a brightening effect. With consistent use, it will lighten skintone and also improve skin elasticity. Sounds like a mircale in a bottle, right?
MissGlamorazzi's continuous use of this product in her makeup tutorials convinced me to give this a go. She is Eurasian so I figured if it suits her, it should be okay for me as well. Once I got mine though, the realities set in, namely, the one shade fits all. Ok, if we're honest, the BB cream shade was created with the very snowy white complexion of the Koreans and Japanese in mind, not really meant for those with a more olive complexion with yellow undertones. When I squeezed the pump the first time, I looked at the colour of the cream and became very apprehensive. The cream is a light ashy yellowy beige shade and I wondered if this was going to work on me at all. It did not help that I unwittingly fully depressed the pump and a lot of the cream came out. The consistency of the cream is rather thick when compared to liquid foundations and even tinted moisturisers. When I applied it to my face, it was more like I was trying to slather on heavy night cream with the amount I had, lol. Since I was rushing for work, I didn't have time to fix the mess so I had to wash it all off and revert to my Revlon PhotoReady foundation.
During the weekend, I decided to play around with it. I knew I'm not that much darker than MissGlamorazzi so I was determined to find a way to make it work for me. After some trial and error, I finally came to a pump ratio that would allow the product to actually colour-correct rather successfully to my skintone. It self-adjusts as much as possible but I still think it appears a smidge too light for me and in certain lighting, I look washed out. Once the product is on the skin, it feels very light - as if barely there which is really good as I hate the rather heavy feel of foundations sometimes. However, the coverage is not enough to cover my hyperpigmentation so I cannot use this on its own just yet. I think, eventually, I'll be able to get away with just this sitting on my skin. But for now, I am using it as my primer in my daily makeup routine.
Final thoughts: It's been 3 weeks since I began regularly putting this on my face and so far, so good. I like it, I don't think it's causing me to break out but I don't think it's stopping any blemishes from reappearing either - I tend to get breakouts on the same spots over and over again. I do think it's helping out with the hyperpigmentation. I like that it has SPF. I would prefer if there were more than just the one shade so that a better colour match can be had.
