5 things you should know about BB Creams

I am absolutely obsessed with BB Creams - since I discovered them I banned foundations. But what makes BB Cream so phenomenal? I would like to tell you about 5 things that makes it different.

1. It cares

BB stands for "Beauty Balm" or "Blemish Balm". The very first BB Creams were invented in Germany for people after operations, to help skin heal and conceal the scars at the same time. Then idea was catched by Asian beauty companies and BB cream was released to market as a make up product. Few years ago BB Creams were mostly Asian products, some time ago they emerged to European cosmetic market and now almost every Western company has own BB Cream: Avon, Oriflame, Olay, Garnier, Maybelline...
So the first phenomenon of BB Cream is that it's skincare and make up at the same time. If you never used BB Cream before you can think about it as a tinted moisturiser, however it offers better coverage than tinted cream. BB Creams contain different substances, that are supposed to care for our skin - plant extracts, vitamins, or even novelties like snail muscus. And as a skincare product, different BBs are targeting different skin needs. For example BRTC Jasmine Water BB does moisturising wonder for dry skin, when Skin79 Hot Pink BB does good job on sebum control for oily skin.
Also the majority of BB Creams (if not all of them) contains SPF to protect your skin from harmful UV rays.

BB Cream with Sail secretion filtrate and it's benefits.

  2. It's dewy

When in Europe we are still opting for rather matte finish of our make-up and eventually just highlight it when needed, Asian market prefers "glow effect". As far as I noticed from reading hundredths of products descriptions and reviews, the idea of perfect skin in Asia is clear and dewy complexion, skin glowing from within. Most of Asian BB Creams will give you slightly shiny finish - some just a little bit, some giving skin almost a wet look. A great example of classic, healthy glow effect is Missha M Perfect Cover BB. There are some mattifying BB Creams available as well (Lioele Dollish or Skin Food Peach Green Tea), but they are still nor as matte as some mattifying foundations. A few times I read negative reviews about some mattifying products, because they were "too mattifying" 0o clearly a strong matte skin is considered as "flat" and "lifeless".  I must admit, since I started using BB creams on regular basis I like a bit of glow, especially on my cheeks and eye area. I matte only my super oily T-zone.

Etude House's BB promo - notice how dewy the model's face is.

3. It looks and feels natural

BB Cream as a skin care and make-up in one, may not offer you as strong coverage as some foundations would. It is supposed to perfect our skin up by blending with it, not by completely covering it. I must say I really like it - I have uneven skin tone (pink cheeks vs white temples), shadowy eyes (my veins are close to the surface - not much I can do about it) and a lot of acne scars. Even the best make up is not able to completely cover my scars - once I had make up done by professional with all the bases, foundations, powders and concealers... it covered up most of my scares, but they were still visible. Not mentioning that all these layers of make-up felt super-heavy on my oily face... and BB cream? It manages to cover my blackheads and evens out my skin tone. My scars are still visible, but a little toned and make up feels very light. Somehow I feel like foundation doesn't allow my skin to breathe - after the whole day with foundation on my acne would be irritated, more red and sore. BB Cream doesn't make my skin angry, sometimes even soothes it.

4. Less is more

Another thing that differs BB Creams from foundations is a way of application. It took me really long time to learn how to use BB Cream in the right way - and because I keep testing different ones, with different consistency I still make mistakes sometimes. The thing with BB Cream is that the less you use, the better it will look. Have you ever put too much moisturiser on your face and made it feel greasy? BB Cream may do the same if overdosed. It's also much more likely to roll up in wrinkles. In general I would say that a pea size or less is an optimal amount. I noticed that I tend to overuse when I put BB cream straight from the packaging onto my face, so what I do now is dispense a pea size on the top of my left palm and apply it from palm to face with my right palm. Pea size turns out to be well enough for the whole face, sometimes even too much. I first apply it overall ant then I put second layer on areas that need more concealing - my acne scars and eye areas. Using the right amount of BB Cream makes it look very natural and weightless. In general BB cream should be rather patted than rubbed into face - if you have problem with patting, try make up sponge first - dab it into cream and then "staple" your face.

5. It contains silicone

BB creams are well known from their ability of smoothen skin out. It's because most of them contain silicons - a substance which divided beauty experts - some says it's good, the others that it should be avoided. The biggest advantage of silicone are immediate effects - they smoothen out skin, make hair soft and shiny. The problem is that some silicons can build up and create a layer stopping other ingredients from reaching our skin. That's why it's extremely important to make sure you cleanse your skin properly if you use any products (BB Creams, primers, foundations) containing silicons. One of the best ways is using cleansing oil.
As a several acne suferer I can assure you that silicons in BB Creams I tested out so far, are not irritating my skin or causing acne to get worse. I also didn't notice any pore clogging. Of course every skin is different, so you may react differently, but I think that as long as you cleanse your skin properly you should be fine.