BB Cream- a tinted sunscreen cum moisturizer with all the skincare benefits of beauty serums is all the rage in Asia. It has also made its way to the West with major skincare brands such as Lancome, Estee Lauder and Garnier, all have launched their own version of BB Cream. BB Cream first created to cover and heal patients after laser surgery. Later, Korean celebrities started to wear BB Cream for cosmetic purposes and it became a huge hit in Asia.
BB Cream comes in sheer to medium coverage and can easily replace your everyday foundation. Many users with already good skin to start with rely on BB Cream as their primary foundation and sunscreen. This is generally not advisable as the SPF rating in most BB creams have rather low SPF and many do not have full spectrum protection against UV rays. The SPF rating for most BB Creams fall between SPF 20 to SPF 50 but many do not have both UVB and UVA sun protection.
While BB Creams are a great multi-tasker, not everyone’s skin type can tolerate BB Creams. Especially people with skin sensitivities such as acne and rosacea. BB Cream is also bad news for skin that is alcohol or silicone intolerant. The first few ingredients listed in BB Creams are usually silicones and at the end of the list is fragrance or perfume. However, there are BB Creams for acne prone skin and BB Cream for oily skin types have sheer coverage. But then again these are not for who are not sensitive to silicones. Oil control and blemish healing BB Creams have usually consist of beneficial ingredients such as Green Tea, Witch Hazel and Salicylic Acid. Do a solitary patch test on a product. Avoid introducing too many new products at once. It is best to do a patch test for a few days to check if the BB Cream clogs your pores.
BB Cream should be treated like makeup and cleansed off thoroughly at the end of the day. Not doing so can cause nasty zits as well. Do double cleansing- first use a makeup remover specific for removing makeup, following up with an ordinary face cleanser.
I have tried several BB Creams for oily and acne prone skin. I wore them for a day and found no reaction. Gaining confidence, I wore it everyday for a little more than a week. My pores were a congested nightmare of acne and whiteheads. And yes, I did double cleanse too. Lesson learned, I should have done a patch test first for several days before applying it on my entire face. I hope you all try BB Cream with caution. If it works for you great! But for me I’ll stick to my old fragrance-free, minimalist sunblock (La Roche Posay Extreme Fluid) and my trustly Eucerin Dermo Purifyer concealer for now.
PS. BB Cream in the pic from left to right: Dr Jart Silver Label, Ginvera Green Tea Nude Cover, Naruko BB Suncreen
All the best,
Anya
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