BB Creams: Fairest of them All

You might have noticed in my review of Scinic's spf50 sunscreen that I am perhaps just a tiny bit on the pale side. I am probably not the lightest-skinned person on Earth, but I will say this: I am the lightest-skinned person I have ever met and the only foundation I've ever encountered that was light enough for me was from a theatrical makeup supply company's foundation palette of their absolute lightest shades (Graftobian HD Creme Ultra-lites). Granted, I live in the United States and don't have easy access to Illamasqua or the Dainty Doll foundations. I know Illamasqua's really light shade is white with pink which won't work for me. I have neutral-yellow undertones.

That being said, this post is not about foundation, it is about BB cream! Specifically, light shades of BB Cream.

If you're reading this, you probably know what a BB cream is. I like to use them as a primer or just to slap something with a decent SPF and coverage if I need to go out but don't feel like doing the whole makeup shebang. And while they've become popular enough that you can buy them at your local drug and/or grocery stores, I don't quite feel like the drugstore American brands live up to, say, the Korean ones (definitely not the German original!).

Blended very thickly on my arm.

 

There are a lot of complaints that the Korean BB creams are too light, however. I have rather the opposite problem: I can't find one light enough. I've seen a few other posts of message boards and such on the internet asking about the absolute palest or lightest shades of BB creams. From what I gathered, Skin79's orange was pretty light, as was Missha's #13 shade.

Missha #13 is not an easy BB cream to get samples of, and I'm not really going to buy a full-sized product if I don't know if it's going to be too light for me. Fortunately, I got in touch with one of the kindest sellers I have ever met. Lyn very generously decanted me some Missha #13 to try after hearing of my plight for which I cannot thank her enough. Along with it she sent some other samples, including Lioele Beyond the Solution BB cream which is adorable, but unfortunately much too dark.

Both the Missha Perfect Cover and Missha Signature M Real Complete BB cream in #13 ended up being too dark! They're probably the second lightest BB cream I've yet to try, which the Real Complete being maybe a hair lighter. Unfortunately, they both seem to run really pink on me as well. I might get them to work if I applied a VERY light cover on my face.

AMPM's BB cream swatched (unblended) on my hand.

The absolute lightest BB cream I've ever gotten my hands on was AMPM's BB cream (from Naruko). While it was only perhaps a shade or so too dark, it was also really, really pink and had very, very light coverage. Unfortunately I sent it to a cool-toned friend of mine, so I don't have any blended or oxidized swatches.

Also thickly blended and oxidized.

That brings us to Skin79 Vital (Orange Label). I really like the ingredients in this one, but it is also, unfortunately, too dark. It does run sort of neutral-yellow-warm however, so if I apply a VERY thin layer as a primer under my foundation, it works out okay. The swatch to the left is EXTREMELY thick- it's more than I'd probably use on my entire face. It seems to get much darker the more you apply. A thinner swatch isn't QUITE so dark.

Finally, the last swatch I have for you is BRTC's Jasmine Water BB cream. It's supposed to run somewhere around a MAC NC15 (which if you look at the picture will tell you how light I am). It is way too dark and way too pink-orange for me, although I did like the coverage and finish.

I have also in the past tried Skinfood's Red Orange Jelly BB cream, and it was too dark as well. At this point I'm honestly beginning to believe that I won't ever find anything lighter than AMPM's.


I can probably make do with very, very light applications of the Skin79 orange or Missha #13 as a primer, but if you're looking to wear a BB cream and are about the same tone/lightness I am as an actual coverage foundation replacement, I unfortunately don't know what to recommend to you. If you don't need full coverage and are just as pale, but pink toned, give the AMPM a shot. If you're too pale for anything you've tried and don't think you're as light, but lighter than an NC15, give the Missha #13 a shot.

Product Review: Scinic Enjoy Perfect Sun Cream SPF50+

Scinic Enjoy Perfect Sun Cream 50SPF+ PA+++

I purchased this from Sasa after spending several days hunting for a good sunscreen for use on my body. There isn't very much information out there at all about it, sadly, so this was something of a blind purchase based on what little information there was on Sasa and the fact that I could find almost no other good body sunblocks! I wanted something from Asia because of the reputation for having really good, non-greasy sunscreens without that awful typical smell sunscreens have.

Scinic is a Korean brand. There are three versions of this sunblock, and this one has the highest spf at 50. It does not say if it is water-resistant, but I wouldn't imagine so, so you'll probably need to reapply often if you are sweating or swimming.

It comes packaged in a 70ml tube. The packaging itself, shown below, is very clean and simple. Nothing really special, but it's nice enough.

The box the tube comes in. It's a very bright, sunshine yellow on the sides.

The actual tube of sunscreen.

The tube is only about half full when new, sadly. I've been using this a few weeks nearly every day, and it's about half gone, so I'd imagine that with daily use on the body, it'll last about 3 months maximum. It cost about $17 USD.

The sunscreen itself is very nice, very light fragrance, and has a cream consistency. It spreads on easily enough, though not as easily as a lotion. Once it has dried, which takes a few minutes at most, you cannot detect it. There's no smell, no film, no oiliness or grease, nothing. Perfect. I've experienced no breakouts or reactions and it seems to perform well enough, although I have not yet tested it in full summer sunshine.

The main sell for me, though, is that it contains no mineral oil, no methylparaben, no avobenzone or oxybenzone! The sunscreens used are Octinoxate, Octisalate, Zinc Oxide, and Titanium Dioxide. A nice mix of both physical and chemical sunscreens that cover both UVA and UVB- I just wish the box gave the percentages.

The ingredients list:

Water, cyclopentasiloxane, ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate ( Octinoxate ), glycerin, ethylhexyl salicylate ( Octisalate ), zinc oxide, dipropylene glycol, PEG-10 dimethicone, titanium dioxide, biosaccharide gum-1, dimethicone, disteardimonium hectorite, melissa officinalis (lemon balm) flower/leaf/stem water, epilobium angustifolium flower/leaf/stem extract, anthemis nobilis (chamomile) flower water, macadamia integrifolia seed oil, hordeum vulgare (barley) seed extract, borago officinalis seed oil, brassica campestris (rapeseed) seed oil, punica granatum (pomegranate) seed extract, prunis amygdalus dulcis (sweet almond) oil, nelumbo nucifera (lotus) seed extract, cucumis sativus (cucumber) seed extract, panax ginseng seed extract, helianthus annuus (sunflower) seed oil, magnesium sulfate, dimethicone/vinyl dimethicone crosspolymer, vinyl dimethicone/methicone silsesquioxane crosspolymer, methyl methacrylate crosspolymer, calcium aluminum borosilicae, aluminum hydroxide, aluminum stearate, methicone, glyceryl caprylate, caprylyl glycol, fragrance, phenoxyethanol.