"What in the world is BB Cream?"
I stopped surprised. BB Creams have been a craze for YEARS in Korea and South East Asia. How could she not know?
In a nutshell, BB Cream is an all-in-one make up foundation, with "all" being...
- Makeup foundation
- Concealer
- Corrector
- Sunscreen
- Whitening
- Anti-aging / Anti-wrinkle
- Anti-inflammatory
- Soothing
The "BB" in BB Cream essentially stands for Blemish Balm. It's also known as Beauty Balm, and very strangely, on the top BB Cream product - Beblesh Balm. Seriously, just WHAT in the world is beblesh? Sounds very much like gibberish to me. Apparently, there is a copyright on the word "blemish" in Korea, so Skin79 created the word "beblesh". Why they chose such a meaningless and dumb sounding word, I have no idea.
Like many things in Korea, the place where any guy or girl can be made hot, BB Cream stems from post plastic surgery care. It was originally developed in the 1960s by a German dermatologist, Dr Christine Schrammek, who was looking for an ointment suitable for patients who had recently undergone a peel or laser procedure*. At first, some Korean actresses, who no doubt, discovered it after having undergone plastic surgery themselves, started using it for everything, then large cosmetic companies took it and developed it into an essential daily skincare product.
It has long gone from being just a beauty "secret" of Korean women to an internationally recognized beauty product with big names in the cosmetic industry such as Clinique, Dior, Estee Lauder, Garnier, Maybelline etc producing their own BB Creams.
The ingredients in BB Creams differ, but it is normal to find hyaluronic acid and glycerin (moisturizing), peptides and anti-oxidants vitamins A, C and E (anti-aging), licorice and arbutin (even out skin tone), silicone-based ingredients such as dimenthicone (smoothen skin), and light-reflecting mica (luminous finish) WebMD.
Do BB Creams deliver on their promises?
I can't vouch for its magic because I've got problem free skin, and I use it as a form of preservation, not a cure. I will never know if it's actually anti-everything since I won't know what my face would look like without using it. But as a foundation, it works well. As for the moisturizing level, it depends on the product you buy because some are more moisturizing than others.
I find that the main challenge of BB Creams is finding the right colour. Most BB Creams are from Korea, and Koreans are so fair from staying out of the sun all the time! Don't be surpised if you find that a certain BB Cream comes in only one colour. They used to come in just one colour because they claim that it will magically oxidize to match your skin colour. Seriously... that does NOT happen.
Now, BB Creams in Korea are commonly found in two colours, No.21 and 23. I personally find it of not much help either since No.23 is fair, and 21 is fairer (for Caucasians and snow white Korean porcelain princesses). Fortunately, No.23 works well enough for me, but I make sure not to layer it too thick or my face will look too fair.
Recently, the range of BB Cream skin tone shades are increasing. Among the best in the market now is the Etude House Precious Mineral Bright/Cotton Fit BB Cream line which has shades suitable for people who do not hide from the sun like a vampire.
BB Cream is favoured by many because of how it shortens the whole skincare-makeup process. Instead of going through the whole process of using a moisturizer, serum, sunscreen, primer and foundation, life is made simpler by just using BB cream. I don't really go through that whole process anyway, but I choose to use BB Creams since there's only good for me to gain from using them in comparison to regular foundations.
It is without a doubt that BB Creams are incredibly successful as the Koreans have now come up with CC (Colour Control) Creams, which are supposed to be an upgrade from BB Creams. I personally don't think it's an upgrade, and would still prefer to stick to my BB Creams. Why they chose the abbreviations CC is a mystery to me, cos one would naturally think AA would be better than BB instead of CC. All it takes to ruin the CC Cream market, is the emergence of an AA cream... perhaps calling it the Absolute All-fixer. Yeah, that would do the job.
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