Marcelle BB Cream… first Canadian-brand BB cream!!

Me wearing the Marcelle BB cream (cheeks, nose and chin only, none on forehead) with Chanel Poudre Universelle to set, and Shu Uemura Dome Blusher in Sunlight Peach and Chanel Joues Constraste in Espiegle on cheeks

I am super excited to be reviewing this product for you. As you know, I am a huge fan of Marcelle products (especially their Hydra-C Energizing Hydrating Gel) and I am just so excited that they are releasing a BB cream to the Canadian market: a first for a Canadian brand!

About the Marcelle BB Cream

If you don’t know what BB Creams are, then you’re in for a treat. BB Cream, or Beauty Balm (or blemish balm, or beauty base, or beblesh balm… etc, you get the point) are an uber popular base makeup product in Asia. Basically it is an all-in-one product that contains moisturizing, anti-aging, brightening, coverage and sun protection properties in one single product. You can wear this either by itself, or as a base for your foundation. Specifically, Marcelle BB Cream is available in two shades (yay!!) and features an ultra-lightweight formula leaves skin with “nothing on” feel. It is also oil free, non comedogenic, paraben free, dermatologist tested, hypo-allergenic, perfume free and is contained in an ultra-hygienic airless tube-pump. This product is suitable for any skin type. Some of the key ingredients in the Marcelle BB Cream include: Hyaluronic Acid (Improves skin elasticity, helps minimize wrinkles, hydrates); Aquaxyl (Moisturizes and helps correct imperfections); Glycerin (Hydrates); Vitamin E (Antioxidant to protect skin); Aloe Vera (Soothes & hydrates); Green Tea & Chamomile (Stimulates, reinvigorates & soothes) and Soft Focus Powders (Light-reflecting, enhance complexion).

My thoughts

I absolutely LOVE this BB cream. Even though it isn’t a true BB cream because it doesn’t have any sun protection (which is actually a major feature and benefit of the traditional BB cream). The texture is light and creamy but provides sheer to medium coverage which helps to cover any redness and my pores, as well as smooth out my skin tone. My skin is luminous and even without looking like I’m wearing any base makeup. It is also very hydrating and works well for my dehydrated Canadian winter skin.

The light shade is perfect for my NC20-25 skin tone. The finish is semi-dewy so it might be good to set it lightly with some powder, but even though it is dewy it lasts all day. I also found very minimal transfer from my skin to my glasses rim whenever I do wear glasses, which is something that is important to me (not like Jill Stuart foundation which completely transfers onto my glasses rim!). To put it simply, my skin looks flawless and luminous when wearing the Marcelle BB cream.

I definitely recommend the Marcelle BB cream if you are looking for a good base makeup product that provides natural coverage with a natural finish and also skincare properties. If you have anywhere between dry to combination skin, this product will be good for you. If you have really oily skin, you might either need an oil controlling primer, oil controlling powder or to touch up your base makeup every few hours because this product doesn’t have much oil control (but that isn’t what it’s supposed to be for anyways).

This product is already available in store wherever Marcelle is sold, priced at $22.95.

After 8 hours of wear, my skin still looks flawless!

Review/Swatch: Sunplay Skin Aqua Silky BB Cream

Sunplay Skin Aqua Silky BB Cream

I bought this BB cream because I had heard so many things about it from Yumeko and Kathi. Yumeko tried out the Silky version, which is has better oil control, and Kathi tried the Moist version, which has better hydration for drier skin. Since its summer, I decided to try out the Silky version.

What it is: BB cream is like another version of foundation or tinted moisturizer. You can find various types of BB cream all over Asia although Western brands such as MAC and Lancome have also released their own version just recently. They are usually somewhat thicker than a foundation or tinted moisturizer, but shade selection is extremely limited as most companies only release one or two shades for each type of BB cream.

Sunplay Skin Aqua Silky BB Cream

Damage: Approximately $16-17 CAD at Watsons in Hong Kong

Instructions: You would apply BB cream like your foundation or tinted moisturizer, but unlike foundation, BB creams are thicker and would probably benefit from applying it with your fingers so the heat from your fingers can help it melt better into your skin.

Sunplay Skin Aqua Silky BB Cream

The good: Oil control is fantastic. I’ve tried a few BB creams (like my current fave the Missha Perfect Cover) and oil control is very mediocre. But with this, under normal circumstances (ie. not crazy humid or hot) I actually don’t have to blot until 4-5 hours later, or sometimes even at all during the day if the climate is favourable. Coverage is pretty natural and it evens out my skin tone nicely. It does a good job at covering my blemishes and pores without looking cakey or requiring too thick a layer. It dries down to a nice matte finish with a little bit of a soft-focus look. This also has SPF 25 PA++ which means you get adequate sun protection along with your nice coverage.

• Good pore and blemish coverage (medium coverage)
• Good oil control
• Dries matte
• Sun protection of SPF 25 PA++

Sunplay Skin Aqua Silky BB Cream

The bad: Like all BB creams, the colour match is a bit off at the beginning. I feel for this specific shade, if you’re any more than NC 30 you won’t be able to wear it. Thankfully for me it blended in well into my skin for a sort-of okay match after a few hours. It is also a little bit dry and harder to blend, so if you have anything less than a combination skin, you would probably want to try out the Moist version instead.

• Harder to blend
• Drier, better for combination or oily skin
• Limited shade availability

Overall: I really like this product. I think it is perfect if you tend to get shiny quickly during the day. I would definitely recommend this to those of you living in the Asia-Pacific where it is humid in the summer and a regular BB cream or foundation just isn’t working for you. As for those of you in drier/colder climates, this isn’t really a must-have for you unless you are super oily. Additionally, I don’t know if this is the BB cream or what because I haven’t really changed up my skincare routine, but I’ve noticed my skin is smoother lately and its easier to maintain. It could be the climate change since I’m in another city now that is more up north and drier, but I just wanted to put this out there that maybe smoother skin is another good thing about this BB cream (I mean, its supposed to have skincare benefits right?)

Product: 9/10

Packaging: 4/5

Value: 4/5

Ease of Use: 3.5/5

Overall: 21/25 | 84% | B+

Repurchase: Yes, quite likely if I can find it

Sunplay Skin Aqua Silky BB Cream

Review: Missha Perfect Cover BB Cream

I recently went to a blogger meet up that also happened to be a beauty swap, and Jennifer graciously offered to give this to me to try. I’ve heard so much about BB Creams but I’ve not tried many because its not readily available in Canada (the only other one I’ve tried sucked so much I don’t even remember what its called anymore). If you don’t know what BB Cream is, its basically a tinted moisturizer that promises three benefits: protects (SPF), covers (tint) and repairs (whitening or anti-aging). It is slightly thicker than the tinted moisturizers I’ve tried, but because of that it also offers significantly better coverage.

Anyways, this is the Missha Perfect Cover BB Cream in No. 23 Natural Beige. It comes packaged in a 50 mL tube with a pump.

First off, I really like the design of the tube. It has a very convenient pump that you can use to dispense just the right amount of product (2/3 of a pump is perfect for me).

Secondly, to the shade. No. 23 Natural Beige is a perfect fit for me. It blends in very well with my skin tone and it adds a significant amount of warmth to it (versus making it yellow).

Now on to the product itself. I really love this product, not just because it blends in so well with my skin, but because not only does it offer the perfect amount of moisture for a good day out (I wore this everyday when I was in Barcelona), it also makes my face look radiant, especially in pictures. It has a good amount of SPF, at 42, and PA+++, so I can be sure that I’m getting the sun protection that I need. I found that this also has good oil control; my face doesn’t get slick until many many hours later even in the hot sun (I set the cream with  a bit of Benefit Sugarbomb all over my face).

It is quite thick, but can be easily blended out. I found the blemish coverage to be just right, not too cakey but not completely transparent. The only thing though about the coverage is that it can get streaky easily if its not completely blended out. I found this to be a problem mainly around my nose area. But the good thing is, this cream doesn’t dry and set until a few minutes later, so you have plenty of time to work with it. One of the bigger issues I have with this one is that there is little pore coverage, which you can see in the picture below.

I mainly compared this with my regular foundation (Guerlain Parure Extreme), and I found that although it is technically a tinted moisturizer, it is a lot heavier in texture. Coverage is about the same, and they both felt weightless on my skin, but when I felt my skin with this one, I can feel the cream set on top, but with Guerlain it had basically melted into my skin.

But then again… Guerlain’s foundation was about $60 when this BB Cream is only around $20-30. For the price point, I would definitely rebuy this. It is affordable and offers great benefits compared to other products of the same price range and purpose.

Here is a picture of me in Barcelona wearing this BB Cream with Benefit Sugarbomb on top.

 

I would probably score this ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

FOTD and new product purchases

Even though the Sephora F&F sale did not apply to Canada, I still ended up buying a few things with another friend to make up the $120. I bought 3 of these palettes as Christmas gifts. I love Too Faced Shadow Insurance, so I have some faith in their product, so when I saw this, it was instant love. The Too Faced Decade of Glamour Beauty Wardrobe Makeup Collection is housed inside a box that resembles a wardrobe. The packaging is so adorable and the value is really good. The entire box has the value of $195, but is priced at less than $30. You can get it at Sephora.

I also bought Sephora by OPI nail polish in Opening Night, which is a dark navy blue with sparkles (love!).

Anyways, this is my first FOTD. I always forget to take pictures of my looks, so whenever I do… I get lazy and don’t post them up.

Products used:

• Complexion: BRTC Gold Caviar BB Cream
• Eyeshadow, brows and liner: Dior Jazz Club palette in Purple Jazz (read my review here)
• Liner: Bobbi Brown Gel Liner in Ink
• Blush: Dior Shimmer Star in Pop Diamond
• Mascara: Diorshow Iconic
• Contacts: Freshlook Colorblends in Amethyst

I think that day, I forgot to put on lipgloss. I guess its okay though, because I’m always really paranoid about eating too much lip product…