BB Cream Week: What Actually Worked. For Me.

So after all the hub bub about BB Creams and all my nights of research and justifying to myself that it was worth it because BB creams were going to save my skin and keep it looking great, I ended up using a tinted moisturizer that's been on the market for quite some time.

From what I could tell, there wasn't a huge difference between the BB Creams and the Tinted Moisturizers, except the packaging. So after trying the Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer, I went back and bought a full size Laura Mercier Oil-Free Tinted Moisturizer in Sand and I used that entire tube from beginning to end between the fall of 2012 and the spring of 2013.

I really mean I used it all which is why I don't have a photo of my own....so there's this...

Laura Mercier Oil Free Tinted Moisturizer $43

Yes, this is the most expensive thing I've bought myself to use on just my face. But I would do it again. This one tube of moisturizer single handedly changed my awful, eczema ridden skin into soft, normal, touchable skin. 

This has been on the market for years and didn't need the gimmick of BB Creams and all these claims, yet this product has it's own following. And one try explains it all. It's a thin moisturizer that goes on with your fingers quick and easy. It blends, it moves, it sinks in all very fast and all while making your skin soft and smooth without a greasy or sticky residue. I used this over my Olay  Pro X Age Repair Lotion with SPF 30 and it never felt too greasy or heavy on my skin. I could also use it alone and it would hydrate my skin really well without it feeling tight or like it was going to crack. And the tinted part evened out my skin tone but didn't attempt to cover up blemishes or dark marks. However, I could layer it on for more coverage but really the coverage never really got more than sheer to light. 

For more formal occasions, like holiday parties etc, I mixed this with my Stila Stay All Day BB Cream and it gave my face good coverage, great color and an extremely nice finish.  But as the weather got warmer, this began to be too shiny, too slick, and I just wanted the option of something with more coverage of it's own.

I've used countless skincare brands and products. Of those, there are only a handful I remember or are nostalgic over and this tinted moisturizer will be one of them.  At some point, I will definitely pick up another tube of this. I can't say when or where I'll be, but I know we will end up together again. But until then, I'm having fun playing the field. 

 Rimmel BB Cream $6.99

After going the expensive route, I decided to take a hard right turn and try out some more of the drugstore brands. By this time in 2013, every brand had their own 'BB Cream'. I started out with Rimmel, well, first I started out with the Light/Medium color and that was a disaster, so I exchanged it for Medium/Dark and it was a wonderful surprise! 

The packaging itself it no nonsense. There is no box or extra material, just the tube itself. And on the tube it says this BB Cream is a 9-in-1 Skin Perfecting Super Makeup. 

Hmmm......

The back of the tube says it primes, moisturizes, minimizes pores, conceals, cover, smoothes, mattifies, brightens and help protect.

Those are a lot of words, but to me, a lot them kinda mean the same thing. Covers...conceals.... come on. 

Either way, I tried it.

 It's a fairly thin lotion. Easy to apply with the fingers. Moves around easy, blends well, sinks in pretty fast. 

At first it looks extremely dewy, almost shiny, then after a minute or too the skin looks more matte, but not extremely dry matte, the skin sill has a bit of dewiness to it. 

I don't know if it's a 'super makeup", but it does conceal a bit, it blurs dark marks and blemishes, but doesn't conceal them fully like a stand alone concealer would. It does moisturize the skin and I imagine it's protecting it because it has SPF 25. It brightens my skin in that it evens it out and makes it look generally better. But it's not totally mattifying. It leaves the skin looking slightly dewy, but not as much as the Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer.  And  as the temperature escalated, the mattifying properties all but vanished, and that took me on a new search, but until then, this was working very well for me and I would definitely use this again. 

I'm not sure if I was enthusiastic about this product more because it worked for me and matched my skin color so well, or because it was only 7 bucks and I got it on sale for even cheaper.  Either way, I really enjoyed this one and I will use it in the winter when I'm not as concerned about SPF and when I'm looking to not shell out the money for the Laura Mercier Moisturizer.