I’m skipping this week’s installment of Product of the Week, in return, I’m posting this review. As you guys know, I received a CC cream and BB cream from Etude House Indonesia. The CC Cream is their latest product, and it’s the first CC Cream ever launched in Indonesia. You probably already know what BB cream is, right? So what is CC Cream? What’s the big deal?
CC Cream is a sister of BB cream. CC (for Etude House) stands for Correct and Care. The main purpose of a CC cream is to color correct the skin. I guess, it’s like a primer for the BB cream. It is colorless and it has SPF. The CC cream from Etude House also provides hydration, it has anti-aging and stress relieving property, it gives the skin luminosity and smooth the texture of the skin.
At first look, the packaging is really nice. I actually love this type of packaging. It’s made of a squeeze tube, but instead of squeezing it, there’s a pump for the product to be released. One or two squirts are enough for the whole face. The cream is white with a lot of fine golden particles in it (can’t be seen in picture).
The consistency of this cream is like a sunscreen. Very thick and creamy. It has quite a strong scent to it too. I’m not a fan of anything with strong scent, because that means it has perfume in it. The scent isn’t too bad, it actually smells pretty good, kinda floral-y.
I applied the CC cream on my right side of the face (left on the picture). What do you guys think? I think it causes a slight white cast on my face. Let me also say I’m not a big fan of whitening product. I know a lot of Asians are quite obsessed with skin whitening, but I’m not of one of them.
Let me also mentioned that I feel that this cream seems to make my pores look bigger. On a positive note, it is very moisturizing, and the fact that it has SPF 30 means you can throw this product on your face and go. There’s no need for a separate sunscreen. I don’t like how it doesn’t actually “correct” anything on my face. You can still see the redness, and my skin texture doesn’t seem to have much of a difference.
It doesn’t really have much glow either. I’m not sure about the anti-aging property, but definitely doesn’t feel like it’s firming or tightening the skin either. It’s more like a sunscreen, really.
Now, let’s move on to the BB cream. The one that I received is called Precious Mineral BB Cream Cotton Fit. The shade that I received is Honey Beige W24. This one also comes in a squeeze tube, but with a pump! I love the packaging. I mean, it’s genius! I don’t have to worry about the product breaking when traveling, and it’s so convenient with the pump to get the cream out.
The BB cream contains SPF 30, it is also a whitening and anti-wrinkle, as well anti-darkening product. Again, I’m not a big fan of those anti-whitening, anti-darkening stuff. Like I said, there’s an obsession with being fair-skin here in Asia. I guess I wouldn’t mind if it brightens up my face using light-reflecting particle. However, anything that has to do with whitening, I’m quite wary.
Be very careful when you pump out the product, might squeezed a bit too much (like me..-__-lll)…Anyways, with the amount of product you see on the picture below, I can cover my entire face, neck plus chest. The BB cream is very thick, which is quite unusual since most of the BB creams that I’ve used are pretty runny and light.
It has a fragrance similar to baby-powder, which I don’t really mind. The BB cream has a somewhat yellow undertone, but it does have a slight pink to it as well. I thought it was quite a good match for my skin (yes…i thought..continue reading to find out why). I believe this BB cream comes in 3 colors, Honey Beige being the darkest. So, if you are darker than me (I’m NC27-30), you might not be able to get a match. Just FYI, I didn’t get to pick the shade, it was picked for me by Etude House.
Ok, so I tested the BB cream on my right side of the face (left in the photo), and can you see how cray cray I looked like? I mean, I dotted the BB cream in certain area of my face, and blended it outwards (from center of the face) using my finger, and HOLY GUACAMOLE! I look ghastly! This BB cream is like a full on foundation. It has a medium to full coverage.
What surprised me even more is that the more I rubbed this to my face, the “whiter” it gets. I mean, yea it looks like it matches my chest perfectly, but let me tell you that my face actually looks a lot paler and did not match my chest and neck at all. It has a grey cast on my face, which means that this product is the wrong color.
I’m not sure why it looks very white on my face since it looks quite ok when you squirted the product out. I think it might be due to the SPF 30 ingredient in it. You know how when you use sunscreen your face might look like it has some whitish layer on it? It’s similar to what happened to my face here. If you follow me on twitter, I posted a picture of my makeup during the event, and you can see how much paler my face was compared to the neck.
The BB cream itself is not that easy to blend since it’s quite thick. If you use your fingers to blend, make sure you work it in. I find that using my fingers help to spread the product better. If you use a foundation brush, make sure there’s no streak on the face. It also sinks into the pores. If you have fine lines under the eyes, it will crease.
Another thing I have to mention is that even though I wore this product for a good 3-hour, I had to say I felt like I’m wearing a mask. It’s quite heavy on the skin, definitely different than other foundation/bb cream I’ve worn before.
I’m not sure if these 2 products were targeted for any specific audience. I think if you have dry skin, you might have a hard time using the BB Cream, and if you have oily skin the CC Cream might be too slippery for you. If you have sensitive skin, you might want to do a test patch first before applying it all over your face. The reason I said this is because I broke out! Not as bad as I thought it might be, but I have several new breakouts on my jawline, near my ears and chin area. I’m not sure which product caused it, but it might be both. The CC and BB creams were the only new products that I put on my face before the breakout occurred.
Now, for the price, I wasn’t told any numbers by them so I don’t know.
How do I feel about these 2 products? If you’ve been following me for a while, you should know that I feel BB and CC creams are just a big marketing hype. Asian BB and CC creams don’t really carry a large range of color, so more often than not you’ll always end up with the wrong color. Not to mention, a lot of these Asian BB creams are too beige or too pink for our skin-tone.
I do, however like the fact that it contains higher SPF than the Western BB creams, but this also means that you’ll end up with a flash-back if you get your pictures taken.
I’m not sold at all about this idea of BB and CC creams in Asia. I say don’t waste your money, and go get a foundation that perfectly match your skin. Mix it with your moisturizer or primer to thin it out, so it’s not too thick. If you have a Western BB cream, or several like me, you’ll probably find that they are more like a tinted moisturizer which works great for the Summer or if you are traveling. I find that Asian BB creams are still a bit icky, esp. with the shade range and fragrance.
What do you guys think? Have you had any good experience with Asian BB Creams?
For other BB creams product review, please visit:
Who might benefit from the CC and BB creams?
To be honest, I’m not sure. I wouldn’t even recommend this product to anyone with sensitive skin. May be if you are a big fan of Korean makeup, and you are quite fair, looking for a medium coverage BB cream, the Etude House BB cream cotton fit might work for you.
For the CC cream, I guess it might work for anyone looking for a sunscreen. I don’t quite actually mind the CC cream, I just don’t see the big hype about it.
Again, those with sensitive skin please do a test patch before purchasing it. What’s a test patch? You apply the product in a certain area of the skin, like behind the ear or on the jaw to see if you have any reaction towards it.
