Bb creams - help please! (And any recommendations!)

[FrenchFancie]

I’m on a bit of a journey of reinvention at the moment! For various reasons (some mental health, some situational) I haven’t taken very good care of my skin over the last 7-10 years. (Or in fact the rest of me, but that’s a whole different thread!).

My skin now is quite dry with a few fine lines and a couple of not-so fine lines! I’ve more or less sorted out my skincare routine in the last couple of months and the dryness is coming under control. For the last 9 months I’ve started to wear a full face of make up to work (something I didn’t used to do) and am 80% happy with those products but would like something a little ‘less’ at the weekend while still trying not to look like a dead person.

does anyone have recommendations for a BB cream? Due to past skin cancer issues I need to wear a decent spf. I could do with something with a very light shade as I have very pale skin, so a brand with a decent range of shades would be good. Moisturising is probably essential, to combat the random dry flaky patches I’m still getting.

budget can be quite generous if it’s a good product - I’d rather pay more for something I’ll actually use then buy a cheap product and not use it. I have access to most of the usual skincare brands in a couple of local department stores (except, for some reason, NARS….)
Thanks for any suggestions!!

Erborian - either the BB or CC cream, both are pretty light coverage but make me look good without being ‘made up’

I use the Skin Hero before make up and to give myself even more of a lift I put a drop of their luminous stuff into the CC cream

I’m mid 40s with pale skin that has a tendency to be pink and find it works perfectly. A good friend told me how well I was looking & turns out she didn’t realize I had make up on!

Not officially a bb cream but the ysl nu skin bare tint is great. It’s buildable coverage and really evens out my skin tone and feels great on the skin.

Oh and for spf I always use a separate one. Current fave is the supergoop glow one.

Erborian CC cream is phenomenal; it’s like a magic eraser with skincare and sunscreen in it. Goes on easily - you’ve done 3 steps in 30 seconds. I also have the eye cream which is similarly good. It’s whit, not tinted so not sure how it evens out colour? I did look at their BB cream but that’s very tinted and I’m pale and it wasn’t quite right. I still can’t work out the difference between bb and cc though. (The only other bb I’ve tried was something like Clinique or Estée Lauder and was like a chalky grey sticky veil and I binned the whole tube)

I really like the Clinique cc cream - I’m v pale and the light (or v light in the depths of winter) does not make me look orange as others often do.
I also like erborian bb, but their cc cream was too dark on me. Skin79 beblesh balm in the pink packaging is also good and makes my skin look quite glowy- good coverage too

Another vote for Erborian CC cream, it's amazing stuff.

Just a note about Erborian. Whilst it is very good, you do need to be careful if your skin is dry beforehand, it works much better on well moisturised skin as otherwise it tends to make little flakes. (It especially shows up if you use one of those magnifying mirrors! )

I like the Nars one(!). Bare Minerals is also good, I find it really good for my skin.

You can’t rely on make up as SPF as you wouldn’t put the amount you need on without it being too thick/much.

I love erborian BB cream but find cc too thick. I have never found that it pills but then I do always put some moisturiser on first. The tiniest blob goes a hell of a long way! The nude shade is perfect for me but there is an even paler one. KATE20 gets you 20% off online at the erborian site - so you can try it for real in eg spacenk (so you don't make an expensive mistake on the colour, but be aware that not all branches of space nk stock erborian; best to ring first and check) and then buy it on the erborian site if you like it.

Erborian settled in my wrinkles and turned me orange. Not many colours either, just light orange or dark orange, or no colour at all.

PHB ethical beauty BB cream is great, goes on with fingers, acts like a sheer foundation. 5 colours, very cheap samples: With their two free samples per order, I ended up with 8 weeks of face coverage for £6.50.

The superdrug mina ones are also pretty good, but were a tad too dewy for my liking.

OP please do a search, there have been loads of threads like this!

Anyway fwiw I love Garnier (always buy at half price). I thought about trying Erborian but read some posts that said it was orangy so it put me off as it's much more ££££ than Garnier. Found Boots no7 not good, didn't go on well and not great coverage.

I love Eborian CC and I have pale combination skin. I do use a seperate spf underneath. They also do a sample size which is about £15 to try before you buy a big one.

I also tried the boots no7 city lights tinted mosituriser, zero coverage. I know it's not a BB, but was hoping for a little coverage/blurring.

Firstly you need a spf50 separate from any other skincare or makeup.

Korean BBs like Erborian, IT Cosmetics etc are much fuller coverage than western brands which seem to equate BB= tinted moisturizer. Korean ones are proper blemish balms (as the title) and have medium-full coverage. If that's what you want then Erborian BB and IT CC are brilliant. I have both and wear them when I want MORE not LESS coverage. (The IT is a fuller coverage than the Erborian)

Didn't get on with Erborian CC as the small range of colours meant I looked like a satsuma even in the lightest shade. The IT CC is better as the colour is already in the cream so you can see what colour you'll be!

If it's a tinted moisturizer you want, Nars and Laura Mercier seem to win the accolades.

I love the Eborian cc cream i do have to mix two shades, I also have the it cosmetics cc cream, I find that one a bit more thicker than the Eborian, I just receive a sample of nars tinted moisturiser, and I love it, its the first tinted moisturiser that lasts on my combination skin all day, most of the tinted moisturisers i have tried over the years, disappear by lunchtime, these are my three favourite foundations.

Body shop do a good one. Flash sale now and it's £7x

I tried the Erborian CC cream after seeing it recommended on here and I love it. I then bought their BB cream as well and tried it for the first time this week.

I'm quite pale with mild rosacea and I'm honestly blown away by how well it evens outs my skin tone. Haven't needed foundation at all this week. It's totally worth the money.