Alphabet Soup

Just as I’ve managed to wrap my head (and my skin) around the concept of a BB cream comes the news heralding CC creams (there is even a DD cream looming, but I’m not ready to go there yet, let alone touch on the BB products for hair). The Complexion Correctors or Color Correcting (CC) creams purport to do just that–even out skin tone and reduce redness or ashiness (depending on skin hue), while touting the ability over time to reduce wrinkles and imperfections.

Clinique is coming out with its CC cream in an April launch; others from Peter Thomas Roth, Lorac, Ole Henriksen, and Dr. Dennis Gross will appear soon as well. All fall in the $28-$48 range.

But it strikes me that something is going to have to give–who has the time or the money to use a BB cream, a CC cream, a moisturizer, an AHA product, an exfoliator. These creams have to provide big benefits in order to squeeze into an already heavy lineup of hitters. Clinique is banking big money ($40M) on its ad campaign for its CC cream, and rolling it out in all its venues, so it will be looking for big paybacks.

Women have purchased all types of antiaging products over the years; now BB and CC creams perform multiple tasks (smooth, moisturize, even out, and protect) while offering longer term benefits such as reducing wrinkles and improving tone. Time alone will tell us if these benefits truly accrue. Are they worth it? Well, I’m guessing I’ll be testing one or more out sooner or later.

 

BB Cream Vs. BB Cream: An Experiment

I have been interested in Beauty Balm (BB) creams for a while now–just reading descriptions of them on Sephora gives me visions of porcelain skin, wrinkle- and blemish-free. These creams really are multi-taskers: they contain antioxidants to protect skin and SPF to block harmful sun rays; and they hydrate, prime, and camouflage. But with so many on the market, how was I to determine which was best for me?

I decided to buy two BB creams, use both on alternating days for a week, and judge which suited me best. These creams are found in drug stores and over high-end store counters. I selected two brands whose products have served me well over the years: Clinique and L’Oreal.

Clinique’s Age Defense BB Cream comes in their distinctive green tube and costs $37; L’Oreal’s Youth Code BB Cream is in a silver tube and costs $16.99 (why the 99? why always the 99?).

Here are my findings:

• Clinque’s Age Defense Cream had a matte feel coming out of the tube, and looked matte on the skin. Great if you have oily skin; not so sure how it works with my normal skin. It had an opalescent quality that lightened my skin, but I thought I looked like a cross between a kabuki dancer and Edward Scissorhands. It did a good job covering irregularities in my skin, but by the end of the day looked a bit dry and flaky in spots on my cheeks and forehead.
• The L’Oreal BB cream is more creamy coming out of the tube, and matched my skin much better. It looked moist on, and did a good job covering irregularities on my skin. And, at the end of the day, it was not flaky or dry.
  

  The L’Oreal BB cream proved to be my favorite

Only time will tell if it actually helps to protect my skin, but I’m sticking with the L’Oreal for the time being.

Why am I telling you this? Not to get you to race out and buy a tube of the L’Oreal BB cream. My point is you have to try different products until you find the one that works for you. Sephora and Nordstrom are always happy to give out samples, as are a number of other cosmetic purveyors. Make use of these samples to find the product you love–for skin care, cosmetics, perfume–you name it. That way, you’ll know what looks good on and works for you.

As for the Clinique, I’ll give it another try in the summer when my skin is oilier. Who knows, Edward Scissorhands might be the next hot look.