Marcelle City Multi-Protection Tinted Cream Review

Back in the spring I tried out Marcelle's then-new City concealer and I loved it. So when I needed a new BB cream, I decided to pick up that concealer's companion product, City Multi-Protection Tinted Cream. It turns to have been a smart move.

According to Marcelle, this cream is, "supercharged with antioxidants, green tea, aloe and chamomile" and works to "protect skin from environmental stressors" and "prevent a dull complexion and enhance radiance." I can't really say whether or not it did protect my skin from the evils of city living but I can confidently say that it did leave my face looking happy and healthy. While it doesn't have a true matte finish, it also didn't leave my face looking shiny or even particularly glow-y.

The texture of this product hits the sweet spot of not being too thin or too thick. It goes on easily with just your fingers and blends in nicely to your skin. It also provides an impressive amount of coverage. I'm actually quite surprised that Marcelle doesn't play up this fact more because that's the primary reason why I like it.

Garnier SkinActive Skin Renew BB Cream + Blur Review

I discovered my perfect BB cream, Garnier's Renew Miracle Skin Perfector BB Cream For Oily-to-combination Skin, back in 2013. While I've tried other BB creams since, none works as nicely on my skin as that one.

A couple of months ago, I went to purchase a new tube of my beloved BB cream but the store didn't have my shade in stock. It did though have a Light tube of one of Garnier's other BB creams, the SkinActive Skin Renew BB Cream + Blur so I decided to give that a shot.

According to Garnier, this item: "Hydrates; smoothes skin; blurs imperfections and pores; evens tone and gives a matte, velvety finish." It supposedly achieves these results by including such ingredients as "...a hint of primer...", Vitamin C, mineral pigments and light reflectors.

Boscia B.B. Cream Broad Spectrum SPF 27 PA++ Review

Why does Boscia's BB Cream have to be so expensive? It's so good but it's also so expensive, coming in at $47 for one tube at Sephora. That's a lot of money for a BB cream, even if it is one that pretty much delivers on all of its claims.

And what are those claims? According to Boscia, "this one-step wonder" product "helps diminish the appearance of pores, fine lines, and uneven skin tone while providing long-wearing, natural coverage that conceals imperfections." I don't disagree with any of this.

While this is a BB cream, its coverage is actually pretty good and it successfully covered up any minor blemishes while blurry away pores and fine lines. It also lasted. I regularly wore this product outside on hot, humid days and it stayed in place for hours, leaving me with above-average looking skin.

Pūr~lisse BB Tinted Moist Cream SPF 30 Review

This week on the blog we're looking at one disappointing product and one great one made by Pūr~lisse, a US beauty company that combines "authentic time-tested Asian beauty wisdom with advance French cosmeceuticals." While I was not impressed by the company's Blue Lotus 4-in-1 Eye Adore Serum, I love its BB Tinted Moist Cream SPF 30.

First off, it's a daytime product that contains actual SPF 30. Hallelujah! Because of that, Pūr~lisse's claim that this product "reduces fine lines and wrinkles" actually has some truth to it.

Pūr~lisse boasts that this BB cream provides "skin perfecting color" and that it has "flawless" coverage that results in a "gorgeous" complexion. I always chuckle whenever I see a BB cream make claims like that because one of the defining features of a BB cream is that it provides lightweight coverage. Unless you already have near-perfect skin, no BB cream is going to give you "flawless" skin.

NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer

If this product was released this year, by almost any other company, it would likely be labelled a BB cream since it hydrates, brightens, fights the sun, dark spots, hyperpigmentation and provides “…a translucent veil of colour.” But NARS calls it a “tinted moisturizer” and I'm more than happy with that label because that’s exactly what this product is, a moisturizer that provides just a hint of colour.

Now, if you've been reading this blog for a while, you know what I'm going to write next: This product just doesn't provide the type of coverage that my face needs. NARS describes this moisturizer as, “Your skin – almost bare, but better” and that’s completely right, if you have almost perfect skin. Otherwise it’s “Your skin – almost bare, needs real foundation.”

The Body Shop All-In-One BB Cream

Sometimes a product can almost completely deliver on its claims and still be disappointing. Well, disappointing to me; I'm sure that for some people, The Body Shop’s first-ever BB cream is perfect.

This product’s first claim is that it “transforms from a white cream to suit your skin tone.” But, unlike many similar products that chalk this transformation up to fancy science or magic, this one is quite honest about how it goes from white to flesh-toned: “Pigment-filled capsules burst when applied to the skin, releasing the colour inside.” Yep, that’s how that works (though in some products, it’s oxidization that triggers the colour change).

As for the results, the #01 shade of this product did match my pale, pasty skin perfectly and did indeed leave me with an “even, undetectable finish.” Unfortunately, this product is only offered in three shades so the “…suit your skin tone…” part really only applies to a limited percentage of the population.

Garnier Skin Renew Miracle Skin Perfector BB Cream For Oily-to-combination Skin

I first tried Garnier’s Skin Renew Miracle Skin Perfector BB Cream last spring. As you can read over here, I wasn't a fan of the original formulation of this product because it left my skin overly dewy looking and just didn't provide the coverage I wanted. That latter issue is one I've found to be true of any BB cream that, up until now, I've tried out and because of it, I didn't have high hopes for   the combination-to-oily skin version skin version of this BB cream, which I recently received a free sample of (thanks SampleSource!).

However, it turns out that my low expectations were completely wrong. Despite having that lightweight, watery texture that’s common to BB creams, this product provides the type of coverage that you would expect from a proper foundation. Blemishes and pores vanished under it and stayed vanished, at least for a few hours.