Korean BB Cream

For those who may not have tried Korean BB cream, never fear: I’ve dutifully reviewed some of the brands of this cosmetic product for you.

BB cream, which stands for blemish balm or beauty balm, is not your average Western foundation. This stuff was created to serve as an all-in-one cosmetic product, replacing serum, moisturizer, primer, foundation and sunblock. Another thing that sets BB cream apart from other face products is that many formulae are designed to oxidize to match the wearer’s skin tone, as opposed to being sold in multiple shades in an attempt to match different skin colors.

BB creams are available for oily skin, whitening/evening out skin tone, heavy coverage, acne-prone skin, wrinkles/aging and more. Many provide SPF protection and are waterproof.

Etude House is a relatively inexpensive brand of Korean BB cream, but highly effective. It takes very little cream to cover my entire face, and goes on easily. It offers coverage on the light side, and works best with normal skin, as opposed to skin on the oily or dry sides.

Dr Jart is more expensive, but gave me awesome coverage. The cream is moisturizing but not greasy, and gives my skin a flawless appearance. Dry skin types may need to apply more of this product to get even coverage, but it looks great.

The silkiest cream I tried was the one from Clio. It provided lasting coverage on my face and went on with a silky smooth, powdery finish, despite being a cream.