Biotherm Evermoist CC Cushion Review and Ingredients Analysis

Biotherm's Aquasource Evermoist CC Cushion SPF 23 PA++ is the first cushion product to come from Biotherm, and it arrives hot on the heels of the cushion trend! Biotherm is better known for its skincare products, in particular its Life Plankton Essence, which I've reviewed before, so this was definitely a little of a surprise, but it's not at all unwelcome!

Biotherm Aquasource Evermoist CC Cushion: The first CC Cushion from the brand!

The Biotherm Aquasource Evermoist CC Cushion is meant to have a light, airy texture, and also meant to give you an "unbeatable moist glow" with full coverage. That definitely sounds like what every cushion base should be! And in true Biotherm fashion as a skincare brand, it also contains the brand's signature Life Plankton, as well as Adenosine, and a bunch of other skincare ingredients.


Biotherm Aquasource Evermoist CC Cushion: With Life Plankton as well
As with most of my reviews, you'll know we're going to go straight to the ingredients list to check out what's in the CC cushion. I have to thank the Biotherm people for being so kind as to send me the photograph of the ingredients list! The press kit I received had gorgeous special packaging, which unfortunately meant that I didn't have the ingredients list. But they were nice enough to send it to me, so I can get my nerd on, haha. So let's start the review!

Etude House Precious Mineral Moist Any Cushion Swatches and First Impressions

Etude House's Precious Mineral Any Cushion line of BB Cushions is one of their most popular products, and in November last year, the brand introduced the Etude House Precious Mineral Moist Any Cushion - yes, the word "Moist" indicates that this is a new line to the BB cushion range, and the line is new. The Moist Any Cushion is supposed to give you the dewy, moist-looking finish favoured by so many Kbeauty looks, and also, according to Etude House, contains some skincare ingredients too.

Etude House Moist Any Cushion: A new addition to the Precious Mineral line of BB Cushions

Just so you aren't confused, the "regular" line of Precious Mineral Any Cushion is just called "Precious Mineral Any Cushion", and is the original BB cushion launched by Etude House. To this range, Etude House added the Precious Mineral Magic Any Cushion in 2014 (the "Magic" word denoting the line), and these were basically colour-correcting primers/bases in BB cushion form, which I had swatched and reviewed before. And in 2015, Etude House added the Precious Mineral Pearl Aura Any Cushion, where the "Pearl Aura" is supposed to denote a nice, dewy "pearl-like" finish, reviewed before too. So as you can see, although the products are different, they do have similar names, and if you're new to the brand, it can get a tad confusing!


Etude House Precious Mineral Moist Any Cushion: The 3 shades in the Moist Any Cushion line
Given that Etude House already has a "Pearl Aura" BB cushion to help give skin a dewy finish, I was curious as to why they launched a "Moist" BB cushion. Wouldn't it be a bit of a duplication? So, the other day when I was in store, I got some swatches of the Precious Mineral Moist Any Cushion, and although it's a little overdue, I guess it's better late than never to share these swatches!

The Face Shop Oil Control Water Cushion Review and Ingredients Analysis

The Face Shop Oil Control Water Cushion SPF50+ PA+++ is the latest BB cushion to come from the brand, and it seems to have been advertised just for this hot weather we've been having - two of the key features being marketed are that it is waterproof, and has oil-control properties. That's gotta be good for hot weather, right?

The Face Shop Oil Control Water Cushion: Waterproof, and Long Lasting

The Face Shop Oil Control Water Cushion comes in two shades, V201 Apricot Beige, which is the lighter shade, and V203 Natural Beige, the darker shade. I have V203 Natural Beige with me, and although it isn't the best match for my skintone because it was too dark and orange, but it was the "default" shade that was sent to me. Which is a pity, because the Water Cushion does have a lot to recommend it! So if you see me looking kind of Oompa Loompa orange in my FOTD or swatches, don't worry, it's the result of a less-than-optimal shade match!


The Face Shop Oil Control Water Cushion: Perfect for hot weather and summer days
So, now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's start the review - by taking a look at the formula and ingredients list!

Etude House Any Cushion Pearl Aura Review and Ingredients Analysis

Etude House's Any Cushion Pearl Aura (full name Precious Mineral Any Cushion Pearl Aura) is the latest BB cushion to come from the brand. The Pearl Aura Cushion is, as the name suggests, infused with a brightening liquid for "pearl aura", or a highlighting effect. The idea is that the "pearl aura" will give you the glowy skin finish that is so popular in Asia, particularly Korea. As an additional benefit, the Pearl Aura Any Cushion also comes with SPF50+/PA+++ for sun protection, too!

Etude House Any Cushion Pearl Aura: The latest addition to Etude House's Precious Mineral Any Cushion line

I kind of have to admit, despite the popularity of glowy skin, I've found it to be something I have mixed feelings towards. While I love the idea of glowy skin - I mean, nothing says youth like radiant-looking skin, right? - when you live in a hot and humid climate, as I do, sometimes the "glowy" finish really verges more into "sweaty, and really gross looking" instead. It's rare to find a product that has enough glow to be noticeable, but still subtle enough to not look too glittery or overdone. So, I decided to put the Any Cushion Pearl Aura to the test, and see how it fares on me!


Etude House Any Cushion Pearl Aura: The idea is to give a "pearl aura" glowy finish to the skin
Etude House's Pearl Aura Any Cushion comes in only two shades, "Light Pearl Aura" and "Natural Pearl Aura". I have the shade Natural Pearl Aura for review today. There's so many questions we have to answer: What's the finish of this really like, glowy or gross? How does it fare on your skin? And what exactly is the "Pearl Aura" made of, anyway? So, let's get to the review!

Lancome Miracle Cushion Foundation Ingredients Review and Analysis: Is It Similar to Korean BB Cushions?

Lancome's Miracle Cushion Foundation Liquid Cushion Compact SPF 23/PA++ is the first cushion foundation from a Western brand (if not one of the first), and it seems to be launched to much aplomb and fanfare in the West, (it hasn't hit this part of the world yet, though!). I found this entire trend interesting - while Western makeup and beauty trends are still exported to Asia, it also seems like the cross-pollination of beauty trends definitely goes both ways now. From the advertising I've been seeing Lancome do in the Western market, I was slightly amused to see that it was launched in the West to such fanfare and noise, with collaborations with Lisa Eldridge, Penelope Cruz modeling the product, Instagram hashtags, a mini-movie, and a microsite proclaiming the "new technology inside".

Lancome Miracle Cushion Foundation: Launched with guns blazing! (Source)

I had a bit of a "Whoa, Nelly!" moment at all the fanfare, because BB cushions and cushion foundations have been popular in Asia for awhile. And like all beauty products, it is very much a trend-based phenomenon, and more marketing gimmick that actual substantial formulation change. I've written previously about BB creams (and CC creams) and whether they justified the hype behind them, and also BB and CC cushions and whether the product was worth the hype as well, so I thought it would be interesting to take a similar ingredients analysis-based approach to Lancome's Miracle Cushion. (On a totally unrelated side note, I find it interesting that Lisa Eldridge - I absolutely admire her, by the way - is holding the cushion applicator puff the way you would a normal foundation sponge when applying traditional liquid foundation, rolled up in her hand. I've never seen anyone in Asia apply their cushions holding the applicator this way, because you could tear the thin applicator puff over time. Most people I've seen just press the puff flat to their face with tapping motions to blend, rather than roll or rub the applicator across the face.)

Lancome Miracle Cushion Foundation: Collaboration with Lisa Eldridge (Source)

I thought an interesting question to explore would be: From a formulation perspective, is the Lancome Miracle Cushion actually any different from the myriad of Korean BB cushions and cushion foundations we have here already? In fact, since BB cushions and CC cushions are really just souped up versions of BB creams and CC creams, are they even any different from your run-of-the-mill BB cream? Or, for that matter, a more traditional tinted moisturizer or foundation?

I thought this question was worth exploring, although I've already written about BB/CC Cushions before, because there is often a perception that Western BB creams/CC creams are somehow "inferior" to Asian BB and CC creams, although, as I've blogged before, from a formulation perspective, they're not significantly different. In fact, when I first blogged about BB creams and how they weren't really worth the hype a few years back, I got a bunch of feedback from some diehard BB cream fans saying that I was doing the analysis wrong, and that I needed to look at Asian BB creams because those were so much better than Western BB creams (nevermind that 1. I'm an Asian girl born, bred, and living in Asia, and 2. I looked at primarily Asian brand BB creams for that post). I guess what I'm trying to find out here is whether this perception of a Western BB/CC Cream/Cushion/Foundation is really justified by the ingredients, and since Lancome has just launched its Miracle Cushion, it seemed like the perfect time to compare a Western Cushion to several Asian ones, and see if there was really any difference!