Givenchy Teint Couture Balm Review, Swatches Ingredients Analysis and FOTD

Givenchy Teint Couture Balm (aka Givenchy Teint Couture Blurring Foundation Balm) SPF15 is the latest base product for skin to come from Givenchy. Givenchy has some really gorgeous face makeup - their Prisme Libre loose powders, as well as their little squares of pressed finishing/brightening powders are some of my favourites (and I recently hauled yet more of their stuff, as this IG photo shows), and make up some of the brands best known products. So I had high expectations for the Teint Couture Balm.

Givenchy Teint Couture Balm SPF15: The latest lightweight foundation/BB cream-type product from Givenchy

The Teint Couture Balm is advertised as being a "an invisible, ultralightweight, skin-fusion foundation for a flawless, bare-skin effect, and it's a lighter foundation/base product addition to Givenchy's range. I'm pretty late to the party - these were launched a couple of months ago, but I'm only reviewing them now, but on the bright side, a thorough review is always good, right? And I'm glad to say, the Teint Couture Balm performs very nicely!


Givenchy Teint Couture Balm SPF15: Also known as Teint Couture Blurring Foundation Balm in some countries
And by thorough, I do mean thorough - I've got swatches, ingredients analysis, and a photo of the Teint Couture Balm on my face! Of course, we'll start with my favourite part - the ingredients analysis of the product.

Etude House Disney Princess Happy Ending Swatches and Review!

Etude House's Disney Princess Collection, Princess Happy Ending, recently launched in stores. If you've been following me on Instagram, you'll know how much I love this collection - I feel like the Disney Princess theme really fits in very well with Etude House's girly, innocent, princess-like aesthetic. So this is definitely bound to be a match made in heaven! I mean, just look at all that gorgeous boxes and packaging!

Etude House Disney Princess Happy Ending Collection: That's a big collection this time round!

There are a lot of products in this range - three glitter eyeshadows, two blushes, two lipsticks, one mascara, four nail sets, and two BB creams. The colours in the collection are inspired by some of the Disney Princesses - there are colours after Jasmine, Belle, Cinderella, and Snow White. What you see above in the photo is the entire collection - which I will review in stages, but I thought, since I've been getting requests for swatches and reviews, I thought I'd do some swatches of the makeup items in one post first, so that the post will be just in time as you guys contemplate what to buy from the collection.

As usual, packaging is Etude House's strong point. I can't quite think of a brand that has packaging quite as girly and as cute as this, without venturing into girly-overdose territory. For the Etude House X Disney Princess Collection, the packaging has been made to look like story books - the nail sets. Everything except the eyeshadows and lipsticks have these super cute boxes. Just take a look below!


Etude House Disney Princess Happy Ending Collection: The packaging looks like cute little fairytale books.
But I know that this is supposed to be a swatch post, not an ogling-over-the-packaging post (again, if you've been following me on Instagram, you'd have seen that already), so without further ado, here are some swatches of the makeup items in the Etude Disney Princess Collection!

BB/CC Cushion vs BB/CC Cream: What's the Difference?

BB cushion and CC cushion products have been all the rage among Asian (primarily Korean) makeup brands in the past few months, sometimes referred to collectively as "air cushions" by some blogs I read. If this sounds like a BB cream or CC cream (not that there is very much difference between the two - in a previous post I had done an ingredients analysis of BB and CC creams and found virtually no difference between them. And later on I had also done an ingredients analysis on a DD cream, and again found no difference), it's because BB and CC cushions are like BB/CC creams: the formula is the same, but instead of packaging it in a tube, it is now in compact form. Inside the compact is a sponge soaked with BB or CC cream, which forms a "reservoir" of product. To apply the product, you can use a polyurethane puff that comes with the compact. And off you go - a brand new product to sell to the masses who otherwise wouldn't buy another BB cream because they have 8 tubes from different brands sitting around at home. You may have seen the ads for products like the Laneige Snow BB Soothing Cushion and the Etude House Precious Mineral Any Cushion. These are two of the most popular examples, but there are many others out there, as my home-cooked graphic illustrates:

Now, I recognize that a change in packaging and application sometimes may be appealing enough to the consumer to warrant a purchase, and I'll get into that later. But given all the advertising hype, I wanted to ask the question: from a formulation standpoint, is there really any difference between BB cushions and plain ol' BB creams?

Julep DD Creme Ingredients Review and Analysis: Is It Really Different?

So Julep has decided that BB creams are so old hat, and consumers aren't going to raise an eyebrow at a CC cream either. So what's a marketing team to do? That's right - move to the next letter of the alphabet and double it! Hence, the DD cream was born. And as you might expect, every blogger and emagazine laps it up, and Julep gets a lot of press even before the product is launched. All bodes well, so the marketing team thinks, "Ha! Gotcha suckers! Fall for a change in two letters in the product name! We'll all be getting great bonuses this year! Muahahaha!"


Not even launched, and all the hype already...(Image source from Julep website)
Okay, I kid. The above is just my "artist's impression", as they call it, of how the Julep DD Creme (note the tres posh spelling - the English word for "cream" apparently isn't enough to justify a high price tag, so "creme" it is). But I came to the conclusion that Julep's DD Creme is probably more a marketing-driven effort than any technological breakthrough because there is fundamentally no big difference between the ingredients in Julep's DD Creme, and the existing products already out in the market. It really is the same old stuff, just rebranded.

I'm Making My Own BB Cream!

Now, recall back when I wrote my post a few months ago, comparing BB creams ingredients versus their actual skin benefit? I was pilloried for that post, as I might have guessed. Nevermind that in my original post, I had caveated, "I'm not saying ALL BB creams suck, and I'm not saying ALL BB creams will aggravate sensitive skin. Some brands have better formulation than others, and some brands have more restrained marketing than others, so like any other beauty product, you will find those that live up to the hype, and those that just plain suck." A lot of people thought I was unfairly criticizing their beloved product. After all, I sometimes see a very cult-like following for BB creams. You can't really tell from the comments on the original blogpost of course, as I felt even the ones that disagreed with me posted respectful comments. So it's not like everyone who disagreed was a childish troll, and yes, I do appreciate constructive criticism, and respectful debate (hey, what do you think I spent my time doing at University?). But elsewhere on the web, there were critical posts full of sarcasm, and people just dissing me as stupid or gullible. (Because a gullible consumer looks past the marketing and hype and reads the ingredients list and does her own research - yep!)

(Image source. Text by me.)
So anyway. I figured, as the adage goes, if you can't beat them, join them! So, based on all the really crappy but popular BB cream formulations there are out there, I plan to launch my very own BB cream, have it made in a standard private label cosmetics manufacturer, put some Korean celeb on the ads, and voila - make LOTZ OF MONEEYY! Because, after all, that's what the BB cream companies are doing. As another ex-industry beauty blogger put it, "Can you really imagine MAC [having] its own brush factory or Shu Uemura [having] its own curlash making machine? They don’t. In fact, no cosmetic company does. We all source from brush manufacturers, [who] offer no exclusivity, except of course that they will not stamp the MAC brand to another brush customer." She was talking about brushes specifically in her post, but a similar principle applies to cosmetics as a whole, too - anyone recall Napoleon Perdis?

Kiehl's Actively Correcting & Beautifying BB Cream: Review, Swatch, and FOTD

Kiehl's has launched a new BB cream - the Actively Correcting & Beautifying BB Cream. While BB creams are no stranger to the market, and are starting to feel to me like a marketing fad that has overstayed its welcome (I've actually previously blogged about how BB creams mis-market themselves), nevertheless, it is good to see that even though I have a "meh" attitude to most of the BB creams on the market, along comes a BB cream that does manage to impress me on multiple counts. And so, I took it upon myself to share it with you guys!

BB/CC Creams Hype vs Ingredients: Do They Actually Work?

BB creams have been a steady trend that's been going strong for the past few years, and the trend has even been exported from Asia to the West. A lot of these BB creams make very outlandish claims that are not always backed up by their ingredients list, so I thought I'd write a post on what exactly BB creams are, as opposed to how they are marketed. Because, you know, you can't always trust the marketing!

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Part One: What are BB/CC creams? Why do they have so much hype?

First, what is a BB cream? Why is it getting so much hype? Well, a lot of this is due to the marketing that goes behind these creams. They look like tinted moisturizer or foundation in tubes, but the marketing that accompanies these products is often crazily hyperbolic. Often BB creams promise a myriad of skincare benefits all at once (the most common combination is typically whitening, anti-wrinkle, and UV protection), which leads to the perception that these creams are good for your skin. CC creams also promise similar benefits - they're really just souped up BB creams, if you will.

Some of my non-Asian readers may not be as familiar with BB creams, so let me show you how crazy the hype and advertising can be, by looking at some of these ads. I kid you not, they do promise everything and the kitchen sink:


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Above, your usual "whitening, anti-wrinkle, and UV protection" spiel. Below, a BB cream that promises to "supply moist and nutritional contents to keep smooth skin tone". I'm not too sure if "nutritional" is the right word...I mean, you don't exactly eat BB cream. Sure, what you put on your skin does affect the condition of your skin, but your skin doesn't really absorb nutrients in the same way that your stomach does, so you can't really supply nutrition to your skin this way. In fact, most of the time, the function of the skin is to act as a barrier between the environment and your innards, and keep germs and other nasties out.


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More "triple functional" BB creams, with the usual "whitening, anti-wrinkle, and UV protection" spiel. Many of them, in fact. This one below has some sort of snail extract, which is supposed to have extra skincare benefits. Now I believe you shouldn't knock something til you've tried it, but I can't help thinking that it's just a bit gross. Snails = gross, slimy creatures. Do not want on face!

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And this one below, besides your typical "whitening, anti-wrinkle, and UV protection" sales message, there is also some anti-pimple skincare promise too ("zero trouble").

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Contributing to the hype is the fact that some BB cream brands advertise themselves as having natural or organic ingredients, thus furthering the marketing story. As an example, this one below has "15 natural extracts an nutritious ingredients" for "added skincare benefits". Once again, I'm not sure exactly how BB cream (or any makeup product for that matter) can be nutritious to your skin.

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Of course, now that Western brands have jumped on the bandwagon, they're no different. 8-in-1 skincare benefits? Really? Sheesh.



Part Two: Why write a post on BB creams?

Now that we're all on the same page on BB creams and what they are, the reason why I decided to write this post is because I feel like given the disproportionate amount of beauty claims these creams are making, most of these BB creams don't actually live up to the hype. In fact, some can actually aggravate acne and sensitive skin.

L'Oreal Lucent Magique Foundation, BB Cream, Concealer Swatches

L'Oreal has launched the Lucent Magique range, consisting of foundation, BB cream, and concealer. The Lucent range of products claims to give you a dewy, flawless glowing canvas that looks like you have no makeup on. It's a way to get that lit-from-within Korean pop star look that's been pretty popular in Asia lately. And, I've got swatches!

First, let's start with the foundation, the L’Oreal Lucent Magique Light Infusing Foundation. In Singapore, we get 6 shades, in a mix of undertones. The shade names start with R, G, and N - R (Rosy) denotes pink-toned shades, G (Gold) denotes warm shades, and N (Neutral) is for neutral undertones. Part of the selling point is also that the Lucent foundations have light-reflecting pigments to give your skin a dewy look.

L-R: G7, G4, R2, N7, N5, N2

G7 is a deep, warm-toned shade.
G4 is a medium, warm shade.
R2 is a fair shade, around the same lightness as N2, but it's pinker than N2.
N7 is a deep neutral shade, less yellow than G7 but comparable otherwise.
N5 is a medium neutral shade.
N2, which I think is closest to my skin (MAC NC20), is a neutral light beige.

The foundation has a lightweight texture that dries quickly. During the demonstration, the makeup artist explained that for such a quick-drying foundation, the dot-and-blend method may not be as effective as the foundation would dry too fast. Instead, she applied it evenly to sections of the face with a foundation brush and blended instead. We were shown the "CCTV technique" - apply the foundation in a C shape on both cheeks, a T on T-zone, and a V on the chin. To set, she lightly dusted over the foundation with the L'Oreal True Match powder.

The L'Oreal Lucent range also consists of a primer and BB cream, as well as two shades of concealer. Let's start off with the Lucent Magique Pure Light Primer and Lucent Magique Skin Illuminating BB Cream. Both come out of their tubes as white creams. The BB Cream is supposed to blend into your natural skin shade upon application. The primer comes out a white, light liquid with shimmer. The BB cream was a little thicker in texture and more gritty.


Lastly, the Lucent Magique Pure Light Touch-up Pen. This is pretty multi-purpose too; in addition to being used as a concealer, the makeup artist also used it as a eyeshadow primer/lid brightener to good effect. There are two shades, Light, and Fair. A handy tip given to us was to use the concealer on the brow, cheek bone, and a dot at the sides of lips for a brightening effect.


Light is a pink-toned light beige.
Fair is also a light beige, but more yellow.

I've always thought L'Oreal was one of the better drugstore brands for foundation, due to the good shade range and aesthetic elegance of the products. The Lucent Magique range hasn't changed my mind - the foundation is lightweight and covers well, and comes in realistic skintone shades. If you're looking for a high-end foundation on a drugstore budget, this is worth trying.

Shills Disco BB Whiten Conceal Disk Swatch

Shills is a Taiwanese brand very much engaged in Asian beauty as far as its products are concerned - there's a whole slew of BB creams, and other products including various types of skincare, such as moisturizers, and products to clean up the gunk in your pores. Today's quick entry is a swatch of their Disco BB Whiten Conceal Disk Swatch.

The Shills Disco BB Whiten Conceal Disk is a BB cream that has a rather thick emollient texture, and is thicker than most BB creams. It doesn't come in a tube, like most BB creams. Instead it comes in pan form (hence the name Disk). The packaging sort of looks like the Max Factor Pan-Cakes, if anyone still remembers those.

The colour of the Shills Disco BB Whiten Conceal Disk is very peach leaning, and swatching it, I felt like it felt very silicone-y - it had that characteristic silicone slip and feel. It eventually blends to a dry finish, and does not have any shimmer or glitter. On my NC20 skin, it looked a little bit peachier than my skin, but would probably blend better if sheered out more.

Maybelline Pure Mineral BB Mousse Review/Swatch/FOTD

Since BB creams were introduced a few years back, it looks like the BB trend is still going strong, and consumers remain eager to snap up more BB-themed products. With that in mind, Maybelline's latest BB-themed product, the Pure Mineral BB Mousse SPF30, is sure to be a hit.

For those not familiar with BB creams, this was the product that started off the whole BB trend. BB creams were Blemish Balms (BB), touted to provide coverage as well as skincare benefits. In practice, a lot of BB creams I've come across are similar to creamy foundations and thick tinted moisturizers, right down to the ingredients (I need to do a post on the ingredients in BB creams sometime, but I'll probably get slammed for it). Hence I've been very skeptical of the "BB" label - like the words "mineral" and "natural", to me it's just marketing spiel to sell products. And as with supposedly "natural" or "mineral" products, the wild claims made by some brands have made me, and other consumers, I'm sure, tired of the whole BB label altogether.

Fortunately Maybelline is smart enough to put a new twist on an old product. The selling point of the Pure Mineral BB Mousse (wow, two marketing keywords here - BB and mineral) is not so much that it's a BB product, although there are some skincare claims made, but rather that it's a mousse. The mousse is supposed to lend a lightweight texture and feel to the product, and is supposed to be easy to apply too. Sounds like a winner, right?

The Pure Mineral BB Mousse is dispensed through a can bottle with a pump top. It can be a bit tricky to control how much product comes out of the pump (there were a couple of times where I wanted a small dollop and I got lots of foam by pressing too hard), but otherwise, this is convenient and sanitary to use.



This is what the Pure Mineral BB Mousse looks like when first dispensed. It's a huge big dollop of foam! Although it's somewhat similar to Shu Uemura UV Under Base Mousse, in that both are foam products, the novelty value on the Pure Mineral BB version is still quite high. I mean, the foam looks fun, right?



I have to admit, when I first saw that foam, I was wondering, how am I supposed to apply this to my face? Do I just smoosh the entire dollop of foam on my face and rub? Do I apply the foam bit by bit to my face? Do I use my fingers? Do I use a brush? Man, using this foam product was harder than I thought! But eventually I found that fingers worked best, and because the foam dries fast, whether you are using a large dollop or a small dollop, it's better to work on your face in sections (e.g. forehead first, then right cheek, left cheek, nose, etc).

Here's a swatch of what the product looks like. It actually dries pretty fast upon application, and dries out to a pretty matte finish, without any shimmer or glitter. It blends out decently with my skin, especially if using a thin layer. Although the product itself is slightly more orangey and darker than my actual NC20 skintone, I found that with a bit of blending, the colour match isn't too bad. Another thing is that because this product dries matte, it does have a tendency to settle into fine lines and creases, and the effect worsens the more product is used (my under eye area didn't look too good with this product). So if you have fine lines, be careful not to pile it on!



To me, the really tricky part of using the Maybelline Pure Mineral BB Mousse was really the application. The mousse itself is pretty blendable, but once it dries, it doesn't really blend very well, so I found it best to work quickly while the mousse was still wet to get an even coat, if not the result could look patchy. But overall, I didn't have any problems with application. I found that the finish was pretty matte, which is to my preference. Here's a shot of me wearing the Maybelline BB Mineral Mousse. As you can ese, it blended into my skin just fine. I was worried the colour match would be off, but it turned out alright.



Weartime on this was also pretty decent. I found that if I perspired alot, some of the mousse on my skin would rub off unevenly, and end up looking patchy, and it's hard to fix the patchiness after that (I mean, what am I supposed to do? Put on more mousse? Cover it up with powder?). But otherwise, if I wasn't running around, I found this quite good, as it stayed on my skin and didn't move or shift. I found that if I set it with a bit of transparent loose powder, the staying power is actually quite impressive. I wore it out for half a day, and by the end of the day, mhy T-zone started looking a little oily, but the other parts of my face were fine.

All in all, I quite like this product, but I wouldn't wear it if I knew I was going to be in for a time where I would be sweating a lot. If you have a lot of fine lines, the Mineral BB Mousse may also settle into them. But if you want a matte finish foundation that has good staying power (as long as you aren't sweating), this is a good bet. The mousse foam is really cute, too, and the novelty factor is really quite fun. I think Maybelline has just found their next big hit!

(Product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

Ginvera Nude Cover Green Tea BB Cream and Aqua Whitening Cream: Review/Swatch

Ginvera is a Singapore-based brand mostly known for its whitening range of skincare products, often infused with green tea-based ingredients designed to appeal to the Asian market. Their most popular products include, up to this point, include the Green Tea Marvel Gel, which is an exfoliator in gel form, as well as the Green Tea Spot Corrector. In keeping with the whitening, green tea-infused theme, Ginvera has released two new products to their whitening line.



One is a moisturizer, the Aqua Whitening Cream, while the other is a BB cream, that ever popular Asian foundation substitute. Both products come in plastic tubes and are housed in plastic boxes. The products are all green in colour, in keeping with the rest of the colour scheme for the whitening products.



The Aqua Whitening Cream is billed as a moisturizer with oil control benefits, and is thus marketed towards girls with normal/combination skin. It is supposed to moisturize your skin while preventing it from getting too oily. I rather liked this product, as it blended in easily and worked well under makeup. It did feel a little thick for a moisturizer, though - this is definitely a moisturizer with a creamier texture, as opposed to a more watery, gel-like feel.



The Nude Cover Green Tea BB Cream is a BB cream, and also claims to have skin-healing benefits in addition to being a cosmetic product. It also has SPF30 for sun protection. Initially, I thought this looked rather dark in the bottle, but it blended out to be fairer than it appeared at first.



Here are swatche of both products. As you can see, both products blended nicely into the skin. The moisturizer sinks into the skin nicely and doesn't leave any residue. And the BB cream also blends in well. I really appreciate that it doesn't have any glitter, so you don't have to fear the dreaded discoball effect with this BB cream!



One of the other things I really liked about the BB cream was that for possibly the first time ever in my life, I actually found a match in a BB cream! Most BB creams tend to run really pink (like the CU Skin BB cream I tried before), making it hard for me to find a match, so I was pretty excited to find a BB cream that would work for me. And I also like the finish on this one - it isn't as oily-looking or overly-shiny as some other BB creams are, and although it is also on the shiny side, it doesn't make my face look like an oil slick.

Here's an FOTD of the BB cream, just so you can see that it's actually a match for me (NC20 in MAC). Coverage of the BB cream is also decent, and I'd call it medium. It won't cover any very major spots, and as you can see it didn't cover all the blemishes on my skin, but if you have decent skin to start off with, it will cover minor imperfections.



If you are looking for a decent moisturizer or a BB cream, this would be worth checking out. If you've had previous issues with BB creams being too pink on your skin, the Ginvera BB cream may just work for you. Both products retail for S$16.90, so even girls on a budget would be able to appreciate these items. Right now, Ginvera is having a promotion on their Facebook, so you can head over there to redeem your FREE NEW AQUA WHITENING CREAM (with Oil Control) & NUDE COVER BB CREAM SPF30/PA++ samples, at https://www.facebook.com/ginvera.sg?sk=app_213564948660624 or http://www.facebook.com/ginvera.sg.

(Product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

Kiss Me Heroine Make Essence in BB Cream Swatch

BB creams are makeup bases that have become extremely popular in Asia over the last couple of years. They make wild, grandiose claims about being good for your skin, with anti-wrinkle, whitening, blemish-clearing properties, but the ones that I've seen tend to feel like heavy, over-emollint, shiny tinted moisturizers. I kid you not. But still, they're hugely popular in Asia, so there you go.

Despite my personal reservations about the health benefits of BB creams (reading through the ingredients lists of most BB creams just makes my skin squirm!), I've decided to swatch a BB cream for today's post - just because I love you guys, and I figure even if I'm not interested in it, some of you might.

The BB cream swatched today is the Kiss me Heroine Make Essence in BB Cream. For people unfamiliar with the product, Kiss Me is the brand, and the rest is just gobbledygook in attempting to give the product a catchy name. Gotta love Asian brands - they always feel the need to over-name their products.


L-R: Kiss me Heroine Make in Essence BB Cream applied heavily, then spread out lightly

The Kiss Me Heroine BB cream doesn't feel very much different from other BB creams I've seen. Heavy, oily feel - check. Lots of shine - check. Sparkles and discrete specks of glitter - check. The glitter is a major reason why I abstain from BB creams - I just can't deal with sparkle or glitter in my foundation products. I hate looking like a discoball.

The good thing about this, though, is that unlike other BB creams I've seen, the colour in this one is actually more yellow-based, which makes it more wearable. It has been my experience that quite a lot of BB creams run very pink, making them unwearable for most Asians. So if you generally like the texture, feel and pigmentation of a typical BB cream, but have been having issues with the colour range being too pink, this could be worth checking out.

FOTD/Review: CUSkin BB Cream and Pure Whitening Cream

CUSkin is a brand hailing from Korea, and two of its most heavily advertised items are the requisite staples of Korean skincare - a BB Cream, and a whitening cream. The Whitening and Wrinkle Repair BB Cream, as well as the Pure Whitening Cream have both been getting a lot of press in the past couple of months, and I thought I'd take the opportunity to introduce my thoughts on these products to you.

Now, before I start on this review, I'd like to state upfront that I was only provided with sample sachets of the product, so my review will be limited in a couple of ways. I won't be able to tell you how these products work in the long run (e.g. I can't tell you whether it will break you out after 6 weeks), but I can do some swatches, as well as an FOTD. I'd also be able to give an overview of the texture, colour, and other cosmetic properties of the products. So now that all the disclaimers are out of the way, let's get on to the review, shall we?



Anyway, let's start first with the Pure Whitening Cream. It's a cream, but it doesn't quite feel like one, having a very light texture that's a cross between a gel and a cream. It's white in the packaging, but it quickly spreads out and becomes clear upon application. It's also easily absorbed, so it's easy to wear in a hot or humid climate, or during summer. You won't get a sticky-face feeling with this one.



The Whitening and Wrinkle Repair BB Cream has some of the most grandiose of claims - whitening and wrinkle repair, both of them. While I can't exactly tell you whether it really fulfills its skincare claims, because I haven't tried it out for long enough, I am quite happy to say that as a BB cream, it's actually pretty good.



Like most BB creams, this one has a very, well, creamy texture, that is actually quite similar to the primers found in Western brands. I half suspect this is due to the fact that BB Creams typically tend to be laden with silicones, in a manner that's similar to Western-brand primers. So if you've tried other BB creams and have liked them, and if you like the feel of silicon-bearing products, then this will be a good one for you to try.

Also, like most BB creams, the colour is actually on the pink side. I'm NC20, and I actually found it a bit too pink for me. Still, because it blends out well, as you can see from the photo above, the pink-ness isn't as bad as some other BB creams. I think even if the shade doesn't match perfectly, it's possible to pull it off, as long as there is plenty of blending. I've tried BB creams where the pink is so obvious that the colour looks all weird and pink and ashy when applied, but this one fortunately blends in much better, although it's not exactly a match.

And since I know we all love before-and-after photos, here's a before-and-after FOTD I've done just for you guys!

Here's a picture of my bare skin, with nothing but the Pure Whitening Cream. OMG I HAVE NO MAKEUP ON ! THE HORROR! :P



And here's a photo of me with just the BB cream on. As you can see, it provides pretty decent coverage for a BB cream, although it's still quite sheer. It covers up some smaller areas of blemishes, although for larger skin issues, such as acne spots or scars, it would be best paired with another conceaer underneath, or a powder on top to provide extra coverage.



And although I thought it would be too pink for my skin, it actually blended in pretty well. If you squint and look closely, you'd be able to see that my face is perhaps a hair pinker than my neck, but I don't think most people would notice the colour difference, unless they were searching for it.

Lastly, as the photos show, the CUSkin BB cream has a very luminous finish - and I mean, very luminous. You can positively see the light bouncing off my face in the photo, LOL!

And here's the finished FOTD. I decided to go for a clear skin, red lips kind of look. Can you see the light reflecting off my face?



Here's the breakdown of the look for anyone interested:
Face:
CUSkin Whitening and Wrinkle Repair BB Cream
Stila Peony Convertible Color

Eyes:
NARS Abyssinia
Urban Decay Underground 24/7 Eyeliner Pencil
Rimmel Lash Accelerator Mascara

Lips:
GOSH Velvet Touch Lipstick Hot n' Sweet 139

So, do you need this? Well, if you're into whitening products, and have been looking for a lightweight BB cream and whitening cream, this one is worth a go. It's best suited for girls who have a slightly pinker tinge to their skin, who like reflective foundations, and do not require much coverage. If you're NW20 or so, this is going to be your perfect shade. However, if you are sensitive to silicones, and are very warm-toned or have a very yellow cast to your skin, then this might not be the best product for you. But as far as Asian skincare products go, this is definitely more than adequate, and worth looking at.

(Product samples provided for review. I'm not affiliated with the company, or compensated for my review in anyway. Thus, this review is my honest and complete opinion on the product.)