BB Creams

BB creams, also known as Blemish Balm, Blemish Base or Beblesh Balm, are like the Holy Grail when talking about make up. For a short history lesson, it´s said that BB creams were invented in Germany and that they were initially used by dermatologists to help laser surgery patients protect, soothe and refine highly sensitive skin while providing light coverage for post-laser scars, acne and other blemishes.

Even through it´s mainly sold mainly in East and Southeast Asia this cosmetic item is growing more and more famous all over the world. Why wouldn´t? After all now BB creams nowadays can  have skin whitening or brightening properties, others are anti-acne, some are anti-wrinkle, some are intended to even out skin tone, and others to lighten blemish scars. Even you can find BB creams with no color, but most of them are tinted and can have functions of primer, foundation, moisturizer, sun block, pore minimization and skin refining together, which saves a lot of money and also a lot of time when putting on make up. You can get BB creams with light, medium or heavy coverage depending of what you like. You can find them for any type of skin. Also most BB creams have sun protection so you don´t need to apply any sun block.

The only bad thing about BB creams is that normally you can find them in only one or two tones, usually bright beige (#21) or natural beige (#23) even thought some brands have darker or lighter tones depending of the BB cream.

 But  BB creams have many good things: they are perfect for any kind of skin, they improve your skin instead of worsening it as almost all the makeup products do and they are also very cheap. Of course you can also find more expensive ones like everything.

The BB creams in South Korea are so popular that you can find A LOT of brands so you can have plenty of options while buying BB creams.
Brands on the market today include Dr. Jart, Lioele, Skin Food, The Face Shop, Missha, SKIN79, Etude House,Holika Holika, Hanskin, Baviphat, Mamonde, Peripera etc..

Depending on size and brand you can find BB creams with prices from 7 to 26 euros aproximatively, which when you think about it it´s very cheap comparing with European prices.

The problem comes when you want to buy a BB cream because many of the brands don´t sell them on their websites internationally so you normally have to buy them on ebay or other sites. Caution is needed when buying on ebay as many sellers sell fake products so it´s recommended that you buy BB creams just from South Korean sellers and even then it´s better to read the reviews on the seller to be sure.

I highly recommend the seller BELLO-GIRL if you want to but asian cosmetic products on ebay. She sells only original products,and has the contracts that prove it, has great prices, the shipping is free and the shipping time is very short. I bought some products from her and my parcel got to Spain in 10 days. She also sends you a hand written thank you note and some samples. You can also find her on facebook at www.facebook.com/bellogirl . She answers any question you can have and also recommends things if needed. Also, if you order on facebook she gives you a 5% discount. 

Other site where you can buy is www.yesstyle.com, sasa.com or english.gmarket.co.kr . 

BB Cream Review

I would recommend BB creams to anyone. I´m started using Missha Perfect Cover BB cream which has a great coverage, a SPF 42 PA+++ ( PA is used to measure the protection factor of UVA rays,there are 3 degrees of PA which are PA+, PA++, and PA+++, from less to more protection.), effective whitening (which doesn´t mean that it whitens your face just that it evens your skin tone) and anti-wrinkle properties.
I have read many reviews before buying it and this one is one of the best BB creams when talking to coverage (medium-high) an it also has a very good price 12.50 euros for the 50ml size from Bellogirl. I also have the 20ml size and I´ve been using it for the last month almost daily and I still have some in the tube as you need very little.

My second (and third) bb cream were also bought on ebay. As I wanted to try more bb creams, I bought the Peripera I Love BB Light  and the Lioele Beyond Solution (the 30 ml format). I also bought them from Bello- girl ^^. I tries the Lioele Beyond Solution before buying it, as Bello sent me a sample of it and I liked it. It´s only available in one tone. The downside of this bb cream it´s that it doesn´t have any oil control, so it´s great if you have dry skin, but if you have combination skin as I do you probably need to use some powder.It also, doesn´t have any SPF, so it´s great for when you go out at night. The coverage it´s pretty good , medium. 

The other bb cream I bought, the Peripera I Love BB Light it´s a bb cream that´s pretty much the same as the Missha Perfect Cover. It has a great SPF 50 PA+++, medium-high cover, great oil control. It says that it´s for all skin types, but I wouldn´t recommend it if you have dry skin. I´ve got  combination skin and this one it tends to get my skin dryer, so I have to use a moisturizer. Also, if you like to use loose powder, as I do, it can get easily cakey if your sky it´s too dry.Another thing that was a little bit of fail from my part was that I ordered this in summer. It´s tone is a little bit lighter than MPC nr 21, so you have to be careful with the quantity if you don´t want to look to white. Overall, it´s a great great bb cream and well worth it´s price. It cost me aprox. 15 euros from Bello-Girl.