Welcome to the 3rd episode of BB Creamology!
I hope I’ve given you an insight to Western and Asian BB creams so far. Looking at my building stash of BB creams, I have at least 2 more episodes to go. This BB cream craze isn’t ending just yet. 😉
Anyway, today I’ll be reviewing three more Asian BB creams – 2 Korean and 1 Japanese BB cream. You might be able to find a couple of these in Asian beauty stores in Chinatown, although I’d recommend you to get them online instead. The prices at Asian beauty stores are highly marked up and the service is usually appalling.
Here we go!
Shade: Neutral undertones. Comes in only 1 shade.
Texture: Light, soft cream. When you first spread the cream on the skin, it looks like minute droplets of water in the cream before it spreads out like butter. Fascinating stuff.
Fragrance: Very subtle floral. Barely noticeable.
Wet-To-Dry Time: Dries on the skin very quickly and to a matte finish.
Coverage: Light to medium
Sun Protection Factor: SPF27 PA++
Price: Price ranges from $15-$20
Availibility: Asian beauty stores, YesStyle and eBay. I got mine on eBay from this seller without any issues.
LuView BB Aqua Essence Whitening Cream
Shade: Neutral to cool undertones. Available only in 1 shade.
Texture: Liquid-y gel cream. Spreads on the skin very easily.
Fragrance: Slightly musky
Wet-To-Dry Time: Takes a while for the BB cream to dry on the skin. Gives a slightly dewy finish.
Coverage: Medium
Sun Protection Factor: Not available
Price: US$13.80
Availibility: LuView.com
Anessa by Shiseido Face Sunscreen BB
Shade: Strong yellow undertones. Available in 2 shades – Light and Natural. The one that I have is Light.
Texture: Creamy. Takes a bit more effort than the rest to spread on the skin.
Fragrance: Smells like sunscreen (but not strong)
Wet-To-Dry Time: Quick to dry upon application. Dries to a semi-matte finish.
Coverage: Medium
Sun Protection Factor: SPF50+ PA+++
Price: Retails at ¥2520 in Japan (approximately AU$27). Price ranges from $30-$40 on eBay.
Availibility: Asian beauty stores and eBay.
Conclusion:
The Liole Water Drop BB cream came high recommended by Kristina of Pretty Shiny Sparkly. It’s one of her favourite BB creams and after watching a number of videos of her raving about the BB cream, I knew I had to check it out for myself. While I do find the texture of the cream and micro water droplets fascinating, I’m afraid I wasn’t really impressed by it. The coverage is light and barely covers the redness on my skin. Unless you have flawless skin and don’t need to conceal anything, the coverage of the Water Drop is paltry. It’s not a bad BB cream, but just not good enough for me.
The LuView BB cream was recommended by Emily. Since it wasn’t pricey, I thought I’d give it a go as well. There wasn’t any love for this BB cream when I first started using it many months ago because I wasn’t keen on the musky fragrance. However, in time, I began to like the BB cream. Even though at first glance the shade looks too cool on my skin, when it’s spread out, it goes back to neutral. It’s oil-free and doesn’t kick up a fuss with my oily T-zone. The only thing I don’t like about the LuView is that it doesn’t contain SPF, which is strange for BB creams.
I saved the best for last, and that’s the Anessa Face Sunscreen BB. I love the high SPF and the strong yellow undertones work very well with my warm skintone. It covers all the nooks and crannies on my nose without emphasising them. It gives enough coverage to tone down the redness around my nose but not enough to look made up. Again, the high SPF is a sure winner in my books.
Have you tried any of these BB creams before? Your thoughts? What do you think of BB creams without SPF? Yay or nay?
I haven’t tried any of those mentioned here but a lot of others (99% of them are just way to dark for my skintone). I really like the nanoce one and brtc jasmine water (both too dark but mixed they work just fine), oh and I like the evangelist bb cream (also too dark, have to mix). there are so many bb creams, that one really might get confused. now we have cc creams as well, lol. I prefer the asian bb creams over western (or western brands made in japan are ok).
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Hahaha then I have not tried any of the ones you just mentioned! You’re right; there are so many MANY BB creams out there, it’s so easy to get confused. I’m going to try out the BRTC one next. Heard good things 🙂
*singing* you went and saved the best for laaaast! Sorry lol! I couldn’t help it. 🙂
I haven’t tried any of these. I am definitely behind in the BB department, so far I have only tried the Australian Garnier version, and I have issues with calling it a BB cream because I feel like its just a tinted moisturiser. I do love it though.
I need to seriously consider branching out my testing to the Asian brands! 🙂
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Hahahaha Kaye how the heck is it that we haven’t met? I know I’m going to absolutely LOVE you because kid you not, I had that exact song in mind when I wrote that last paragraph 😛
Oh yes it’s definitely time to branch out to Asian BB creams. You’ll look back at most Western ones and go meh. Although I do have to say, the Garnier Oil-Free one still isn’t bad 😉
Thanks for taking the time to review a broad range of BBs; I’m finding that so far the Asian ones outperform the Western ones in terms of coverage and texture! 🙂 But, that is generally speaking (noting your thoughts on the Water Drop product). I keep coming back to my THEFACESHOP Power Perfection BB but find that it breaks me out if I continually use it > than a couple of days in a row.
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Aww that sucks 🙁 I saw that Face Shop BB cream you mentioned last year but didn’t buy that one (got the Aqua something-something one instead). I might give that one a miss now.
I love reading your reviews on these BB creams aside from my admiration for your big haul i mean selection of them hehehe ..i recently went to Thailand for Christmas and there was so many types of BB cream for sell unfortunately I didnt get a chance to buy any, with my little girl, fast on her feet theres no way dear Mummy have time to browse UGH .. i need to train her to be a good fascinated patient takes her time type of shopper soon.
Did I mention to you that Za BB Cream is unavailable now here? 🙁
And NAY on BB Creams without SPF, it beats its existence as BB Creams. I certainly would love to try Anessa because of its high SPF
Hahah thanks! I do go a bit (okay a LOT) nuts when it comes to BB creams. It’s like chocolate. You just can’t get enough 😛
Aww really? Man that sucks, ‘cos the ZA BB cream’s pretty good 🙁
Thanks for the topic on BB cream I have been interested in them for a while but there are so many on the market it’s hard to no where to start. My only concern has been that they will clog the skin causing breakouts but think I will try anyway the high SPF is my start. Kylie
My pleasure Kylie. Hope it helps you in your search for BB creams 🙂
Thank you for this great review. It’s is really helpful in my search for a BB cream. I definitely look for SPF in a BB cream. I’m so glad that you reviewed the Anessa Face Sunscreen, I’m always looking for a good product that can that can offer multiple benefits!
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My pleasure Marisa. The Anessa gives sufficient coverage without being heavy and the high SPF is a definite bonus 🙂
Hi Tine! I really enjoying reading your post about different BB creams. I find out that I always have difficulty in choosing the correct BB cream tone which suit my skin. I guess I need somebody to really recommend to me =D Haha!!
Hahaha I hope some of these BB creams are available in Malaysia. I think Sasa may stock these. Have fun BB-creaming! 😀
As you know, I’m a fan of this series. Didn’t know that Anessa actually has such a good BB cream. Thanks for the reviews!
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Aww thanks Yu Ming! I’ve used Anessa sunscreen for years and was pleasantly surprised when I saw that they’re doing BB creams as well. It’s actually pretty good too 🙂
Thank you for this review! I’m curious to give the Anessa BB cream a try because of its high SPF. I’ve always hesitated to layer BB cream or foundation over my sunscreen in fear of disturbing it, so this sounds perfect.
I’m just wondering what you think about the shade Light vs Natural (if you have looked at Natural)? My skintone is roughly MAC NC25, and I’m not sure if Light would be too light. Thank you!
Hi Emy, I’m a NC35 on MAC and the Light’s just nice on me. Having said that, I honestly don’t believe I’m NC35 and think that they’ve colour-matched me wrongly. I know someone who has darker skintone than I do and she’s NC35.
Drats, I’m not much help now, am I? :-\
Thanks for replying!
I really don’t think you’re NC35 at all. You actually look to have slightly lighter skintone than I do (parts of my face are actually darker than NC25, but I’m matching my neck, which is lighter). I think I might get the Natural shade, since sunscreen typically whitened my skin marginally — and Natural might be good to give me back a little tint.
It’s so strange because I had my foundation matched in Malaysia as NC35 and when I came here, I tried matching it again and MAC matched me to NC35 again. I was like, really?!
Okay I’m going to go there again to do it one more time 😛