Cafe Catalina

I thought I was over my BB cream phase, but NO! I am still buying…large sizes too. 😀 I originally planned to make individual reviews on the BB creams that I have tried so far, but I couldn’t decide which one to review first and thought that it would take me forever to finish them so TA-DAA! Here is a consolidated review on the BB creams that I regularly use.

The contestants:

From left: Lioele Beyond the Solution (I just love that pink tube!), Nanoce BB Moist Cream in Healthy Ochre, Skin79 VIP Gold Super Beblesh Balm (wahahahaha) and L’egere White Multi BB Cream. Nanoce is manufactured by Ishizawa Labs in Japan while the rest are Korean-made. I used each BB cream for a week while maintaining my normal skin regimen in the morning (cleanser, lotion, moisturizer, SPF).

Let the battle begin!

The arena: Age 29 with normal-dry skin. Yellow undertones. NC 35-40 (not 100%  sure because I don’t use MAC). Uneven skin tone on cheeks. Some acne on forehead. Not sensitive. Not acne-prone.

The swatches:

1 – Lioele Beyond the Solution
2 – Nanoce BB Moist Cream (shade #2 – Healthy Ochre)
3 – L’egere White Multi BB Cream
4 – Skin79 VIP Gold Super Beblesh Balm – I dare you to say ‘beblesh’ 10 times without slurring on the ‘blesh’ 😛

Shade: Nanoce, Lioele, Skin79, L’egere
If I only base it on the swatches above, it would seem that L’egere is the best match for my skin tone. The problem is, once you blend L’egere on your skin, it becomes lighter. >_< Definitely not for me, but I can get away with using this if I don’t pile it on. The winner of this round is Nanoce. I love that it is yellow-toned, as opposed to most BB creams being on the gray-pink side. Actually, Nanoce says their BB creams are especially made for the Japanese woman’s skin — I’m pretty sure they meant the yellowish tone.

Consistency: L’egere, Skin79, Nanoce, Lioele
Of the 4, L’egere is the most runny and Lioele is the heaviest and most difficult to blend. L’egere’s fluid texture makes it easy to spread evenly with just your fingers. On the other hand, I have to use a stippling brush to blend Lioele nicely.

Coverage: Lioele, Nanoce, Skin79, L’egere
Due to its heavy consistency, Lioele provides the best coverage. Just a small amount erases redness and hides imperfections. Nanoce is in close second in this round.

Buildability: Nanoce, L’egere, Skin79, Lioele
I discovered that I can only use a pea-sized amount of Skin79 and Lioele for each application. Anything more than that is an Inferius moment. 😀 Not so with Nanoce. I can apply 2 layers of this (maybe even 3) and it won’t cake.

Moisturizing Factor: Nanoce, L’egere, Skin79, Lioele
All 4 are great for dry skin. My skin never feels taut or dehydrated in the 9-10 hours that I have each on my face. I still do not skip moisturizer, though.

SPF: Nanoce, Skin79
Both L’egere and Lioele list titanium dioxide as an ingredient, but do not have an SPF rating. Nanoce is SPF30 PA++, while Skin79 is SPF25 PA++. Again, I still use a separate sunscreen as the last step of my morning skincare routine.

Scent: Skin79, Lioele, L’egere, Nanoce
I generally don’t mind scents in my cosmetics and are not very sensitive to them. I love how Skin79 smells so sweet (kinda flowery?) and clean — I think it’s pretty similar to Dr. Jart. Nanoce, on the other hand, smells like an ointment! The first for any BB cream I tried. Sometimes the scent makes me feel as if I’m putting on something like Katinko Medicated Ointment, instead of a beauty cream. 😀

The verdict

Despite the categories above, I cannot pick just one favorite. Maybe a little bias towards Nanoce (Japan-made) and L’egere (consistency and moisturizing) but I love the other 2 as well. In fact, I’m currently looking for the nicest deal on a full-sized Skin79 Gold 🙂 I use a different BB cream every week, but my preference is also affected by other factors like the weather (on really hot, humid days, I like to use L’egere only) and how late I’m running in the morning (Nanoce is best).

But wait, there’s more!

I just wanted to share the rest of my BB stash:

Except for Missha BB Boomer, I haven’t gotten around to using these regularly because I think I found my HG BB creams. But I hate wasting products so I’ll probably give them a shot in the coming weeks, particularly Dr. Jart Detox Healing Black Label and Mamonde Mineral Moisture BB Cream which look very promising. Hopefully, it won’t take me another 5 months to review some of these! 😀

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