BB Cream and Foundation Swatches

I gathered some BB creams and foundations, each of which I bought in the past 3 years. I stick to the lightest shades, but as you can see in the picture, it can be very hard finding the right one, especially when your local drugstores don't believe in the luxury of testers.

(as described in the following article left to right)

1. NIVEA BB Cream, Light

This was my first BB Cream and also the first one to appear in the local drugstores (Slovakia). I rushed to buy it but ended up disappointed. While it has the most beautiful typical NIVEA smell, clean and creamy, it has horrible colours - the light shade is literally orange. It also doesn't blend too well and is too thick. I wish they made more shades and made the consistency more watery, because the smell really appeals to me.

2. NYC Natural Matte Foundation, 01 Ivory

Most people have trouble with their skin getting oily underneath foundations. I don't, so I can't really tell you much about whether this one will cause the same effect. My problem with this foundation though is the horrible smell. It smells like something you might want to keep off your skin, not to mention your face. I also dislike the packaging, it gets dirty very fast and is not very hygienic. It didn't take me long to abandon this product for something else. The cons make it pointless to talk about the pros (nice shade, decent coverage).

3. Rimmel BB cream 9 in 1, SPF 25, Light

I am fairly satisfied with this product. It might not have the best "light" shade, but it is very affordable, doesn't have any hideous properties such as odorous smell, and it serves the purpose for everyday use. My only problem is that it doesn't blend too well and needs to dry a while. There's better products to choose from and definitely ones I prefer over this one.

4. Garnier BB cream Miracle Skin Perfector for Combination to Oily Skin, Light

My absolute favourite of the year. I don't exactly have oily skin, but I do have weird skin that changes its mind a lot (from morning grease to afternoon 100% dry). This product provides everything I expect from a BB cream: fitting light yellowy shade, good coverage for everyday use, liquid consistency (easily blendable), elegant packaging and non-toxic smell. Inside its tube, it does smell like something chemical, but not overly so. It dries almost instantly and leaves the skin smooth, spotless and natural within seconds. I love it, I will buy it again. Unless I find something better which might be hard to do, at least when talking about drugstore products.

5. Dermacol Make-up Cover, 208

This is a killer makeup. It covers up everything. The one problem is the shades - drugstores usually only stock the darker, useless shades that 95% of the local population can´t use. I ordered mine online and just for fun picked the lightest one available. Fine, I probably overdid it this time. Although, like most people, I do not plan to use this for my whole face.  It is mostly just way too heavy for everyday use (it was designed for a TV studio after all). For me, it serves better as a concealer/highlighter for my undereye area and I guess it will last me forever since you really don´t need to apply much. Lastly, it is very affordable, Dermacol Online Store offers you a 4 euro credit after the registration and since I picked my order up in person, it ended up being only 0.60 euro ;-)

Sidenote: Be careful with the tube, it's made of the kind of metal plastic that bends easily and then keeps the shape so you won't be able to fix that.