First Impression: Pond's Luminous Finish BB+

Greetings from the Dark Side!

Yesterday, I purchased this drugstore BB Cream from Pond's. I've seen it on many blogs and Youtube channels, so I wanted to try it myself. I am not fond of western BB creams and I much prefer Asian ones. But I decided to try this BB cream anyways to see what my first impression of it was (and hopefully to find a good drugstore BB cream). If you are curious keep reading!

Review and Comparison: SKIN79 'The Oriental Gold' BB Cream [Warning:Long Post]

If you have read some of my other posts, you might know that I have been loving the Lioele Triple the Solution BB cream. It was the first BB cream I ever purchased, and I wanted to try out some more BB creams to see if I can find a better one. About 3 weeks ago, I made a purchase on Pretty&Cute because I wanted a back up of my Lioele BB cream since that is what I use on an everyday basis. I also ended up getting another BB cream by SKIN79. I choose the Oriental Gold BB cream because that is what Eki uses, and she recommended that BB cream. It also comes with a lip and cheek tint, so that is a plus.

Price
SKIN79: $23.99 for 40mL of product
Lioele: $28.60 for 50mL


Packaging

You can see what the product claims to do.

At first, I really liked the packaging. The container is pretty and a little heavy; it has the lip and cheek tint at the top and lid has a mirror. But I hate the pump of this product. I'm not even sure if I can call it a pump.

 So  when you take of the cap, there is a hole in the middle of the pump, and you push down anywhere on the surface and the product comes out of the hole. [>_<]"

 See? It is weird and messy. Also, it is a bit difficult to get a precise amount of product. I usually get too much or too little. Overall, I am not very impressed with the pump mechanics of this BB cream.

Here is the BB cream with the cap on. The cap has a lid at the top and if you flip it open, you can see the lip and cheek tint as well as a small mirror. I really like how the installed this tint on the cap. It is convenient and very cute. Thumbs up for them.

BB Cream
The BB cream is actually very nice. It offers okay coverage, it gives the skin an amazing glow, and its also very easy to blend and very natural looking. But, it is also much more sheer compared to my Lioele BB cream, which gives great coverage.
This BB cream is a more traditional BB cream, meaning that it is designed for people who already have fairly good skin and just want something to cover up redness and maybe a few blemishes. This is a problem for me because I have a lot of acne scars and I have to use a really good concealer in order to use this BB cream because the BB cream does not cover up my acne scars. Also, I find that this BB cream is way too glowy. When I apply it, I feel that I have to apply a powder because it looks too dewy and thus makes me look oily [I have combo skin, more dry/normal than oily]. I think this will be better for girls with  very dry skin, especially during the winter time.
The staying power is good, but because it is very dewy, you will most likely have to touch up at least once throughout the day. During the course of the day, I had to touch up twice during an 8 hour interval. Of course, this will depend on your own skin and on the powder you use.

Comparison of SKIN79 and Lioele
 

Skin79 blends in much better than the Lioele, and looks more natural, but it is a lot sheerer. Notice the difference is color as well. Lioele has a stronger yellow undertone, and SKIN79 has a more beige/pinkish undertone. But once you blend the colors in, the undertone isn't too prominent, yet it is still something to consider when deciding on a BB cream. Skin tone wise, I feel that the SKIN79 BB cream suits me better, but on my face, I like the Lioele one better.

Lip&Cheek Tint
I actually really like this, although I do not use it while wearing this BB cream. I feel the BB cream is too dewy and if I add this tint, which is also very glowy, it will make my face look oily. It is a very light and natural cool pink that blends very easily into the skin.

PROS:
~Good price for the amount of product you get
~BB cream include a lip and cheek tint
~Easy to blend
~Looks natural on the skin
~Has SPF 25
~Better coverage than a tinted moisturizer, but feels just as light
~In the long run, might help to whiten skin and to lighten acne scars
CONS:
~Not locally available for most people
~The pump is terrible
~Not convenient size for travel; it is too bulky
~Not a good BB cream for people with too many skin problems
~Does not cover up acne scars
~Too dewy, so you must use a good powder over it

I recommend this BB cream for people with dry skin, or people who already have good skin and just want something to give a little bit of coverage. I think BB creams are much better than tinted moisturizers, and they are a good option for summer time wear. They have SPF and feel super light on the skin. Of course, BB creams are targeted for girls with lighter skin, so I am sorry for those of you who's skin color is out of range of most BB cream. Hopefully this helps some of you, and thank you for reading :)

Review: Lioele Triple Beyond Solution BBcream SPF30 pa++

 Hello Ladies! Today I bring you a quick review of  a product that I have fallen in love with. This recent love affair has betrayed my supposed love for NARS sheer glow foundation, as well as my Artistry Tinted Moisturizer.

This is the only BB cream I have ever tried, so I cannot compare it with other BB creams. But I've tried my fair share of different foundations and this beats them all!
Currently, this is my HG foundation, because although its a BB cream and it feels like a tinted moisturizer, it has the coverage of a foundation. And I have to say its quite amazing, really.
My initial experience with this was not too good. When I first applied it, I thought it was slightly too dark for me or maybe it just made my skin look ashy? But the reason why this happened is because I applied too much on my face. So if you get this product, don't over apply. And although wearing less made it better, it was still a little too beige looking. I solved that by adding a drop of liquid highlighter to one pump of the BB cream. This made it look more bright and less beige. I don't think too many people will have this problem. I think I am slightly too light and have a both a yellow and slight pink undertone.

Fragrance
When I first applied this, I noticed the smell. I really dislike the smell of this. I can't even describe what it smells like, its kind of odd. It border lines between smelling good and smelling gross. Hmm. I'm really bad at describing smells so I will leave it at that. Besides, you will only smell it when you are applying it, after that you won't smell it at all.

Wear
Next thing to consider was how long it lasted on my skin. I have combination skin that is dry, but I tend to get oily on my nose when I have makeup on. This BB cream does a better job mattifying my skin than my NARS sheer glow. Without powder, It will prevent oiliness for about 5-6 hrs and with powder it will last pretty much all day without touch ups. I prefer not to set it with powder, since I like the dewy finish it gives, but I do powder my nose in the morning with MAC's Prep and Prime Translucent Powder. So for lasting power, this is great. Don't expect it to last 24 hrs without touch ups, because that is not going to happen. But this last much longer that many other foundations/powders/tinted moisturizers do.Compared to the Artistry Moisturizer, it has far better coverage and greater lasting power. But then again, the Artistry one is much more sheer and it does not cake at all. with this BB cream it is possible to have it cake up on you if you apply too much.

Does this Break out the skin?
My next point on my list is an important one: whether this was breaking me out. I get hormonal breakouts along my jaw frequently, and when I started using this, I broke out. I was very hesitant about using it again because I didn't want to use something that broke me out. But I loved this so much that I kept trying it out. The first couple of times, I felt that it was indeed breaking me out. I was so upset since I have had a similar experience with MUFE HD Foundation. But, I decided to give it one last try and I've been using it since. Now, I don't feel that it is breaking me out. On the contrary, I actually think it is helping with my acne. I feel as though this product does not mask my skin as much as other foundation do, so it feels like my skin can actually breathe through it. I don't know if that even makes sense. But the bottom line is I haven't broken out since I started using this consistently, which for me is amazing. I would at least have one small blemish on my skin by now. Not only that, but this makes my skin, which I am very self conscious about because of my acne and acne scars, glow! I actually feel as though I have nice skin and I feel much more confidant about facing the world.

Price
Lastly, we have the price. As I mentioned before, I was using NARS Sheer glow before using this. That is $42 plus tax. Not only that, but I was using two pumps every day. Dont get me wrong, I still love my sheer glow, but this is much better and much cheaper. I bought this online for about $33 I think. And I only use one pump, and I feel like the container is more convenient that the sheer glow bottle. I don't know if its just me, but I think the tube it comes in is super cute!~

So to sum up:

PROS:
~Great coverage
~Does not look cakey if applied correctly
~Gives a natural, dewy finish
~Lasts a long time
~Decent oil control
~Not too expensive (compared to other foundations at least)
~Has helped improve my skin (along side my skin care, of course)

CONS:
~Bad smell
~Color match could be slightly off, or way off in the case of much lighter and darker skintones.
~Not easily accessible
~Can look cakey and sometimes ashy, if not applied correctly

Here is the link where I purchased this:
http://prettyandcute.com/Lioele-Triple-Beyond-Solution-BBcream-SPF30-pa-p134.html
I am sure you can find these else where, such as in Asian stores or Ebay.

For swatches go here:
http://yamismakeup.blogspot.com/2011/02/follow-up-liole-nars-artistry-swatches.html
~Yami <3