I’m always on the hunt for a light base that I can slap on quickly and it give me enough coverage that I’m not looking like a corpse (#TeamNoSleep) or something that helps me feel a bit more put together. I have temperamental skin, it’s either pretty decent or a train-wreck, and I’m not confident enough to leave the house completely barefaced but I also don’t want to always wear a medium-full coverage base. So, when I was raiding The Body Shop a few weeks ago and came across these two products, I had to have them.
The Body Shop All-In-One BB Cream – 00 Fair | £12 | The Body Shop |
Bare in mind that this is a BB cream, you’re not going to get a super full coverage; if you have blemishes to cover or pigmentation, you’ll need to go in with concealer, or a completely different base. But if you want something really lightweight, like it feels you’ve just applied moisturiser, something hydrating, that makes your skin glow, you’ll love this. It’s the perfect product for that ‘no makeup, makeup’ look everyone seems to want to achieve.
The consistency of the product is really thin. I was actually quite surprised just how liquidy (is that even a word?) the formula was. I highly recommend shaking it before use or it will run out of the tube like you’ve just spilled water. The cream itself is a white/grey colour with tiny pigment filled capsules that burst on the skin and adapt to your skin tone. My main problem with this is you can’t always tell whether you’ve blended the product enough or missed a part of the face as the pigment isn’t visible right away. I probably over-blend to make sure I’ve not missed anywhere as upon first use, I cleverly (eye roll) missed a huge chunk of my right cheek.
I dot the product on various points of my face and blend with a damp sponge. I’ve tried it with fingers and a brush but I much prefer a sponge as I feel like I don’t miss anywhere and it applies evenly. It’s like silk on the skin, and gives a beautiful, healthy glow. I believe it should be labelled as a tinted moisturiser as it feels more like that in my opinion.
I feel like I’ll definitely get a lot of use out of this over the warmer months, but if you’re not into sheer, almost undetectable coverage, this won’t be for you. I’m a fan, I like how it looks on my skin, it feels lovely and it wears really nicely. Oh and it doesn’t have SPF, so make sure you apply some or have another product with it. Let’s see how it handles the heat that will probably never appear in the UK.
The Body Shop Instaglow CC Cream – Bright Glow | £15 | The Body Shop |
Now this has SPF 20 so if you put this on before the BB cream, you’ll be grand. As soon as I swatched this on my hand in-store, I threw it in my basket and didn’t look back. I’m all about glowing, I need all the help I can get to make my dull, pale skin look a bit healthier and alive (seriously, I’m terrifying without makeup).
This CC cream probably needs renaming too as it’s actually an illuminating primer. There’s absolutely no way I would wear this without another product on top as my skin is never THAT good. If you want to brighten dullness, hydrate the skin, reduce shine and achieve that glowing-from-within appearance, then this is for you.
The tube has a needle-point tip that dispenses a small amount of product which I like as then I’m not going to waste any of the cream. It’s a white consistency that is really easy to blend and feels silky on the skin. You won’t notice any shimmer but you’ll see a natural glow once applied to the face. It’s really comfortable to wear and my makeup sits on top of it nicely.
Instaglow CC Cream comes in two other colours, Peachy Glow for light to medium skin tones, and Warm Glow for medium to dark skin tones, both having different properties to counteract common problems.
I’m enjoying both products, and I think you’ll particularly love them if you have dry skin and don’t want anything more than a light coverage. For a lightweight, hydrating, glowing base, these are great products to give a go.
I think I'm gonna have to check these out although my skin is so horrendous at the moment I'm all about that full coverage. Hopefully by summer my face will get it's shit together and I can try these instead
Beth x
They're both fab. I love the primer so much x