Product Review: Garnier BB Cream - Miracle skin perfecter

It's sort of hard to miss the bombardment of advertising for Garnier's latest skin saviour, the BB cream, but if you're anything like me, all you thought was "The heck is a BB cream and why do I want one?"

Well for starters BB creams (or blemish balm creams) were originally used in the treatment of laser surgery patients. The skin is ultra sensitive after the treatment and a special product was created to both protect and soothe.

Flash forward some time and you'd find that BB cream have slowly infiltrated the beauty market as a new must have item that 'does it all', particularly in Asian countries.

Garnier's BB Cream is the first to be marketed to the masses in Australia and comes with five main beauty concern fixes. Garnier claims it takes care of the following:

1. Hydrates for 24hrs.
2. Evens tone.
3. Corrects blemishes.
4. Boosts healthy glow.
5. UV Protection SPF 15.

I have been trying the cream for a little while now, and while it's not all bad news, I didn't find anything truly exciting about it. The look is a simple tube package while the formula is like a thick tinted moisturiser, a fresh smell greets you on application but the fragrance may not agree with those who have sensitive skin issues (part of the target market). I did find it does hydrate nicely, but with my oily skin I need very little help. I found it to have next to no coverage (I'd say about 5%) and would still need to use a foundation to provide any evening of my skin-tone. There was no difference to  my skins glowing, asides from the usual "I have moisturised" sheen, and to be honest SPF 15+ is next to nothing. In our climate you really need an SPF of at least 30+.

I don't have terribly sensitive skin, and could possibly suggest the product those who have and can't use much else. I would recommend it as a product to use on the weekends lounging about at home when a full face of make up isn't required in the least, perhaps if you start with already fantastic skin tone the product would be more favourable. One thing is that it doesn't aggravate existing skin blemishes, I found that it was quite soothing on an inflamed patch of dry skin. I also think that it is certainly more recommendable to drier skin types, and would like the product more if it had better coverage in a wider range of shades (only two shades does no one justice). 'Miracle skin perfecter' really is too far fetched a title for this product too, perhaps just skin perfecter.