CVS/pharmacy BeautyClub sent me on assignment to find the best BB Cream available at drugstore prices. And you can have a chance to win a $50 CVS/pharmacy gift card for your own BeautyClub purchases!
Since BB Creams hit the US market a while back, they’ve become all the rage. They offer sun protection, are a foundation and offer skin care goodness all in one little package. They also make it easier to get ready in the morning by having all this combined in one – no separate skincare, then sunscreen and lastly foundation. So if you haven’t tried a BB Cream before, now is the time to consider one, especially with spring here and summer close behind, we’re spending more and more time outside and sun protection is a must.
My mission was to go to CVS and try out all their BB Creams that they have to offer and give my thoughts. I’ll give you my thoughts and what I discovered about each of these, but it really comes down to three things. 1.What you want to spend and 2.What are the ingredients and are they what your skin needs and 3. What type of BB Cream works best with your skin type. I have combination normal/oily skin with my T zone very oily in the warmer months, so keep that in consideration when I give you my opinion. Another thing to remember is the term “broad spectrum” when talking about sunscreens. Broad spectrum offers protection in both UVA and UVB rays. A good way to decipher the two is UVA- aging rays, UVB – burn rays. The prices I’m giving are at my local MN CVS – prices may vary depending on your location.
Maybelline Dream Fresh BB 8-in-1 Beauty Balm Skin Perfector – It sells for $8.99 and it has a titanium dioxide sunscreen with a broad spectrum SPF30. It comes in 5 shades – light, light/medium, medium, medium/dark, deep. The 8 benefits in this one tube are: Blurs imperfections, Enhances, Brightens, Adjusts to skin tone, Smoothes, Hydrates, SPF30, 0% oils and other heavy ingredients.
My thoughts: I was surprised at how thin/watery the texture was. However, it’s almost a matte texture once it’s on and offers a solid medium coverage – good for hiding any redness or other imperfections the skin may have. For someone oily like me, I like this one! I also really like that it’s SPF30 – a nice amount of protection.
CVS Renewing BB Cream – sells for $9.99 – has a broad spectrum SPF 15 – they compare this brand to Garnier Skin Renew BB Cream. It is said ot brighten and even the skin tone and it has vitamin C and mineral pigments. I noticed 3 shades – fair/light, light/medium, medium/deep.
My thoughts: This has a slight fragrance to it that could be annoying to some, but it is barely noticeable. I noticed a slight amount of light enhancing reflectiveness, but not enough to say my face looked shiny. The texture is creamy and the coverage is a light to medium coverage. I was surprised how much I liked this one.
Lumene Vitamin C+ Illuminating Anti-age BB Cream – This sells for $14.99, although this week it is on sale for $10. It’s available in two shades; light and medium. It has SPF20, but it only claims UV rays and does not say it’s a broad spectrum SPF. The Arctic Cloudberry is where the Vitamin C+ is from and is an anti-oxidant, which is good for the skin.
My thoughts: It has a very light, pleasant fragrance, I like that it has anti-oxidants and is paraben free. But don’t like that it is not broad spectrum sun protection. I wish it came in more shades, however the 01 Light works for my skin tone. This has slight skin illuminating properties and lightweight coverage. This is quite moisturizing and would be great for normal to dry skin. On my oily skin after an hour I was quite shiny.
Vichy Neovadiol Lumiere BB Cream – Sells for $42 and is the most expensive of the drugstore brands I tested. It has no SPF and only comes in one shade. It is paraben free and has 6 benefits in one: Densifies, resculpts, smoothes, nourishes, evens and illuminates the face.
My thoughts: This one is super moisturizing. When a product claims to be a BB Cream, personally I expect it to have some type of SPF protection and this one disappoints me in that aspect. It should really be called an illuminating foundation and it’s lighter coverage. It’s highly illuminating and moisturizing and after a short while I noticed my already oily skin looked way too oily. This would be great for dry skin.
Olay Fresh Effects BB Cream – Skin Perfecting Tinted Moisturizer with Sunscreen – This sells for $13.99 and comes in Fair/light and Light/medium shades. It has a broad spectrum SPF 15. This does not claim to have any additional skin benefit properties other than the broad spectrum protection.
My thoughts: This felt more like a moisturizer/sunscreen than anything else. It was the sheerest of tint than any of the BB Creams I tried. If you had “flawless” skin (meaning no redness or imperfections) this would work great for getting OK (SPF15) protection, not the best protection and not the worst. But, I would not be looking for this as to make the skin look better like foundations can, it’s simply too sheer for that. It worked nicely on my oily skin though, as I didn’t feel too shiny.
Garnier Skin Renew BB Cream – This sells for $12.99 and has a broad spectrum SPF 20. I like that it comes in a formula for regular and oil control skin types. The shades are Fair/light, Light/medium, Medium/deep. This has vitamin C and mineral pigments to give the skin a flawless look.
My thoughts: I was surprised at how matte this was – not a drying matte, but a good matte. There is a good amount of coverage so if you have skin imperfections it does a nice job of covering them without being heavy or drying. My skin was not shiny and for oily skin I really like this, it’s one of my favorites!
L’Oreal Age Perfect BB Cream Instant Radiance – This sells for $17.29 and is on sale now for $11.99 – It has a broad spectrum SPF 20. It has Vitamin C and calcium microspheres to treat sagging skin. I could find that it only came in one shade – Light/medium.
My thoughts: I was surprised when it comes out of the tube it is white with small tinted flecks, which transforms on the skin to an overall tint. I like the good sun protection it offers and I’d say it is light to medium coverage. It gives the skin a glow – a lot of glow for oily skin, but it’s not like it’s oily on the skin, just very shiny.
Revlon Photoready BB Cream – This one sells for $10.99 and has a broad spectrum SPF30. There are 3 shades – 010-Light, 020-Light/medium and 030 Medium. This does not claim to have other skin care benefits other than the sun protection and the Photoready line is said to give the skin a flawless look.
My thoughts: For oily skin – this one was my instant favorite! It offers a solid medium coverage, even thought the texture is light. I like that it has broad spectrum SPF30 – a good amount of protection and it doesn’t give the skin that white “sunscreen glow”. This kept the shine at bay for many hours and made my skin look flawless. This one is better than many department store BB Creams I’ve tried.
CoverGirl CGSmoothers – This one sells for $7.99 and has SPF 15 – not broad spectrum. It is oil free, 100 % PABA and fragrance free. They have changed the package, however in my color of light/medium this old packaging was the only thing available. It comes in 3 shades – 805 Fair/light, 810 Light/medium and 815 Medium/dark. This also has vitamin C.
My thoughts: The coverage is quite sheer and it’s formulated for normal to dry skin, which isn’t best for my oily type. It does give a healthy glow without looking too shiny and I like that. Overall it’s a good option and one of the least expensive I tried.
There are a few other BB Cream options but the CVS near my home either didn’t have them or they were sold out. They include: Nuance, Aveeno and Rimmel.
Contest now closed!
For a chance to win a CVS/pharmacy card worth $50 here are the rules:
- US residents over 18 only
- Read my Disclosure Policy
- Enter your name in comments and tell me which BB Cream you think would suit you
- Contest ends April 12, 2013 at 5:00 p.m. CST.
- 1 winner will be randomly chosen
- Good luck!
I was supplied with some products and a gift card to purchase above BB Creams for testing. All opinions and results are my own and yours may vary.
I think the Garnier BB Cream would fit me best!
Revlon Photoready
I think I would like Revlon’s Photoready BB the best..I have tried the Garnier BB, and I like it for light coverage when i’m just at home or running errands but I would like more coverage to wear it to the pool or the beach…This sounds perfect for me and I would love to try it! Thanks for the reviews!! Much appreciated!!
Cover Girl CGSmoothers
Great writeup! I’m going to try the Garnier Skin Renew BB Cream. There are so many options out there – it’s so helpful to have a testimonial from someone who has actually tried so many of the products.
I have worshipped the sun in the past which was a big no no..so I have a little pigmentation issue and some sun damage, I would definitely try the Garnier BB Cream, since it is not heavy and would leave a nice matte finish since I have an oily T zone too 🙂 Hope I”m lucky winning that gift card!!! 🙂
I happened upon l’oreal magic skin beautifier in cvs and decided to give it a try. I love it! It is quick and easy to use. It feels good on my skin and looks great!
Revlon Photoready BB Cream and the Garnier Skin Renew BB Cream sound like good bets for me. I’ve only used one BB cream before — Miracle Skin Transformer by Sarah McNamara. LOVE the texture of it. But I’ll give one of these a try. They are so reasonably priced I don’t think I can go wrong.
Thanks for a wonderful review of the breadth of drugstore BB creams.
I like your analysis and recommendations based on your experience. From the BBs reviewed, the one I think would suit me best is Vichy Neovadiol Lumiere BB Cream. Ever since I gave birth, my skin changed to oily-sensitive. The fact this BB doesn’t have SPF is good for my needs as I use a mattifying sunscreen as my normal moisturiser. Sometimes when I layer SPF and a foundation or colour product with SPF, my medium olive skin can look ashy.
Thanks for a great review!
I actually like the Olay, because my skin can get dry and sometimes the Garnier didn’t seem to moisturize.
I have recently switched to the Olay CC cream – it’s a touch heavier w/ more coverage. It does blend nicely.
I think the Revlon would work best for me. Broad spectrum sunscreen of at least SPF 30 is a must for me! Thanks. 🙂
I have tried maybelline and loreal. They have a larger range of colors for women of color to use. I like maybelline the best.
I’ve been wanting to try Lumene and Vichy. I use a heavy duty suncreen already. Thanks for the opportunity to win.
I think the Revlon Photo Ready BB cream would work best for me.
Garnier Skin Renew BB Cream. It’s the first one I ever bought and I’m glad to see it was probably the best. L’Oreal Age Perfect BB Cream Instant Radiance is a close second, if I win the gift card I’ll definitely try it out too.
I think L’Oreal would work best for me. Been hearing so much about BB Creams and didn’t really know what they were but really wanted to try it. Your review came at the perfect time
Given my very oily skin, I think the Revlon Photoready BB Cream would be the best choice for me.
My skin seems very similar to yours, so probably the Maybelline Dream BB Cream would work best for me!
I think the Revlon Photoready BB Cream would be the best fit for me.
There are so many BB creams on the market, I haven’t tried them yet. After reading this I think the Garnier Renew BB Cream sounds like a good one for me.
I think the Revlon BB would be best for me because of the 30 spf coverage.
I think the Garnier one might work best for me … I’ve tried a few, but I’m so pale that they’ve all been too dark for my skinton.
The CVS brand sounds good. I have bought the Rimmel one, but have not tried it yet.
I’ve been wanting to try the Revlon photoready. It sounds like the the best for me.
I think the Garnier one would be nice to try for me..I’ve only tried a sample of the Maybelline Dream Fresh and it was nice. Right now I use one by Skinfood, an asian brand, and I LOVE it..and it’s very reasonably priced!!:)) Thanks for the giveaway!!
xoxo
Ann-Marie
Thanks for doing the comparison testing for us. I think Maybelline Dream Fresh is the one for me.
Revlon Photoready!
I went to CVS yesterday searching for the L’Oreal Age Defying BB Cream but my CVS didn’t carry it. I’m going to try a bigger store tomorrow. The Garnier one also sounds like it would work well.
I like the Revlon I take it on business trips but want to try the Garnier, one blogger suggested putting it on her legs to fake a tan!
I love Olay, I have used Olay products since I was 16!, I’ll be 49 this summer, I like the Olay line because it hasn’t changed, it’s Changed for the better, sometimes a line will change and it’s worse!, so I’ll stick with the Olay..
L’Oreal Age Perfect BB Cream Instant Radiance is the brand I would like to try. I have some minor imperfections i need covering up, but sounds like its not too heavy!
Revlon Photoready BB Cream
I would like to try the Garnier Skin Renew BB Cream! I have used the L’Oreal and liked it also.
Revlon Photoready BB Cream in o20, light/medium. Thanks!
Considering your review, I think Maybelline or the Revlon BB creams would suit my skin, I have an oily skin, I’ll see once I purchase them today, thanks, great review!
I think Lumene BB cream would suit me best because of my dry skin. Thanks for much for the review. I have been looking for a BB cream for the new season.
The Revlon Pbotoready BB Cream sounds like the best one for me. I also have oily skin making it hard to find solutions that don’t make my face shiny. I really like that this one has SPF30. Thanks so much for the reviews!
Thank you for all of the great info. I am totally clueless where to start with BB creams, and this helped me narrow it down a bit.
I think I would love to try the Lumene BB cream. I have heard great things about this, and am quite happy with the brand.
Thank you again for the reviews and the fantab giveaway!
Revlon PhotoReady BB Cream with my oily skin seems like the best in the reviews. Thanks!