Per the Friends and Family sale that IT Cosmetics had just recently, I knew it was my chance to give their much raved about CC cream a try. Though I have never been into the BB or CC cream trend, I wanted to see how similar this Western CC was to its Asian counterpart. Would it have a higher coverage? More SPF?
The Your Skin But Better CC Cream with SPF50+ retails for $38 dollars, but I got mine for $28 after the 25% discount and free shipping over $25 (I really appreciated that btw.) I think the original price of the product is a tad overpriced, so I won't be repurchasing unless they have another sale in the future.
The CC cream comes in a long and rectangular tube with a pump, similar to a few Asian brands that I know. You should go onto the website and read the claims about this product. Not only does it have a lot of supposedly great vitamins and antioxidants, it also contains SPF 50 with a full coverage opacity! Talk about multi-tasking!
Keep in mind that all five shades available run fairly yellow, so if you're a solid NW in MAC counterpart you may have a hard time finding the right shade. I couldn't tell the difference between Light and Medium, so I went with Medium knowing I will tan up slightly in the summer. I'm around NC30-35 at the moment and it's a good match. Strangely, I don't think it's yellow enough for my skin; it swatches neutral/beige on my hands and doesn't look completely natural unless I take it down my neck.
I don't enjoy the pump in a tube packaging simply because the foundation can make the silver packaging and white pump very dirty with daily use. However, it is portable making it perfect for touching up.
My first impression with this CC was horrid. I used two full pumps for my entire face (which wasn't prepped with any moisturizer) and attempted to blend everything in with my fingers. It felt very thick and heavy and immediately settled into my laugh lines. Whaa? There was a pleasant lemon tart smell that didn't linger, but it looked so obvious and bad that I wanted to take it off. Luckily I went out with it on in the name of science.
When I looked in the mirror after 4 hours, however, it had melded into my skin to become second skin. I looked flawless and perfectly dewy with no severe lines. At this point I was baffled because I fully expected to look even more haggardly and disgusting.
The next day, I quickly found out that application is KEY with this product:
1. If you're dry skinned, don't take the "moisturizing" claim seriously and prep first with a moisturizer.
2. Use one to two pumps and no more with a damp Beauty Blender for the best effect since it is a very "thick" product.
3. Work in sections if you must. It behaves much similarly to a full coverage foundation than a lotion, so it dries down very quickly.
If you take the time to do these steps, this CC cream is on par with Smashbox's version and better than MISSHA's M Perfect Cover BB cream for dry skin. It lasts for 12 hours of wear with two blotting sessions for me and covers all hyper-pigmentation. Even though it is full coverage, it doesn't look fake or makeup-y in any way. I noticed no major fading with this CC cream even after twelve hours and it looks better as the day goes on. Amaaaazing!
Here it is swatched once next to similar shades. I have all five foundations on rotation at the moment for scientific purposes, ahem.
From left to right: IT CC in Medium, Diorskin Nude in 31, Hello Flawless in Petal, L'oreal True Match Lumi in W3, Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum in 53 Light Beige.
Here it is again, but in direct sunlight outdoors. Here you can see that it leans warm and yellow enough for me but looks more neutral than the Hello Flawless foundation and less peachy than the L'oreal True Match Lumi.
Watch out for flakes, as this cream will catch it the wrong way especially if you use a buffing brush to apply. I find it to be a satin to dewy finish depending on whether you set with a powder. If you're super oily, I would advise against this product simply because it's not a matte finish and lacks oil control properties.
One downside is the limited color range and how Medium is still a tad too neutral for my olive skin. The other downside is the price as I would like it to be around 20 to 30 dollars, especially for a product I'd love to use on the daily.
If you're curious to try, make sure you have a shade match and then order when there are package deals or discounts on QVC or at Ulta.
xo Be
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