BB Skin Whitening Creams

BB Creams seem to be picking up a lot of popularity not only throughout Asia but here in North America. I've only recently learned about them, and discovered they are also mild skin lighteners.

If you don't know what they are, BB Creams (Blemish Balm Creams) are basically an all-in-one beauty product. They act as a primer, concealer, foundation, sunscreen, moisturizer, oil-controller and skin lightener. There are several different variations of BB Creams concentrating on different skin issues. Some offer more coverage, while others offer more hydration. There are also ones specifically for skin whitening that seem to be getting good reviews and commentary.

The makeup element of BB creams are limited but suprisingly compatible. They come in various shades, but I found some of them only have about 2 shades or versions to choose from. BB creams are advertised to blend in with most skin tones and judging from it's immense popularity, I am assuming it works much like a tinted moisturizer (offering sheer medium to light coverage) in that most skin tones can look decent with it on.

The sunscreen protection from BB Creams is pretty impressive in comparison to western built-in SPF foundation. Most have a UVA protection of PA++ (PPD of 5-10) and good UVB protection (with SPFs ranging from 20-30 generally). They contain a mix of both physical and chemical filters much like many Asian brand sunscreens.

Now as far as the skin lightening aspect of BB creams, obviously I cannot comment from personal experience since I haven't tried a BB cream before (maybe sometime in the future), but I can say from reading reviews and looking at some of the active ingredients that it seems to be working in some degree for some people. I probably wouldn't go as far as saying their  'skin lighteners' more that they just have skin lightening properties. I hope that makes some sense, lol.

Expecting very strong results (like going 2 shades lighter) from a BB cream alone is a bit unrealistic. Oddly though I have read many comments and reviews where people claim it has made them a couple of shades lighter and faded a lot of dark spots and acne marks. I'm assuming it all depends on how long you've been using it or what the pigmentation issue is.

The active ingredients in the various BB Creams run the gamut of botanical skin lighteners and antioxidants, but they range from vitamin C, caviar extract (same active ingredient in Makari Caviar Cream. The BB Cream that contains this is the Skin79 Pure Gold & Caviar Gold Label one. It is designed for dry skin types), licorice extract as well as arbutin and alpha arbutin. A lot of these ingredients are written in either Korean or Japanese, so it's hard for me to know where they fall in the overall ingredient list or what % of strength they are.

Almost all the various BB creams out there (and there are tons) contain some skin whitening formula. The ones that are titled 'BB *insert product name* Whitening Cream' are probably more concentrated and effective at lightening or brightening than the generic ones.

I know there are tons of skin whitening BB creams out there, but the ones readers have told me about, or raved about are:  Legere Whitening BB Cream, Jadilla J Whitening BB cream and the Vov Castledew Whitening BB cream. The Legere Whitening BB Cream is a best seller over at my favorite online Asian beauty vendor, Bobodave.

I think BB creams are great for people looking for something more in their makeup. A makeup that acts as a mild skin lightening treatment. Obviously this isn't something that can equate to a strong skin lightener, but it can be an extra goodie in your skin lightening repertoire. Fortunatley these are all relatively affordable and come in a good size - usually 50ml. They can be found at: http://www.etudehouse.com/, http://www.thefaceshop.com.au/ as well as in most Asian beauty stores.

Whenever I frequent the soompi forums, I always stumble upon a BB cream reference. If anyone of you guys use BB Creams (and I already know a couple of you who do =P ) let me know which ones and if you like them. They look awesome. ;)