The lovely ladies at The Body Shop kindly sent me a sample of their new All-In-One BB cream to review on The Daydreamer. The BB cream is basically a tinted moisturiser, so I was initially sceptical because I simply don't find tinted moisturisers provide enough coverage. The BB cream also claims to "colour adapt", a beauty trick that I have yet to see work properly.
Despite my reservations, I was excited to try the BB cream because The Body Shop has always been a go-to beauty brand for me. The whole point of the All-In-One product range is to provide simple, fuss free make-up, so the BB cream was developed to give skin care and make-up in one product and I very much like the idea of saving time in the morning - surely this can only mean more beauty sleep?!
When the sample arrived, my immediate thought was that the packaging looked amazing: clean and fresh and modern, without losing The Body Shop's signature style. When I opened the cream, I was surprised to find that it was white in colour, with tiny flecks of darker colour. I smoothed the cream into my hand and to my surprise, the flecks of colour blended into the white cream to make a tan, peachy sort of colour against my skin. The Body Shop explain it well: "Our innovative formula features pigment filled capsules that burst when applied to skin, releasing the colour inside. Just blend one of our three shades for a perfect match to your exact skin tone."
I purposely did not use moisturiser on my face before applying the BB cream - I wanted to see if it really did moisturise. The thing is, I have never found a "happy medium" in a tinted moisturiser; either they have too much moisturiser and not enough colour which leaves me applying a foundation anyway, or, they have too much colour and not enough moisturiser, leaving skin dry and flaky. However, the BB cream did go on nicely without clogging up in patches and the colour was substantial enough to feel as though I had put make up on.
As well as being easy to apply, I have to say, the colour is perfect for my skin and I'm not sure if this is just luck or if the colour adapt really does work. I'm inclined to think the latter because the cream only comes in three shades. The cream made my skin look really, really nice (I did look particularly horrendous this morning, so it was a good test!) and my skin felt soft and smooth, not sticky. Another plus is that no make-up marks have been transferred on to my clothes or hands so far.
The Body Shop's All-In-One BB cream is an absolutely brilliant product that really does moisturise your skin, but also provides enough coverage to give a natural, healthy look but without looking obvious like some foundations can. I applied the cream this morning at 07:45 and it is now 13:30 and my skin still looks like it did almost six hours ago. I'm not sure what The Body Shop product developers have done with this product, but they have developed something that is truly brilliant. I can't tell you how much I love the BB cream, and at only £12 a tube, I will be stocking up once it hits The Body Shop in August - I predict a sell out! What I will say is, it comes in a 25 ml tube so isn't really all that big, however, it's a handy size for carting around in your bag (not that you'll need to re-apply throughout the day) and you really don't need to apply a great deal, so the tube should last a while.
The Body Shop BB Cream is a product that will suit everyone - from teenager girls experimenting with make up but who still want to look natural, to women like me who prefer sleep to a heavy make-up routine in the morning, to the mature ladies who want a product to lift their skin without the worry of it sinking into fine lines. The colour adapt also seems to work - so just choose either light, medium or dark and the cream should adapt to suit your own skin tone. This is also a great product for men who might want to look a little bit fresher without people wondering if they are (OMG!) wearing make-up.
I honestly can't tell you how much I love this product. Please, just buy one tube - you won't regret it.
Huge thanks to the team at The Body Shop for sending me what is one of the best samples I have ever received.
