Garnier BB Cream Review

~*You can read an updated review here.*~

Recently, I found out that Garnier have released a BB cream, and I was super excited to try it out. You can get it from Boots or Superdrug and retails for £9.99 for 50ml. Considering that BB creams are usually over £10, this seemed like a pretty good deal. It's also MUCH more accessible than Asian brand BB creams - you don't have to get it from an international online site.

If you don't know what BB cream is, it's basically not as heavy as foundation, but not as light as a tinted moisturiser. BB creams stands for Blemish Balm (also know as Blemish Base or Beblesh Balm) and is really popular in East and Southeast Asia. They can have some properties such as skin whitening slash brightening, anti-acne or anti-wrinkle and can even out skin tone and lighten any blemish scars that you may have. It can be used as a base before foundation or can be used instead of foundation altogether. It tends to much more moisturising than foundation, so people with dry skin may prefer over regular foundation. It's also not as heavy, so if you prefer lighter coverage, you might want to try it out. It usually gives quite a dewy finish - you might want to use powder on top if you have oily or combination skin. It also has SPF in it, which saves you from having to use an extra SPF lotion.

Before we get into the details of the Garnier BB Cream, I will type out the description on the back of the box:

Is Miracle Skin Perfector right for me?
Yes, if you feel a hectic lifestyle can leave your skin looking tired. Yes, if dullness, imperfections, redness, sunspots and wrinkles all seem to add up on your skin. Introducing the Miracle Skin Perfector, inspired by the latest Asian skincare sensation that is already a hit in Hollywood: B.B. (Blemish Balm) creams!
Discover our all-in-one skincare solution that immediately perfects your skin! The light, non-greasy formula gives an even skin tone with a healthy glow, appearance of fine lines, hydrates for 24hours and helps protect with SPF 15.
Save time with your skin care: In just one step moisturise, unify and brighten your skin!
How is it different?
Inspired by B.B. creams, Miracle Skin Perfector is a next generation product with a hybrid formula, combining skincare with mineral pigments. Combining 5 benefits in one, skin appears immediately perfected!
How does it work?
The high-performance skincare formula hydrates for 24 hours and is enriched with a Vitamin C derivative. It boosts radiance and hydrates, for a luminous, fresh complexion. Concentrated in mineral pigments, the formula perfects the skin, leaving a unified, natural look, as though airbrushed.
With SPF 15, it helps protect skin against the harmful effects of the sun.

It also has some stats which I won't mention, because they tend to be biased anyway. I will state, however, that it is recommended for ages 20-40.

Here's what the box looks like, and the packaging of the product. The packaging is really simple, nothing fancy. It's a normal squeezy tube which is good because you can control how much you squeeze out - although you have to be careful not to be too heavy handed as you may squeeze out too much. It comes in only two shades, light and medium. As you can see from the picture above, I got the shade medium. I would say that my skin tone is light/medium. I don't have a MAC reference for you guys but I am No. 53 Light Beige in Bourjois's Healthy Mix Foundation. I would consider myself a light beige colour in general.

Although I haven't tried out the light shade - I got mine online and I didn't see any testers instore. I believe that the light shade would have been too light for me and the medium shade is just a touch darker than me. I believe the medium shade would be perfect for those who consider themselves to be a Medium Beige or Warm Beige colour. If I blend out the BB cream, the colour will match, although this does sheer out the coverage. I use powder on top which does help it blend to my skin tone a bit better.

The top photo is how it looks straight from the tube - I just squeeze a small blob onto the back of my hand. I then blended it out slightly and took a picture of that. Although described as light, I wouldn't necessarily call it light. It's definitely lighter when you blend it out, its almost as if your fingers are melting it. It may appear heavy at first, but it sits much lighter than a regular foundation. The only other BB cream brand that I have tried is from Skin79 - I got their miniature collection which has 4 different kinds of BB cream. I found that the Garnier one is not as thick or sticky slash greasy as the Skin79 one so defo thumbs up~!

The top photo is the back of my hand without the BB cream, and the picture below that is with BB cream that has been blended out. You can probably tell its darker than my skin colour, but it has also evened out the skin tone (although the back of my hand is pretty even). I have dry skin and I applied this on when I woke up to test it out. I usually find that my skin feels tight when I wake up due to the fact that I have dry skin, but after applying the BB cream, it immediately felt softer and eliminated the tight feeling. It evened out my skin tone and did a pretty good job of hiding my blemishes. I applied a few thin layers to build up the coverage as I do like medium coverage. The finish was dewy but not too shiny-looking. I would probably wear this alone on some days where I feel like having a dewy looking face. After I applied my powder (I'm currently using Max Factor Facefinity Compact in 03 Natural), my skin looked airbrushed. I wouldn't say it was completely flawless as I didn't use any concealer, but it did as good a job as my Healthy Mix Foundation. In addition to this, I usually use my Skin79 BB cream first and then a layer of Healthy Mix because I feel like that's the coverage I want. With the Garnier BB cream, I just find building up a few layers is enough for me. It also smells pretty nice too - I think it smells like what you would expect from a Garnier product. This may not be suitable for people who have sensitive skin and find that products with scents break them out.

And now for the negatives - I find that with just two shades, it's very hard to get a good colour match. I'm tempted to get the light one so I can custom match the perfect shade for me - which means another £10. If you have oily skin, this might not be suitable for you - you might be able to get away with it if you powder afterwards. I wouldn't say it has 24 hours of hydration - although you don't really expect that from any moisturiser or foundation. It has SPF 15 which may be a bit too light for some people, most people tend to use SPF 30. I find that SPF 15 is enough for me, but if it isn't for you, you may still find you have to use sun protection anyway.

All in all, I think that this BB cream is really good and would highly recommend it to those with dry skin. You may need to get two to custom match your shade though. Hopefully, Garnier will bring out a shade for people with light/medium skin tone as I think that more people will be able to find their most suitable shade. I'm really glad that I've found this product and I think this will replace my normal foundation routine of Skin79, Healthy Mix, and then powder.

My final verdict for this product is:

❤❤❤❤♡ (4 out of 5 hearts) ^^


I gave it a high rating because the colour almost matches my skin tone. If the light or medium one did not (as it probably won't for a lot of you), I would have given it a much lower score. If they had more shades, I may have given it a higher score - maybe four and a half?

I hope you guys find this review helpful and until next time..

- Diem xo