This is a question I’ve been pondering for quite some time.
Some years ago —around six to be exact, I tried a BB Cream. Remember those? The Blemish Balms, Blemish Base creams. Lighter than foundation but seemingly used to even out the skin tone while moisturizing and protecting you from the sun?
The BB Cream I used was by Dr. Jart and I purchased at Sephora. In all honesty, it mustn’t have had a great impact because I remember liking it but, for the life of me, I don’t recall it working wonders on my face.
I had the blue Dr. Jart BB Cream. I liked it–but I wasn’t over-the-moon about it!
In fact, I don’t even know if BB creams are still popular in the beauty circles. What I do know is that the Dr. Jart cream I used was nothing more than a pricey tinted moisturizer. Still, I remember liking it.
Fast forward to now.
CC Creams. Basically, the same thing as a BB Cream but with a built-in color corrector.
The iT Cosmetics shade selection of CC Creams. I should have known that with such a small shade selection, the product would be very small at correcting my skin!
And while perusing through QVC’s many offerings of beauty products, I came across a good deal on an iT cosmetics brush and CC cream duo.
The brush was a decent deal but truthfully, doesn’t work that well with this CC Cream. The brush is better left for a stick foundation and is now in my travel kit!
My love/hate relationship with iT Cosmetics continues in the fact that the brushes are stellar and many of the products have been “meh” to “WTF is this” for me. The one exception being the Lip Vitality products.
Three of the many iT brushes in my possess
Anyway, I decided to order the duo and take, yet another chance, on the brand to see if the CC cream would be worth a try.
But first I had to get past the awful term on the tube of CC Cream. The “anti-aging” term. It’s so effing demeaning and offensive.
Every. Freaking. Product. By. iT. Cosmetics. Is. Branded. With. This. Vulgar. Term! This is NOT hydrating–but it isn’t very pro-aging either so maybe………
The shade I chose was the Fair Light. Based on the swatches online, it seemed like a good enough match and it was.
The tube holds 1.08 Fl. Oz., is supposed to be a hydrating serum CC Cream with an SPF 50+.
The tube holds just a smidge over an ounce of product–but the amount of product you need on your face is quite a bit!
I pumped one pumpful on the back of my wrist and picked it up with the brush.
I’m surprised the pump did break after I used it twice!
This was one pumpfull. And I needed an additional pump to finish the rest of my face–and it was not full-coverage!
The brush was too stiff to blend the cream in, however it worked better when I stippled the product in and blended out with a beauty blending sponge.
The one pumpful was enough for one side of my face. I ended up using two pumpfuls to finish applying. It was not full coverage.
It did not cover all my redness and blotchiness. It did not even out my skin tone.
After 2 1/2 pumpfulls. You can see that the redness from my cheek and my nose shows through. There’s a spot of dewiness on my forhead and the rest of my face looks dry. Go figure.
But…….it did leave a dewy finish for a fleeting moment!
Yesterday I went over the CC Cream with the bareMinerals Serum foundation I picked up at TJ Maxx. At first I wasn’t crazy about this foundation then after seeing a tutorial on the proper way to use it, it turned out to be better than expected.
And I concealed with Mac’s Pro Longwear concealer–which I use quite often, as you can see!
t’s a shame because had this been truly full-coverage, it would have been a great, great product. It fell short.
Yesterday’s look. Thanks to my other products, my face had decent coverage.
And that’s what drives me crazy about IT cosmetics. The brand falls short with so many products. Remember the post I did on the iT eyeshadow palette? Allow me to refresh your memory: The Eyeshadow Palette You Should Not Buy!
The brand is touted for being very “mature woman” friendly. First of all, how can a brand be mature woman friendly when they use the incredibly unfriendly “anti-aging” term? Think about it.
But what’s worse—either I’m the only “mature” woman who’s had an issue with iT’s creams, foundations and eyeshadows or the brand is pulling one over our heads!
Don’t get me wrong. I adore the Vitality Lip Flush. I have four of them in the Je Ne Sais Quoi shade.
My friend Anna Marie got me hooked on this stuff! It’s the best lip product out there!
And I have the Je Ne Sais Quoi Lip and Cheek Flush which I use specifically on my cheeks. I’m on my second stick.
One of my “summer” go to’s. I swipe it on sun-kissed cheeks and it’s beautiful!
And the Hello Light Crème Illuminator is fantastic.
And, as you can see, I use this quite often!
In the past, I’ve received generous samples of their various moisturizers that left me perplexed and flummoxed as to why my skin felt taut and dry after using them. I
The foundations—the same thing. No hydration for this woman’s skin—go figure!
But I still manage to try to give the brand one more chance. And one more time, it failed!
Overall Rating? The Brush? C–it does the job but not for this CC Cream.
CC Cream? D- to F. It failed.
Today’s face was rescued with The Ordinary’s Serum foundation!! I had hopes for iT’s CC cream but it was hopeless.
I stand by my thoughts that Deciem’s The Ordinary’s Serum Foundation is one of the greatest foundations out there. It even beats The Ordinary’s Coverage Foundation in the coverage department. And both foundations are a lot less expensive than iT’s CC Creams and foundations.
What say you? What brands are so hit-or-miss or what brands to you have a love/hate relationship with? It’ll be a good share in the comments!
Oh crumbs have I had disasters in the past, now I stick quite carefully to brands I know won’t react with my skin (pale, rosy, flushes easily). I KNOW Bobbi brown is too yellow and sits badly on my skin, but their eye pencils – ooooooh lovely, I adore them. Kielhs skin care is fabulous for my skin but same again – their BB foundation-y stuff sits on my skin like a layer of dirt and makes my quite fine pores look like deep wells that can never be filled. Clarins – again their skin care is lovely on my skin, but their foundation looks like I haven’t washed in a month of Sundays… I wont even mention Liz Earle skincare (supposedly the most gentle of gentle) except I came up as a puffy, swollen, crusty mess… Currently I use a foundation by a French brand (By Terry) it smells of roses and works really well on my skin, along with a Laura Mercier primer (I will happily hunt for discounted versions on the web), I do find that the Midnight recovery oil from Kiehls is my secret weapon – it hydrates and really goes a phenomenally long way and sets my skin up nicely overnight, I liked The Ordinary but Kiehls just swung it for my skin. I’ll be interested in other peoples experiences – as the skin care of some brands is completely different to the make up/foundation offered by the same people, how/why is that???
Juliet! I’m with you on the Bobbi Brown–there is NO shade that works for me. Surprisingly, MAC foundation is the same–the concealer is great. Foundation does not work. I’ve heard great things about the Terry foundation and it’s already on my list for our next visit to Paris! And now that you say it smells like roses–I’m there! I like Khiels Corps do Creme –that’s a good heavy moisturizer but Clarins is great for skin care but makeup? Not so much!!! XOXOXOXOXO
Katherine, I love your attitude About pro aging instead of anti-aging. I am like you: I totally resist that awful terminology. Regarding foundation, I think BB creams and CC creams are another gimmick to get us to try something new. I have not yet found a lightweight foundation that feels good on my skin and evens it out with out making it look worse than it already is . I protect my skin from the sun, so it does not have brown spots, etc. I do have some broken capillaries.
Hi Mary Ellen. Yeah–I swear the BB and CC creams are just another gimmick–in fact, I just think they are rebranded tinted moisturizers. The finish isn’t good and is just incredibly uneven. I swear by The Ordinary foundations. Honestly–if you haven’t tried them yet, please do–they are under seven dollars and are the best foundations ever! The coverage is very very good! You are smart to protect your skin. I just had a second biopsy (baby oil and iodine are not my friends)–thankfully it was negative! Sunscreen here I come! XOXOXOXO
Catherine, I got way too much sun in my youth as well and have had one skin cancer removed from my face. That is why I never leave the house without my sunscreen in the morning. Thanks for the tip on the ordinary foundations. I will give them a try.
I like the Estee Lauder one. That s the only one my face van handle!
Now that Lauder canned the Jenner/Kardashian one, I may revisit because I’ve heard good things….XOXOXOXO
I’ve also been using the It CC Cream for awhile and am not that happy with it because no matter how much I exfoliate, moisturize and prep it still settles into my lines and wrinkles. I see the same thing happening on some of the models on QVC but the hosts just keep saying “and look how it doesn’t settle into her fine lines and wrinkles!” Really. Wish I had a good recommendation but my search continues.
Hi Margaret! Oh. I noticed that on my face too. At the end of the day I was like “Dayum–what a hot mess is on my face!” I don’t get those QVC hosts sometimes. iT cosmetics has got to be the biggest hit-or-miss brand for me. Some of the stuff I love and some is absolutely horrific! I’m over the search for a CC cream. I’ll just stick to foundation!! XOXOXOXOXO
Not a fan of CC or BB creams, I prefer full coverage foundation. I used IT cosmetics for a few years until I realized I wasn’t happy with how my face looked. Went into Sephora last fall and the salesperson recommended it to me once again telling me it had been updated. I returned it, nothing had changed. Right now I’m using a foundation from Nars that I like so far but I am always on the hunt for something better. My skin is very oily and I live in a very humid climate so finding something with good coverage that stays put is challenging.
xo,
Kellyann
Kellyann, I am very glad you brought that up. Yeah–the only update on the iT cosmetics is that L’Oreal bought the brand! That’s the update. Foundation is much better. Hey…did you try the Kat Von D Lock It foundation? It’s super coverage and doesn’t move at all! It may be great for your weather! XOXOXOXOX