Hi there. So, we know Below The Brow has been a bit quiet recently, but it’s all for a good cause! Antonia is very busy heading up a feature film, and I am trying to finish two different projects! With the added organisation of a big trip to my home country, we’re still working hard on new photo shoots and other new and interesting things for the site on our days off.

As this is our first review, let me explain, briefly, how this will work. The reviews will be written by myself, Antonia or both of us together. Even though I’m not a Make Up Artist, we like the idea of trying things on both of us, with our different skin tones, textures and opinions, to get a more democratic and better view of a product. We hope you’ll enjoy it!

 A while ago Antonia and I were talking about how BB Creams were supposed to be a miraculous way to have your skin looking amazing. That was before the larger, western companies saw the potential in this incredible Korean product and decided to take their share.

Garnier released their Miracle Skin Perfector around September– Daily All-In-One BB Cream, and we thought we should give it a go.

The first negative point for me was the fact that it only comes in two shades: Light and Medium. First of all, we were both going to try the product and compare notes, but because Antonia had a tan, the Light was too bright and the Medium too dark.  How ladies with beautiful dark skin out there would be able to use this product, I don’t know. So it was down to me to try it out!

Being Brazilian, I have naturally olive skin, so I used the Medium shade. When I first tried it on my skin, I thought it looked very dark, and it seemed that I had to apply quite a bit of the product to see any result. You could really see the difference in colour between my face and the rest of my body, but after a few minutes it seemed to blend in and I couldn’t see the colour difference anymore. After seeing these results, I would just like to mention that to anyone wanting to wear it, put it on at least 20-30minutes before you leave the house! This will give it a chance to adapt to your skin and will lessen the risk of those undesired ‘tidal wave’ moments…

I never like using a lot of product on my face, I hate the feeling of having my skin heavy with foundation or powder, so my first try left me a bit disappointed. But once it stayed on for a while it felt quite natural and not heavy at all. My skin and hair never really got on well with Garnier products. I always found that their shampoos made my hair sticky (you know the feeling when you touch your hair, and it pretty much sticks to your hands?) and their skincare products made my skin oily; so having said that, I was a bit wary that their BB Cream was going to do just that. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it pretty much achieved the opposite effect – my skin felt quite smooth, almost mimicking the feeling of a primer.

On the side of the box, Garnier mentions a few immediate effects you will have with the BB cream, so let’s check them out one by one:

-       Evens tone + boosts glow – Well, the tone of my skin was even, as you can see on the photos and everything looked a bit more uniform. But I didn’t really see any glow, and other people really didn’t think my face was looking more healthy or radiant. Maybe this is an effect you can get only after a few days, even though they say it’s immediate.

-       Blurs imperfections – I had a bit of a problem with this promise. As you can see, I was having a pretty bad skin day and had a few spots on my face and it didn’t really cover them. I’ve seen reviews and pictures of Korean BB creams and they covered a lot more than this one. Maybe my skin was so bad that nothing could cover it!

-       Smoothes fine lines – I don’t really have fine lines on my face yet, so it’s hard for me to say if this actually happens or not. But I should point this out – you know those lines you get when you smile? And those lines under your eyes when you wear some concealers? Well, that didn’t happen. Joy!

-       24hr hydration – My skin did feel great all day, well moisturised and, again, not oily.

-       SPF 15 UV protection – Well, this is invisible, so I really hope it does have it!

All in all, I think the results I’ve obtained with this were similar to what I already have with moisturiser/foundation combo or a tinted moisturiser. It didn’t really cover enough problems on my skin to convert me completely. I probably will use it again for a change, but it won’t be my first option.

I hope this review helped you, and always feel free to e-mail the BTB team with suggestions of things you would like us to review, questions, or anything else you want to say.

 Rayana

BTB x

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*Products used by Rayana for the “after” shot:

-Maybelline Great Lash Mascara
-Rimmel London powder blush in Pink Rose
-MAC Lipstick in Cherish