BB creams seem to be everywhere at the moment. In Asian countries, particularly Korea, they appear to be as necessary as a purse and it's not uncommon for even the men to using such products over there. It's fair to say BB creams have proven to be a massive success in such countries which is probably why they were introduced to the British market. In good old Blighty, however, they don't seem to be as popular. I know many people who have purchased some sort of BB cream although mainly out of curiosity, I probably know about two people who have continued to use them.

Personally I didn't join this craze until recently due to the sheer amounts of complaints people I knew had about the ones they were using. When The Body Shop launched their own BB cream I decided to give it ago though. I love The Body Shop and generally have faith in their products with most of my current skin care products coming from there - all of which I am very pleased with. I thought if I were to find a BB cream I liked enough to use regularly then I'd find it here.

The BB cream costs £12 for 25ml. After a short internet browse this seemed a 'middle of the road' type price. Garnier's BB cream (which seems to be the most popular) can be picked up for around £7 for 50ml, Olay's version will cost about the same and brands such as Witch and 17 sell for even less. Dr. Jart's version sells for around £20-£25, Clinique's offering also costs £25 and a Dior BB cream will cost around £40! Whilst £12 for 25ml was by no means the cheapest available option it was far from the most expensive, it was still more than I was willing to pay without doing a bit of research first though!

The problem was I was trying to research this product in early August which was pretty much as soon as it hit The Body Shop stores and their website hence very little consumer opinion could be found. I did find out that The Body Shop already had a BB cream on the Korean market which was apparently quite popular and found many rave reviews for that one. Thinking this would be the same product but suitable for different skin tones I decided to purchase this BB cream.

The product is available in three shades 'light', 'medium' and 'dark'. Having such a fair complexion I went for the light shade thinking this would be a suitable match. Unfortunately, it wasn't! (But we'll come to that in a minute).

The BB cream comes a silver tube with black plastic screw cap lid. On this tube we get The Body Shop logo, product name and shade. Not much else. This is my first complaint for this product. Whilst almost every other BB cream on the market makes specific claims about what their product will do, this one does not. The only information we really get is the very vague 'all-in-one' comment in the name of the cream. This makes it quite hard to say if this works or not as we're not completely sure what it is supposed to do. The Body Shop websites provides a little more information and states that this will adapt to your skin tone, provide 24 hour hydration, light - medium coverage and an even finish whilst being non-clogging which, to me anyway, sounds more like a tinted moisturiser than a BB cream which is also supposed to make a good primer, have skin healing ingredients such as anti-oxidants and, more often than not, provide an SPF.

Unfortunately this one does not contain any SPF which I would definitely like to see as I do think a bit of sun protection is one of the best ways of protecting the skin and it is something I actively look for in face care products, much cheaper BB creams on the market offer SPF I do think The Body Shop missed out something quite important there. A quick search through the ingredients list, however, shows that this BB cream does contain Tocopheryl Acetate which is an anti-oxidant and there are a number of skin conditioning ingredients thrown in too. The Marula Oil contained in the cream is community fair trade too which is nice extra.

When it comes to using this BB cream my thoughts are that it is a little hit and miss. The cream itself is white with tiny brown specks in it, these are the pigment capsules which 'burst' when the cream is applied to the face to release the colour. The cream is quite runny but easy to control how much is squeezed out of the tube and it has a very mild but unusual smell, a little minty but a little leafy too. It's not an unpleasant scent and you can only really detect it if you make a conscious effort to smell the cream anyway so this doesn't cause any problems as far as I am concerned.

I apply the cream with my fingertips by dotting little bits around my face and then blending in circular motions and I imagine using some form of make-up brush would work just as well if you preferred. The cream does blend in really well and it does provide that even finished which is promised, it never goes blotchy or patchy and those pigment capsules release the colour almost instantly. Here is where I have another complaint. I don't find the cream adapts to my skin tone at all. I am very pale and despite owning the cream in the lightest shade I find this is far too dark for my skin and leaves me almost orange. The reviews of the cream on The Body Shop website which have popped up now the cream has been on the market a while show that many pale girls have experienced the same problem - the lightest shade just isn't very light.

I find if I apply tiny amounts I can stop that orange tint appearing on my face but then I don't get the full effect of the coverage this cream offers. If using just the 'normal' amount (which still isn't very much, a pea sized blob at most for the entire face) the cream does offers a decent amount of coverage and hides scars and slight blemishes rather well as well as getting rid of uneven skin tones. If you don't suffer terribly with bad skin then the coverage aspects of the cream are more than adequate and the need for foundation is removed. I don't get anywhere near that amount of coverage from the tiny amount I use to keep my own skin tone though. Actually I will normally go over areas with concealer and then end up putting a bit of foundation on anyway making the colour aspect of the cream pointless for me.

I wouldn't say the cream is greasy but it does give the face a bit of shine and if you suffer from oily skin I'd probably stay away from this completely as it'll probably worsen that problem. I find this problem is sorted with a little bit of powder over the top but, again, I find the whole point in BB cream is to allow me to not have to bother with make-up on those days where I just can't be bothered or don't have the time.

The 24 hour hydration claim seems a little ambitious to me too. I have tried this without my usual day cream and just find it's anywhere near as good, it does offer some skin softening aspects and does provide hydration for a few hours but I definitely feel the need to apply separate day cream before this and my skin isn't even particularly dry. Again, making the moisturising aspect of the cream pointless.

I haven't noticed this cream has had any positive effects on my skin's condition but it hasn't had any negative effects on it either. It appears to be safe for sensitive skin and hasn't caused me to break out or suffer with a sudden burst or dry patches so I'll give it that much credit!

If you're skin tone it anything lighter than olive toned then I wouldn't bother as you just can't get the few benefits the cream offers. If you do have a medium-dark skin tone, however, and are just looking for something which will provide a bit of coverage then this might be a product for you. It does last all day so if you're using this just to hide dark circles or uneven skin tone that I don't think you'll have too much a problem. Having said that a BB cream is supposed to make the need for lots of products redundant and, even if my skin were darker so I could apply the amount needed to get the full coverage effects from the product, I'd still be using day cream and powder and, rather than saving me money on buying all of those products, using this would actually just be adding an extra £12 on top of my skin care bill.

This BB cream makes an okay tinted moisturiser for darker skin tones although it really doesn't offer much else. The fact that it blends in so easily and well is probably the best thing about it in my opinion and personally, for £12 for 25ml, I want a little bit more than that!