I love cosmetics and consider myself to be quite knowledgeable about them. But in last few months I heard lots of mentions about 'bb creams' and I didn't really understand what it was so I ignored the buzz. Recently however I decided I should find out a bit more about this new product that everyone seemed to be talking about and so I bought the Beautiful Skin BB Cream by Boots No7.

So what is a BB cream?
The product is a multifunctional skin cream which gives coverage to the skin but that also has skincare properties. It evens out the complexion, acts a primer which prolongs the life of your make up, covers up imperfections and moisturises and brightens the skin. Some even come with an added SPF

What about Beautiful Skin BB Cream by Boots No7?
I chose this one because it has been specifically designed for normal/oily skin, although there is normal/dry version available too. This particular BB cream works on a three in one basis by evening and brightening the skin tone, disguises imperfections and nourishing the skin with a spot banishing formula. It also includes a SPF 15 so it will help to protect the skin from sun damage.

Available shades
The product only comes in two shades which is fair and medium. I bought fair because I have very pale skin. Having only two shades usually means that you won't find one to match your skin but the colour of this light so it should suit a broad spectrum of skin tones.

How do you use the product?
The product is to be applied to clean, dry skin. You are supposed to wear the product alone in order to achieve the appearance of perfect make up free skin. I'm not brave enough to go without make up so I bought the product with the intention of using it underneath my foundation.

Packaging and Price
The cream comes contained within a white plastic tube which has a black screw top lid. It looks fairly expensive and it's something that I don't mind having on display in my bathroom. It has a black screw top lid and the product is easy to dispense from the bottle. The product costs around £12 and it is available to buy from the Boots store and from a variety of online websites.

Application and Performance
The product looks like foundation when you dispense it from the bottle but its consistency is slightly lighter. I find it difficult to get out of the habit of using a moisturiser first, so if I do have patchy dry skin on my forehead, I do still use my normal moisturiser first. It smoothes onto the skin easily and you don't need to use much of the cream to get the desired results. You get plenty of time to work the product into the skin before it dries so you can blend it in properly.

The product does give a sheer coverage that looks fair more natural than foundation. It looks like your not wearing make up but yet your imperfections are covered to a degree. It doesn't completely deal with blemishes and you need a concealer to cover that and it doesn't do much to lighten dark circles beneath my eyes. My complexion look more even and it also looks a bit brighter and healthier.

The product has quite a matte finish but because my skin is oily, I still need to apply a mattifying powder on top which ruins the no make up effect. My skin does feel soft with it on top and it does look in a good condition but my skin is older and so needs extra product to with it which ruin the affect of the cream. I haven't had chance to test out the sun protection however I assume it must work if Boots say it does. It hasn't caused me any irritations or discomfort on my sensitive skin and it hasn't made me develop any new blemishes.

Conclusion
All in all, if this product had been around in my teenage years and early twenty I would have absolutely loved it. My skin was youthful enough then to be fine with just this. I would also wear this on holidays as it would give protection from the sun and make me look healthy and fresh but still bare faced. As it goes, my skin still needs Porefessional to cover the pores, concealer to cover my blemishes, Touch Eclat for my dark circles and mattifying powder to stop me shining. All of this leads to me looking like I'm wearing foundation so in my opinion, I might as well just wear the make up.