Kate BB Gel Cream

Good weekend everybutty!

It's been 2 weeks of working for me and weekends are so precious now. Also, weekends are the only time that I can take photos because there's no other time I'm home when there's sunlight. Makes me wish I had times when summer days stretched till 10pm. Here we have summer heat, worse than summer humidity, and only limited summer sunlight. Bah. 

Anyway, now that I have to wear makeup for such long hours (8am when I start putting it on till at least 9pm when I get home, or longer if I have dinner with friends), I started to feel uncomfortable with using full coverage foundations, and so have been on the look out for something more lightweight with coverage. Yes it's never possible to satisfy a girl. The aim is to have nothing on the skin and still look absolutely perfect, but I'm not perfect. Bopian (no choice)....

So just the the other day, I managed to convince the boy to stand by the Cure station to play with the gel and rub dead skin off while I browsed Watsons, and got the Kate BB Gel Cream on sale. It was S$25.90 originally, but I got it at 30% off! Worth it! I haven't even used it a full week yet, but I was so excited from the moment I tried it I had to blog about this first. 

So this picture has my part of my muji make up storage system included in it. I just wanted to share it because this was a gift from the boy for my birthday 2 months ago. It means so much to me because most guys would not want to encourage anything to do with make up (in my case it was more of a GET ORGANIZED). It works like a dream and I have no desire to get it messy ever just cos it looks so good. So this picture is just to share and say THANK YOU!

So this is how the Kate BB Gel Cream is packaged. It's a matte black squeeze tube which is honestly, quite ugly. Especially with the BB gel cream printed so large. But being matte, it doesn't attract fingerprints which is a plus point. 

Looks deceivingly small, though larger than the Aqualabel foundation. It holds 30g of product, which is actually even more than what you get for a bottle of MAC foundation. Props for value for quantity!

I really love squeeze tubes because it's so much easier to control the quantity of product that comes out as compared to a pour bottle or even a pump. 

This BB Cream gel supposedly has "the function of a beauty serum, moisturizer, sunscreen, makeup base and sheer foundation. It contains "double effect mineral powder" to protect the skin and cover visible pores, while the blend of olive, jojoba and sweet oil oils moisturize the skin. It also has light-diffusing pigments that reflect away imperfections, even skin tone and add lustre to skin"

That's up to you to believe. I obviously don't, but I believe the part about sunscreen. This has spf30! I still put normal sunblock before this, but 30 is technically quite decent enough to skip that. On lazy days perhaps...

It also boasts being alcohol and fragrance free, which is a plus point for those with sensitive skin.

credits: http://karlasugar.net/2009/07/mac-studio-sculpt-foundation/

On to the BB gel itself. What I love the most about this BB gel is that IT HAS SHADES TO CHOOSE FROM. Most BB creams come in a disgusting ashy grey that is supposed to magically suit any skin tone. BULLSHIT for darker girls. At the display, I saw at least 4 different shades for this. There were 3 in the OC range, with OC-D being the darkest. It says 3 on my tube though, contrary to the stand where it said OC-D. There was also one from the beige range if I'm not wrong. 

OC-D as you can see, is almost almost an exact match for mac NC30. It is only a slight tinge lighter. It works for my face because unlike the studio fix, it is not orange on my face, and also sheers out more than the studio fix. 

The texture of this cream is more cream than liquid. If I had a blob of this on my hand and turned my hand over it would not slide. Despite it being so thick, it is easy enough to blend into the skin. It also covers up pores (true to its description hooray!), and doesn't crease into any fine lines on the face like my laugh lines. Unfortunately, it still gathers into my under eye wrinkle line (no idea what to call it) but there hasn't been a product that doesn't do that.

One thing that bugs me though is that I seem to have to use such a lot of product, probably double that I use of normal foundation. It seems to get absorbed into the skin or something like that. Though it doesn't feel like I have much on my face, which I guess is a good thing.

The finish of this BB Gel Cream is... matte. I don't fancy matte finishes too much, so I've been using it mixed with the Ginvera Green Tea BB cream for a little bit of a dewy look, or an illuminator. In the photos I've used it on its own, and I've decided it's really quite a nice matte finish. 

The coverage of this is probably the best of any BB cream I've used. People say that the skin79 one is awesome, THIS one is even better, plus with a colour choice! Only my serious blemishes could not be covered up with just this BB cream as you can see. It works well as a thin layer, also works well layered for more coverage, it's really really just awesome. (Btw, pardon the eyebags and center parted awkward hair, I'm still trying to settle into the working routine)

Lasting power is good. I've seen some reviews that say this lasts 5-6+ hours. Honestly, if you're not one to fuss over tiny imperfections peeking through at the end of the day, this will be good enough. It controls oil to the extent that I don't have to blot till around 5pm. Yet, despite its matte finish and oil control, it doesn't leave my face flaky nor feeling dry at the end of the day. In fact, I actually find my skin feeling very soft at work.

I'm going to be using this for a long long long time.


Summary:

Pros:

• value for money
• alcohol and fragrance free
• spf 30
• colour choices up to nc30-35
• fantastic coverage
• creamy and easy to blend
• covers up pores 
• doesn't settle into fine lines
• good oil control yet does not dry out face
• lasts pretty damn long

Cons:

• matte finish (but I guess there are quite alot of people who consider this a pro)
• seems to disappear on the skin, hence I have to use so much each time

Base Routine

FOTD? I was experimenting with a new way to achieve a lighter base routine but still achieve the maximum coverage. Today I stumbled upon this application which though quite time consuming, I like the way it looks and feels.

I will be posting up images from the web as I'm too lazy to take my own.

Prep:

Hada Labo Lotion

Works as a toner, also quite moisturizing and light. For me it's not moisturizing enough, that's why I top it off with another moisturizer.

Garnier Whiten & Even Moisturizing Cream spf 17/pa++

Gives an instant brightening effect, especially for paler girls. For me it makes my face quite white. However I think that this moisturizer does work quite well for scars and pigmentation, that's why I use it.

Biore UV Aqua Rich Watery Mousse Water Base spf 50+/pa+++ (need so many + a not...)

Sunblock. My mom always told me to use sunblock. I never listened. Now I have pigmentation and am very sad. Love this sunblock. Absolutely love the texture. Super light!

Olivia by CCS eco Eye Cream with Organic Olive Oil (bought in Sweden)

Bought this in Sweden because I had no eye cream and I was developing wrinkles under my eyes. This was the cheapest at their drug store because they have 25% (yeah you read that right) tax on all skincare. Quite a light and nice eye cream, doesn't do much for the wrinkles but decent for day time use. Use a light eye cream and not a heavy one because eye creams are what causes your concealer to move and mascara/eyeliner to smudge.

Base:

Skin79 Super+ Beblesh Balm

1. Use Skin79 BB Cream as a base/primer. I use this to cover up my pores to give a smoother surface to work on. It also provides decent coverage for areas that are red.

Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer

2. This is a product that can be used as a foundation, however, I haven't had it long enough to find out how to work with it as it is AMAZINGLY pigmented. It is also slightly darker than my skin tone (matches my neck but my natural face is alot lighter than my neck so I cannot stand it being so dark), and since it's so pigmented it looks unnatural. In any case, this has no silicones or fillers so when on the skin it looks like skin. I use this to conceal any blemishes or pigmentation. If you do not own this, use a concealer that is slightly darker than your skin tone to conceal, then blend the edges out very well.

Kate Covering Concealer for Under Eyes

3. Use a peach concealer for under eye rings. Kate Covering Concealer is not bad, doesn't really crease for me. Squeeze some onto hand and slowly use a finger to dab it under the eyes. Work in thin layers so that it won't crease rather than putting on a lot at once and blending out. Can also be used to brighten up the area under eye/eyebags for a Kim Kardashian look.

Ginvera Green Tea Nude Cover BB Cream

4. Face should look slightly odd now, with patches of dark concealer and peach concealer. No fear, use Ginvera Green Tea BB Cream and dab over the dark spots, blending it into the rest of the face. Also put some on top of (if necessary) or around the peach areas and blend. 

Rest of face:

e.l.f All Over Colour Stick in Spotlight

I use this as a highlighter for my nose. Cream products generally work well with a cream base. Do not ever use this on powder base, will cause powder to ball up/shift.

NYX Rouge Cream Blush in Natural

Mentioned in review below.

L'oreal Super Liner 

Got this as a free gift and it works quite well. I use this to line my eyelid. Using another lighter pencil in black, lightly line the waterline. Not too intense. Then using an angled brush/flat brush, get a brown eyeshadow (or just use eyebrow pencil haha) to fill in the little corner space under the outer corner of the eye. This will really elongate the eye. Will do a proper tutorial soon.

Finish off with a lipbalm/lip colour if you like. I use the EOS lipbalm, very minty. I practically eat it. 

This base procedure does take quite long if you have many spots/scars like me because it's based on concealing mostly the spots and keeping the rest of the face relatively free of products. I really like it because I don't get the unnatural look that comes with using heavy coverage foundations. I also prefer this over powders because for some reason, I always picture powder particles army crawling their way into my big pores and refusing to get out. If you haven't already realized, the above routine is ALL cream/liquidy products. I hope this helps someone who needs as much coverage as I do and still wants to look normal, but if not, hope it helps anyway!

Oh, DO NOT take any pictures with this routine on. YOU WILL HAVE A WHITE FACE. There are 4 products in this routine that have spf. One of them being spf 50 with many + signs. Yes I am that paranoid. Okay no I'm not, it just so happens. 

If I am not clear enough, here are the tutorials that I have adapted my own routine from. I really like the 2nd girl!

Enjoy!