When I heard the magic word 'matte' bandied about in association with a BB cream I was definitely interested in trying that out. You see, I'm usually a powder foundation fan because creamy, dewy formulations inevitably end up translating as oily on my t-zone - and then out comes the trusty mattifying powder - but I'm open to trying a matte BB cream formulation to see how that performs on my combination skin!
Enter Rimmel who have launched their oil free formula BB Cream Matte 9-in-1 which is available in 3 shades in Australia (light, medium, medium dark). I received a tube in the light shade to try so I've spent the past week testing it, wearing it to the office to see how it stands up to the rigours of my regular air-conditioned, artificially lit life...
Swatched heavily on the left and blended out on the right:
Rimmel's BB Cream Matte 9-in-1 makes the following 9 claims:
1) Minimises the appearance of pores
2) Evens skin tone
3) Mattifies
4) Controls shine all day
5) Smoothes
6) Soothes
7) Conceals dark circles
8) Helps prevent blemishes
9) Gives all-day coverage
This pretty neatly sets out the format for this review as I'm going to address those 9 claims one by one:
1) Minimises the appearance of pores? Check! I do have some enlarged pores on and around the nose area and BB Cream Matte did a decent job of blurring and de-emphasising them.
2) Evens skin tone? Absolutely. This BB cream provided good medium coverage to significantly disguise my cheek pigmentation and gave me an even canvas for cream blush. I also found it was easy to dab and blend in a little more on those areas which really needed it for buildable extra coverage.
1) Minimises the appearance of pores? Check! I do have some enlarged pores on and around the nose area and BB Cream Matte did a decent job of blurring and de-emphasising them.
2) Evens skin tone? Absolutely. This BB cream provided good medium coverage to significantly disguise my cheek pigmentation and gave me an even canvas for cream blush. I also found it was easy to dab and blend in a little more on those areas which really needed it for buildable extra coverage.
3) Mattifies? Erm, had to really try to make this happen for me and it still wasn't perfect by my matte-obsessed standards. Through trial and error I found I got the best result applying with a brush over a primed face and while most of my face looked matte I still developed a shiny nose within a few hours. I ended up reaching for the pressed powder but I must admit after that my nose was fine. Interestingly when I was out checking prices for BB Cream Matte I saw Rimmel also sell Stay Matte Primer - maybe I should have been supplied a tube of that to review together with the BB Cream Matte, hmmm?
4) Controls shine all day? Mostly but as I just mentioned this couldn't hold back the shine in my most stubbornly shiny area - my nose - although a single application of mattifying powder took care of that for the day.
5) Smoothes? Yes. I had no visibly dry, flaky patches anywhere (I so sometimes get flaky patches at the tops of my cheeks) so while this is a matte formula it's not at the expense of the drier areas on my skin.
6) Soothes? My skin's behaving at the moment so I can't properly judge although I can say BB Cream Matte wears very comfortably and weightlessly throughout the day.
7) Conceals dark circles? Check! I got away with skipping the under eye concealer all week when using the BB Cream Matte under my eyes. This happens to be a significant plus for me as I'm the first person to say my must-have is a good under eye concealer because I'm obsessed with brightening up under my eyes.
8) Helps prevent blemishes? Perhaps? One week isn't enough for me to judge and I don't get flare-ups too often. Okay lets say that it hasn't provoked any blemish eruptions.
9) Gives all-day coverage? Check! This does stay put for the day as I noticed I didn't need to touch up my under eye circles and my my cream blush was still sitting freshly on top for the day.
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Overall, it depends on what you're looking for but if you're anti-shine like me and after 100% matte coverage I suggest you start with a good mattifying primer underneath and keep your pressed powder handy just in case.
Price: $12.95AUD
Availability: Priceline, Priceline Pharmacy, Big W, Woolworths, Coles, Chemist Warehouse, My Chemist, Target, Kmart and various Independent Pharmacies
(This product was provided for my consideration. All comments and opinions are my own.)
My T-zone/nose gets oily too, pretty much regardless of what foundation I'm using. This sounds like it otherwise has quite good coverage though and does perfect the look of skin. Longer lasting power is also always a plus :)
ReplyDeleteMy shiny nose forever drives me crazy so that's why I don't leave without home without a powder for touch-ups - this formula is definitely less dewy than some of the BBs I've tried :)
DeleteHmmm, you know I think I might have to try this! I'm finding a lot of my current BB Creams TOO moisturizing lately. My skin isn't so dry anymore it seems thanks to the Vichy stuff I've been using!
ReplyDeleteToo moisturising indeed! The weather is only just starting to get cold down here so I know what you mean - my skin isn't too dry yet so matte is still the way to go.
DeleteI've been enjoying this one too, I still powder over it (habit really!) and I find the coverage is pretty darn good for a BB
ReplyDeleteThe coverage impressed me more than anything and the under eye coverage especially - normally I wouldn't be caught DEAD without under eye concealer so it's a great all in one base. I think the powder thing is habit for me too and once I'd powdered the really stubborn areas I was fine :)
DeleteIt sounds quite good to me. There's maybe like 3 foundations in the world that doesn't immediately get shiny on the nose, so I can definitely forgive it in a BB cream, even if it claims to keep matte. I'm going to ask PR. ;)
ReplyDeleteThat's a relief to hear :)
DeleteI'm usually wearing powder products so I get a tad too matte obsessed - anyway as I figured out, a light dusting of setting powder is all I need then this BB cream performs just fine!