Ginvera Nude Cover Green Tea BB Cream and Aqua Whitening Cream: Review/Swatch

Ginvera is a Singapore-based brand mostly known for its whitening range of skincare products, often infused with green tea-based ingredients designed to appeal to the Asian market. Their most popular products include, up to this point, include the Green Tea Marvel Gel, which is an exfoliator in gel form, as well as the Green Tea Spot Corrector. In keeping with the whitening, green tea-infused theme, Ginvera has released two new products to their whitening line.



One is a moisturizer, the Aqua Whitening Cream, while the other is a BB cream, that ever popular Asian foundation substitute. Both products come in plastic tubes and are housed in plastic boxes. The products are all green in colour, in keeping with the rest of the colour scheme for the whitening products.



The Aqua Whitening Cream is billed as a moisturizer with oil control benefits, and is thus marketed towards girls with normal/combination skin. It is supposed to moisturize your skin while preventing it from getting too oily. I rather liked this product, as it blended in easily and worked well under makeup. It did feel a little thick for a moisturizer, though - this is definitely a moisturizer with a creamier texture, as opposed to a more watery, gel-like feel.



The Nude Cover Green Tea BB Cream is a BB cream, and also claims to have skin-healing benefits in addition to being a cosmetic product. It also has SPF30 for sun protection. Initially, I thought this looked rather dark in the bottle, but it blended out to be fairer than it appeared at first.



Here are swatche of both products. As you can see, both products blended nicely into the skin. The moisturizer sinks into the skin nicely and doesn't leave any residue. And the BB cream also blends in well. I really appreciate that it doesn't have any glitter, so you don't have to fear the dreaded discoball effect with this BB cream!



One of the other things I really liked about the BB cream was that for possibly the first time ever in my life, I actually found a match in a BB cream! Most BB creams tend to run really pink (like the CU Skin BB cream I tried before), making it hard for me to find a match, so I was pretty excited to find a BB cream that would work for me. And I also like the finish on this one - it isn't as oily-looking or overly-shiny as some other BB creams are, and although it is also on the shiny side, it doesn't make my face look like an oil slick.

Here's an FOTD of the BB cream, just so you can see that it's actually a match for me (NC20 in MAC). Coverage of the BB cream is also decent, and I'd call it medium. It won't cover any very major spots, and as you can see it didn't cover all the blemishes on my skin, but if you have decent skin to start off with, it will cover minor imperfections.



If you are looking for a decent moisturizer or a BB cream, this would be worth checking out. If you've had previous issues with BB creams being too pink on your skin, the Ginvera BB cream may just work for you. Both products retail for S$16.90, so even girls on a budget would be able to appreciate these items. Right now, Ginvera is having a promotion on their Facebook, so you can head over there to redeem your FREE NEW AQUA WHITENING CREAM (with Oil Control) & NUDE COVER BB CREAM SPF30/PA++ samples, at https://www.facebook.com/ginvera.sg?sk=app_213564948660624 or http://www.facebook.com/ginvera.sg.

(Product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

Kiss Me Heroine Make Essence in BB Cream Swatch

BB creams are makeup bases that have become extremely popular in Asia over the last couple of years. They make wild, grandiose claims about being good for your skin, with anti-wrinkle, whitening, blemish-clearing properties, but the ones that I've seen tend to feel like heavy, over-emollint, shiny tinted moisturizers. I kid you not. But still, they're hugely popular in Asia, so there you go.

Despite my personal reservations about the health benefits of BB creams (reading through the ingredients lists of most BB creams just makes my skin squirm!), I've decided to swatch a BB cream for today's post - just because I love you guys, and I figure even if I'm not interested in it, some of you might.

The BB cream swatched today is the Kiss me Heroine Make Essence in BB Cream. For people unfamiliar with the product, Kiss Me is the brand, and the rest is just gobbledygook in attempting to give the product a catchy name. Gotta love Asian brands - they always feel the need to over-name their products.


L-R: Kiss me Heroine Make in Essence BB Cream applied heavily, then spread out lightly

The Kiss Me Heroine BB cream doesn't feel very much different from other BB creams I've seen. Heavy, oily feel - check. Lots of shine - check. Sparkles and discrete specks of glitter - check. The glitter is a major reason why I abstain from BB creams - I just can't deal with sparkle or glitter in my foundation products. I hate looking like a discoball.

The good thing about this, though, is that unlike other BB creams I've seen, the colour in this one is actually more yellow-based, which makes it more wearable. It has been my experience that quite a lot of BB creams run very pink, making them unwearable for most Asians. So if you generally like the texture, feel and pigmentation of a typical BB cream, but have been having issues with the colour range being too pink, this could be worth checking out.

FOTD/Review: CUSkin BB Cream and Pure Whitening Cream

CUSkin is a brand hailing from Korea, and two of its most heavily advertised items are the requisite staples of Korean skincare - a BB Cream, and a whitening cream. The Whitening and Wrinkle Repair BB Cream, as well as the Pure Whitening Cream have both been getting a lot of press in the past couple of months, and I thought I'd take the opportunity to introduce my thoughts on these products to you.

Now, before I start on this review, I'd like to state upfront that I was only provided with sample sachets of the product, so my review will be limited in a couple of ways. I won't be able to tell you how these products work in the long run (e.g. I can't tell you whether it will break you out after 6 weeks), but I can do some swatches, as well as an FOTD. I'd also be able to give an overview of the texture, colour, and other cosmetic properties of the products. So now that all the disclaimers are out of the way, let's get on to the review, shall we?



Anyway, let's start first with the Pure Whitening Cream. It's a cream, but it doesn't quite feel like one, having a very light texture that's a cross between a gel and a cream. It's white in the packaging, but it quickly spreads out and becomes clear upon application. It's also easily absorbed, so it's easy to wear in a hot or humid climate, or during summer. You won't get a sticky-face feeling with this one.



The Whitening and Wrinkle Repair BB Cream has some of the most grandiose of claims - whitening and wrinkle repair, both of them. While I can't exactly tell you whether it really fulfills its skincare claims, because I haven't tried it out for long enough, I am quite happy to say that as a BB cream, it's actually pretty good.



Like most BB creams, this one has a very, well, creamy texture, that is actually quite similar to the primers found in Western brands. I half suspect this is due to the fact that BB Creams typically tend to be laden with silicones, in a manner that's similar to Western-brand primers. So if you've tried other BB creams and have liked them, and if you like the feel of silicon-bearing products, then this will be a good one for you to try.

Also, like most BB creams, the colour is actually on the pink side. I'm NC20, and I actually found it a bit too pink for me. Still, because it blends out well, as you can see from the photo above, the pink-ness isn't as bad as some other BB creams. I think even if the shade doesn't match perfectly, it's possible to pull it off, as long as there is plenty of blending. I've tried BB creams where the pink is so obvious that the colour looks all weird and pink and ashy when applied, but this one fortunately blends in much better, although it's not exactly a match.

And since I know we all love before-and-after photos, here's a before-and-after FOTD I've done just for you guys!

Here's a picture of my bare skin, with nothing but the Pure Whitening Cream. OMG I HAVE NO MAKEUP ON ! THE HORROR! :P



And here's a photo of me with just the BB cream on. As you can see, it provides pretty decent coverage for a BB cream, although it's still quite sheer. It covers up some smaller areas of blemishes, although for larger skin issues, such as acne spots or scars, it would be best paired with another conceaer underneath, or a powder on top to provide extra coverage.



And although I thought it would be too pink for my skin, it actually blended in pretty well. If you squint and look closely, you'd be able to see that my face is perhaps a hair pinker than my neck, but I don't think most people would notice the colour difference, unless they were searching for it.

Lastly, as the photos show, the CUSkin BB cream has a very luminous finish - and I mean, very luminous. You can positively see the light bouncing off my face in the photo, LOL!

And here's the finished FOTD. I decided to go for a clear skin, red lips kind of look. Can you see the light reflecting off my face?



Here's the breakdown of the look for anyone interested:
Face:
CUSkin Whitening and Wrinkle Repair BB Cream
Stila Peony Convertible Color

Eyes:
NARS Abyssinia
Urban Decay Underground 24/7 Eyeliner Pencil
Rimmel Lash Accelerator Mascara

Lips:
GOSH Velvet Touch Lipstick Hot n' Sweet 139

So, do you need this? Well, if you're into whitening products, and have been looking for a lightweight BB cream and whitening cream, this one is worth a go. It's best suited for girls who have a slightly pinker tinge to their skin, who like reflective foundations, and do not require much coverage. If you're NW20 or so, this is going to be your perfect shade. However, if you are sensitive to silicones, and are very warm-toned or have a very yellow cast to your skin, then this might not be the best product for you. But as far as Asian skincare products go, this is definitely more than adequate, and worth looking at.

(Product samples provided for review. I'm not affiliated with the company, or compensated for my review in anyway. Thus, this review is my honest and complete opinion on the product.)