VOV Castledew Whitening BB Cream review + samples

Summary:

Coverage: Sheer to medium, but buildable to a little more than medium without looking unnatural

Oil-control: 8 hours without powder, and 12+ with powder. I washed it off looking flawless at 12 hours

Color: conservatively, would suit NC/NW 15 (or fairer) to NC/NW 30 skins. I suspect NC/NW 35 will look good in it too.

Finish: believable glow

Special properties: slightly moisturizing, whitening, slight anti-aging, SPF 15

Overall: Happy with this product

Price:

5ml--$4 + shipping (should be below $2 within US)

10ml--$7.5 + shipping

15ml--$10.5 +shipping

20ml--$13 +shipping

Now read on if you want to hear to whole story (which is rather long)

This is the VOV Castledew Whitening BB Cream, also the first BB Cream I have tried. As I explained in my earlier post. I was traveling in May for 10 days. Because I had to fly, I did not feel like carrying on board my morning cleanser, toner, moisturizer, serum, primer, foundation, and nighttime cleanser. I also know myself well enough to know that if I did not bring any of my essentials, I would buy them wherever I was. This is when my friend Julia introduced me to BB creams. As she helped me pick out which clothes to bring, she told me that I can actually bring along BB cream to substitute my heavy glass bottles of primer and foundation. Since she did not actually suggest I do without, I was open to suggestions. She was very generous, and gave me this BB cream to try out, since it did not work out for her, it being a little pale. (The funny thing is no one said the color is too pale when she was wearing it, but she herself felt it was too pale. I thought the color match was okay...)

I was skeptical, but since there was only three days till my flight and I refuse to check in a heavy case with only my cosmetics, I tried it anyway. It was surprisingly good. The color was just right for me. (She bought the first color, bright skin beige) I am NW20 (in mac terms), while my friend was NC 30. The color worked for me perfectly. Since BB cream changes color after being on skin, I imagine it would work for people from NC/NW15 to NC/NW30.

The consistency was medium, a little thicker than an average foundation, but it was really easy to spread--much easier to spread than foundation. It gave a glowy finish that's believable, not too dewy. The coverage was good, for me at least. I would say the coverage is sheer-medium, so it was enough for me. The coverage is buildable to a certain degree. I think you can get a little more than medium coverage without feeling heavy. The SPF level was 15, which is good enough for winter, but since it was May, I applied SPF 90 under it anyway.

Applying it on my hand, I found it rather moisturizing. After a day, I found that my hand looked just fine, without any reactions, so I deemed it safe enough to put on my face. I somehow got the courage to skip moisturizer under it, since like I said, it felt rather moisturizing on my hand. Surprisingly, my skin didn't feel too dry, although I would definitely not do this in winter.

So I went on my vacation with only my cleansers, serum, and bb cream (I bought sunscreen later). After ten days of usage, my skin looked good, and more even than it was before. The whitening ingredients in the BB cream lightened my past acne spots, and I did not break out even though it was that time of the month. I was very happy with it. However, my skin did feel a little drier although it was nothing serious. After slathering on some moisturizer, my skin was as moist as 10 days ago.

However, Julia (who has found her HG) said that this is mere puppy love for me. She said that when I find my HG, I should feel like I am using advanced skincare products. I don't know. I think this is pretty good, but I didn't doubt my friend. So I'm on the quest for my HG BB Cream!