**About Makeup** Another Cream B.B.(bites) the Dust

I was completely on board with the lady who wrote this article a couple years back about B.B. creams. Not too much has changed since she voiced her thoughts.

With all the progress (maybe) in cosmetic offerings, you'd think there'd be more diversity in there somewhere. For some reason, most major cosmetic manufacturers think that all women come in shades of Gwenyth Paltrow to Sandra Bullock and Queen Latifah to Beyonce. I'm so excited about Lupita Nyong'o coming up in the entertainment world, I could just pee myself. She's so much closer to my shade of "brown" than the other women I see in the makeup adverts. Because I am deeply brown - not 'beige', 'light' or even 'medium'. If I were a cup of java, there'd be a lot of sugar but very little cream.

Today, in between some badly arranged appointments, I had a couple hours to kill so I hit Walmart and Walgreens in search of some makeup. (My current makeup hasn't really been 'current' since Bush was president. I know, right?)

This is what I saw at Walmart:

nice range, not dark enough

(not a BB cream, but) foundations are getting better...

but... nope, still no match

I found L'oreal's BB cream in 'medium' and 'deep' but I didn't like the grainy texture while applying. And it still was not-deep enough. I ended up with an ashy, un-natural look. My sister did well with the 'deep' shade, even though she is several shades lighter than I am. Cool.

Big sis likes this, but in the "Deep"er tone

I gave up on finding a BB cream (or a CC), and I didn't think to look at the DD creams. Why bother, right? None of the creams by Olay, Neutrogena or Aveeno came even slightly close to a shade suitable for my skin. (By the way, I think my problem is that I don't need a BB (balm) so much as I need a really good, lightweight foundation.

What I ended up with is this:

LOVE it! 

And I have a winna! Maybelline Dream Nude Airfoam Foundation lives up to the "nude" and "air" in its name. (I was totally surprised at the poor reviews here, which is why I think you have to try things for yourself.)

I usually can't wear "Cocoa" shades, and that is not a consistent shade across the different cosmetic brands, but I like this foam. It goes on very, very light and smoothly. There aren't the streaks that I get with some liquid foundations. While, by itself, it leaves a little bit of a shine, I find that it pairs up just perfectly with this powder:

Maybelline, I might be in love with you!

That's the Maybelline The photo is not a good representation of the actual color, which is very deep and rich, with my reddish-brown (ocher) undertones. (Here is a better photo of the "Mocha" shade I got.) I haven't liked a makeup this much since I used to (occasionally) wear Flori Roberts foundation.

this is what the foam looks like**

seems like the color might be off a bit, but...

... blends in really well.

What I like most is that the makeup is not obvious and it doesn't make my skin feel coated.  I don't look like I have on foundation and powder. My sister said that my skin looked really natural and toned.

What I love about the powder is that I can, if I want, wear it alone. I don't really need the foundation, but it will help when I haven't had quite enough sleep. Even better, neither of the products is messy. Once applied, I didn't have to worry about transferring streaks of color from face to paperwork.

A funny thing about the foam: the first time you dispense from a new jar, the foam is going to be white. I didn't know this. I rubbed on white foam, expecting to see results, but all I got was a shiny look. I guess that initial foam is for the "practice" pumps the instructions talk about! (Yeah, I can be so silly.)

A bonus find (while cruising Walgreen), was this beautiful lipstick by Wet 'n Wild (for just under 3 bucks!):

Shade: "Cherry Bomb" (#918D)

It's such a gorgeous shade of brick red - which is so hard to find. I am returning the L'Oreal BB cream and getting another couple tubes of Cherry Bomb. You know how it is when you find that shade of lipstick you just love and all of a sudden you can never get it again. (I think that women of all skin tones can wear this. It may be a bit more dramatic looking against lighter complexions, but it's a nice day look with my dark skin.)

Anyway, I'm happy that I didn't have to spend more than $20 to get a foundation, powder and lipstick.

Peace
--Free

**REVIEW** L'Oreal's Magic BB Creme

Got my sample of this in the mail a few days ago from SheSpeaks (love those guys). Has only taken using it twice to know that it's not really for me. (BTW: My sample came in the "Deep" shade.)

Cons:

• The creme had a sort of gritty feel when applying it. Almost like a very fine-grained exfoliating cream. (That freaked me out because I almost never use anything exfoliating on my face. No. No. No.)
• The shade was a lot lighter than what most dark-skinned women would want. I would say it best suits someone with a darkly olive tone than someone with a dark red or blue coloring. (I'm just plain dark, with red tones.) I decided I could only use this as an under-eye brighter. ~shrug~
• Once on, the creme dried my face to the point of being uncomfortable. I was afraid to smile because I was sure my smile lines would look like cracks on the bottom of a dry lake bed. The drying effect also made my skin break out just a little. (I don't know what the hell the word "hydrates" is doing in the description on the tube!)

Pros:

• While not for my skin-color or type, this might be okay for someone with very oily skin. Matter of fact, I imagine it would be perfect for the oily skin type. Maybe L'Oreal should break this out (heh heh) by skin types - label this one for oily skin and formulate another that actually does hydrate.
• The tube is cute and will tuck nicely into a handbag. 

Seriously, those are the only positives I can think of for this product.

The one thing I envisioned when I heard about this and other "correcting" creams, is that I could get good effects with minimal coverage. I'm not a full-on makeup type of woman. There are just days when I think I could just use a little bit of help to look my "natural" best. 

No worries yet. I have heard of similar creams by Garnier (comes in only 2 shades, but bound to be reasonably priced) and those put out by Asian companies. See if you can get samples from several producers so you can find your best match. As for me, this one ain't it.

For the other brown gals out there (love that), this might help get you started on a search for your own.

Peace

--Free

Pssst Script:

In case, like me, you were wondering, the "BB" in the name stands for Beauty Balm or Beauty Blemish.

The creams are trendy. In other countries, they might be used differently, but here in the U.S., they seem to basically be tinted moisturizers. Olay is honest and cops to the description. (You know I will be all over the Olay one - depending on the price and shades.)

**DISCLOSURE: I received a free sample to review as part of my SheSpeaks membership**