Review: SKIN79 Super+ Hot Pink BB Cream

I prefer much lighter foundation products for the spring and summer. In both, it starts warm to blazing hot. This means my combination skin goes from combination-dry to combination-oil slick on my T-zone as well as the area closest to my nose! Really, really gross. No amount of powder will quell it for long. Its like an angry sea monster: once it's been angered, it is the biggest challenge to calm it. With all that oil and the heat, my liquid foundation melts off areas quickly and it can feel like a mask. Ewwww.

Even now, in March, my face feels a bit oily. Its also been much warmer than usual at the moment.

I turned to tinted moisturizers and then BB cream. I initially would mix my foundation with my moisturizer for lighter coverage on days I didn't want the full cover of my foundation and was too lazy to use a brush or my fingers to blend. That didn't last long. Next I tried out a a real tinted moisturizer. UGH. It had SPF 50 and it was the only one I liked to use to protect my face during the summer.

Biggest.
Mistake.
Ever.

One of the two active ingredients for the SPF was titanium dioxide and a lot of it. I'm allergic to titanium.  This was the one product I was using on my face that caused me pretty big breakouts in little clusters. I don't get many breakouts nor are they usually clustered together. I get, on average, maybe 3-4 pimples in various places (forehead, chin, maybe my cheeks) and whiteheads on my nose on a pretty rare occasion. I was not happy to have these pimple clusters! When I determined what was breaking me out, I chucked it. It didn't match me very well, because in the US, "Light to Natural" means "Orange to REALLY ORANGE." That was also the lightest shade available. I dislike many drugstore foundations for that: they don't make a shade lighter than whatever light shade they already have so when my makeup oxidizes, it looks unnatural. Particularly when you're very fair. I'm also so very wary of what I put on my face in terms of foundation, particularly from the drugstore. (I know Rimmel London makes some pretty light shades of foundation, but like I said, really wary of what I use!)

Now to the BB cream. I chose the Super+ Hot Pink from SKIN79 because its meant for acne and controlling sebum. Two things I deal with in the summer, mainly all that oil. I can say from the time I used that 5g mini-tube, it did control my oil nicely and didn't oxidize to looking unnatural! It does oxidize from being gray to match your skin but won't oxidize any further thankfully. With 40g now, I should have enough to last me a nice amount of time. I've never personally had much issue with it fading away, as I used the 5g tube during the time I was in school and I would have to walk home. I also had given up on touching up my face during the day at the time, haha. Admittedly, it would fade a little from sweat but hey, I still looked pretty good!

I do realize that this BB cream uses titanium dioxide as well, but since its SPF 25, it isn't quite as extreme as the tinted moisturizer. This hasn't caused me any breakouts! I wore it for some weeks till I ran out, didn't notice any more pimples than I ordinarily would.

Box + Bottle

This comes in a hot pink box with the product name on the front and "BB" as well as the SKIN79 logo in a holographic-silver foil. On the top of the box is a red circle with "SUPER+ Beblesh Balm" on it in white. If you look at the front of the box, you'll notice that it says "Wrinkle Improvement," which was added in 2012. Previously it said "Wrinkle Free." On the sides of the box is information about the product in Korean and English. The QR code, when scanned, takes you to the SKIN79 Korean site. This is another great marker to determine if you have real SKIN79. On the bottom is a barcode and the manufacturing date as well as an expiration date. The back of the box should also have a perforated line to open the box and view the instructions inside. Obviously, I already opened my box.

Inside the box is printed with SKIN79 all over along with information about the BB and instructions in three languages (English, Korean, and Japanese). It also includes an application diagram.

Now the bottle...

Rilakkuma iPod 4 case (5 in/12.7 cm), BB Cream (3 ½ in/8.89 cm), iPod Touch 4 (4 ¼ in/10.79 cm)

Rilakkuma Case w/ iPod 4 in it & BB Cream

The bottle is pretty short. Transparent hot pink, matching the box with the same text and coloring. The bottle has the signature Authenticity sticker, which says "VOID" when it's pulled off. A seller on Amazon, Seoul Glamour, I believe, said bottles made after mid-December no longer include the Authenticity sticker. Mine was manufactured in November 2012. I cannot say if this is true or not but I will most likely contact the North American SKIN79 sellers (licensed by Wizcoz to sell SKIN79) and ask if the sticker is still in place or not. The button is a simple, lightbulb-like silver button which is a very easy marker to determine if you have real product. The nozzle won't have a plastic cover when you first open the box and take out the bottle. The bottom is attached to the bottle, as the whole thing is one big shell. No silver bottoms! On the back in white is the same paragraph in English from the box.

See the holographic quality of the "BB" logo and SKIN79?

Back of the BB. Note the security sticker

The button

Man I love this BB cream. I only apply BB cream with my fingers, rather than a brush as I would do with my regular foundation. Application is simple if you follow the diagram in the box! I usually take a small amount, dot it on my cheeks, nose, chin, forehead and then blend it into each area. I put a lot of focus on my undereye area since I've been needing to conceal some darkness there. I give a minute or two to set while I do other things (change or get dressed, mess with my hair, etc). Put some powder on top and you're good to go! This won't (thankfully) leave skin feeling sticky without powder as liquid foundation can be without powder or like Garnier's "BB Cream"-labeled tinted moisturizer.*

Scan of the interior box

Left: Neutrogena SkinClearing Liquid Foundation in 10 Classic Beige, Right: SKIN79 Super+ Hot Pink (unblended)**

Left: Neutrogena SkinClearing Liquid Foundation in 10 Classic Beige, Right: SKIN79 Super+ Hot Pink (blended)

Left: Neutrogena SkinClearing Liquid Foundation in 10 Classic Beige, Right: SKIN79 Super+ Hot Pink (blended, with flash)

It won't match everyone, and not everyone will like it. It's lovely for summer if you can't find a tinted moisturizer or other light product that matches you and you're fair as I am! There are a lot of Asian brands that produce BB creams, so your options are pretty unlimited if you don't find this to your liking. I only paid about $13 on Amazon for this, from Pink Gelee, who only sells SKIN79. I can't find her store anymore, sadly. If you purchase through Amazon, don't bother with the customer reviews. Search for reviews of the seller elsewhere on the web! If you purchase through eBay, you can rely more on the reviews left by buyers. There's also the websites listed on the Muse's website.

PS: I emailed SKIN79 North America and they were no help. Seriously.

Here's what I said: "Hello. I was wondering if there had been a packaging change to the SKIN79 Hot Pink Super+ BB Cream, mainly in regards to the authenticity sticker. Has it been removed? One seller on Amazon said bottles produced after mid-December 2012 no longer had the authenticity sticker and I wanted to check if this information was true. I wasn’t going to buy from them, as I already have a real bottle of the Hot Pink. Thank you!"

Here's their response: "All sellers on Amazon and Ebay are not Authorized sellers, and have been known to "mix" real with fake.

Regarding the label, this is only a packaging concern, and has nothing to do with the original product contents.

Thanks, SKIN79 North America"

What??? Thanks for NOT answering my question, guys! Ze Boyfriend was even baffled by this. I wanted to slap whoever responded to my email. They never said whether or not the label was removed. Idiots!

*I will not be reviewing this or any other of the Western branded "BB creams," since they're purely tinted moisturizers without much pigment! There are other blogs that do have reviews of these "BB creams."

**This was a BB cream sample of Hot Pink, hence why its so much BB cream in the swatch! As you can see, this was oddly dark from the sample. I haven't checked out the bottle yet. Obviously, my liquid foundation doesn't match me whatsoever.  

UPDATE: I checked the BB with a tiny little dot I blended on my jawline. Perfect match ~
BIG UPDATE: Thanks to an anonymous commenter and her friend, I can assure you that SKIN79 Super+ Hot Pink BB Cream manufactured during 2013 still has the Authenticity sticker in place! Thank you for the tip too! Thanks to Nina (you can see her comment below), I have been informed that Wizcoz, the makers of SKIN79, has removed the authenticity stickers from the Hot Pink BB Cream manufactured in April 2013 and any bottles produced after. Rather an unfortunate thing, really; the sticker was a genius idea and really helped in identifying real product from fake.

LATEST UPDATE: It seems I'm updating this a lot... I follow Pretty & Cute on Facebook and have learned that SKIN79 has a global site! This means you can get information direct from SKIN79 in English (I'm sure you can accurately translate the website with a translator.) This is important: the authenticity label has been removed. This is official information and you can check global distributors, get information on fake products and the like. Shop safe, my lovely readers!!!!

UPDATE AS OF 11 DECEMBER 2013: SKIN79 has made changes to the Hot Pink BB Cream box. The perforation line is no longer on the box! Thanks to a reader below, the page featuring this information is linked here. There are also notices relating to other BB creams that you may find useful. Thank you to all of the readers who have left comments and information here! :)

Months later... Here's what my bottle looks like now in August. The holographic logos have become worn away, due to being in my bag. It has rubbed against clothing, a brush, a comb and has been tossed around on the floor when I dig through my bag.

 As well as that, here's the bottom of the bottle for some clarification on the manufacturing date.

This manufacturing date matches the box. I believe each is coded by batch.
 

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