When I first heard about the Asian BB cream trend, how it fuses foundation and skincare into a glorious duo, my first thought was that I would likely never purchase traditional foundation again.

Stories of how these miraculous products, developed by a German plastic surgeon as nourishing skincare makeup for his patients and popularized by Korean film stars, were certainly tantalizing. Yet the American BB cream versions have been less auspicious than hoped, often more akin to tinted moisturizer, with none of the coverage and soothing properties of Asian BB creams.

I have tried many BB creams (and will likely review them all, in time).

Today I’ll begin with L’Oreal’s “Magic Skin Beautifier” BB Cream.

The packaging consists of a squeeze tube, which is always more hygienic, compact, and easy for traveling:

When dispensed onto the skin, the product first comes out as thick white cream — an interesting quality, to be sure! Upon blending out the cream, however, it disappeared into my hand, adapting to my skin tone. Like Magic, hence the name! 🙂 You can view the transformation below:

Now you see it:

Now you don’t!

It applies similarly to the face. The product, with its denser consistency, virtually disappears into the skin. In fact, it both evens and brightens its tone beautifully.

Before BB:

After BB:

Full face:

Having read negative reviews about this BB cream, I was shocked by its beautiful finish. And while the coverage it offers will not be enough to conceal major flaws such as acne scars, it truly airbrushed my face.

It wore well throughout the day, with only minimal T-zone shine by mid-afternoon but neither dry patches nor greasiness.

This product, however, disappoints me in one major respect — it has absolutely no anti-aging ingredients! The absence of kelp and other exotic skincare ingredients such as those found in Asian BB creams, I can forgive. But this product does not even contain sunscreen, the most basic and most important anti-aging ingredient of all! That substantial flaw forces me to subtract points from this product since you will have to apply SPF-containing powder over this BB cream.

This is a nice drugstore *tinted moisturizer,* but BB cream it is not!

Final Score: 3/5

Available at Wal-Mart, ULTA, CVS, Walgreen’s, Rite Aid, & Target for $8