BB Creams, more and more trendy, are said to be "all-in-one" products, and pile up claim after claim: up to eight different claims, from a complexion evenness to UV protection, including imperfections correcting or anti-ageing actions … Can we take all these promises at face value? Françoise Nielloud, a Doctor in Pharmacy and a cosmetologist, an expert for CosmeticOBS-L’Observatoire des Cosmétiques, has carefully examined their formulae to check the moisturization claim, displayed by almost all the BB Creams. Her conclusions are more than mixed …
Everybody knows the importance for our skins to be well hydrated. A guarantee for their suppleness, smoothness, balance, and an increased resistance to outside aggressions and to ageing signs, hydration is at the core of claims for cosmetics, be they care creams, make-up or personal hygiene products.
BB Creams are no exception, when they put forward the hydration claim among so many others. Imported from Asia, more and more used in Western countries, this cosmetic is designed, after Mélanie Lindon in her paper " BB Cream: myth or reality? ", as "a multi-function product, which combines care/make-up/sunscreen", in one movement.
Only one product every morning to do all the tasks, one easily understands the usefulness of the concept. However, are BB Creams enough to assure our skins of their needed daily hydration?
Françoise Nielloud
, who regularly works on the evaluations of products performed by CosmeticOBS-L’Observatoire des Cosmétiques, has put her magnifier on the formulae of a score of them, available on the French market.
An analysis of the formulae
What are BB Creams made of?
As for any cosmetic emulsion, they contain mainly an aqueous phase, associated with an oily phase.
Further, they do have important quantities of mattifying …
