Speed Review: The Body Shop All-in-One BB Cream

As a blogger, I know that many in the beauty community are Beyond Bored of hearing about BB creams. After all, they've been one of the biggest beauty trends of recent years and their promotion has gone into overkill, with many brands jumping on the bandwagon. Most now offer a BB cream but some are better than others- with more than a couple of brands having simply repackaged their tinted moisturiser offering. Having said this, conversations with my friends and family who aren't involved in the beauty industry have shown that BB creams are a popular choice and many who shy away from foundations opt for BB creams as their base of choice. With that in mind, today's Makeup Monday review is of The Body Shop All-in- One BB Cream.

On first impressions, I liked the metallic effect tube packaging, which is functional as well as aesthetically pleasing.

The Body Shop All-in-One BB Cream is designed as a colour adapt BB cream so it looks grey-white when you first squeeze it out of the tube but is suppose to adapt to suit your skin tone upon application.

The cream has tiny specks in it which are pigment filled capsules that burst as the product is applied to skin. To be honest, I found this aspect of the BB Cream to be gimmicky and simply not effective as the cream appeared orange on my skin.

I tried shade 02 which is for medium tones so perhaps I'd have more luck with 01, for lighter skin. There are three shades available- light, medium and dark.

The BB cream has a very light coverage, one of the lightest I've tried. It did absolutely nothing, it didn't help to even out my skin tone where I have some redness, e.g. around my nose, let alone disguise blemishes. I found this particularly disappointing because The Body Shop describe it as having light to medium coverage.

What's more the BB cream has a very strong floral fragrance which I found overwhelming and unpleasant. I felt as though it would irritate my sensitive skin. If you don't like strong scents then be sure to smell this in the shop first.

The Body Shop All-in-One BB Cream felt greasy, but not sticky, on my skin and left my combination skin looking very shiny. I'm all for a dewy glow but this simply looked like an oil slick. As such, although it's suitable for all skin types, I doubt that those with oily skin would like this.
You could use a powder over the top to counteract this but I prefer to use a BB cream on dress-down, lazy days when I can't be bothered with a full makeup routine and simply want to apply a bit of BB cream, perhaps some concealer and a slick of mascara so I wouldn't want the fuss of having to layer products. Admittedly, the shininess did die down after approx. 20 minutes- with the finish is still glowing but it seemed to have settled into the skin a little better. I could definitely feel the product on my skin. Although it feels as though it's sitting on skin, the texture felt quite velvety smooth and although silicone is relatively far down the ingredients list, this could be used as a good base for makeup. I just would never use a BB cream in that way. What's more, I feel that a true BB Cream should contain an SPF which this doesn't.

I was already unimpressed with The Body Shop All-in-One BB Cream but more disappointment came when this irritated my sensitive skin and made me break out. I'm not sure whether this was down to the strong fragrance or the ingredients but when I mentioned this in my local Body Shop store, the sales assistant agreed that this was a common complaint. As such, those with sensitive skin might be advised to avoid this or at least try a sample before purchasing. There are lots of rave reviews on The Body Shop website which I simply don't understand- did we try the same product?!

At £12 for 25ml, I don't feel that this is a very sophisticated product and not worth the price tag. There are better high street BB creams available, e.g. from Maybelline. I didn't get on well with this at all and certainly wouldn't recommend it.