Monday, September 10, 2012

Beauty Balms

So this is a but astray from my normal posts, but I do LOVE beauty products and I also love learning about what's new, and sometimes, what is being reinvented. I've tried a lot of what's out there and consider myself pretty familiar with both skincare and cosmetic product mixes. A new product to the market that I thought I would share is Garnier's BB Cream. It's basically like a tinted moisturizer on steroids: more skin benefits, more SPF, and in my opinion, better coverage.
Buy it here,  or at your local drugstore.


I enjoy staying aware of new drugstore products and love studying their packaging, but I've found as a general trend that price does (most of the time) impact the quality of beauty products. There are always exceptions to the rule, however. I have long gone with Laura Mercier tinted moisturizer and recently switched to Too Faced Tinted Beauty Balm, but I saw an ad for the Garnier product and of course needed to test it out.


I actually purchased the light and the dark formula and mix them together to get a more fitting blend. This product smells great (in line with other Garnier scents), and the color and texture is really smooth. In the past, I've found that it's the texture & pigment that differentiates drugstore level cosmetics (skin, lip and eye) from more upscale products. This BB Cream is actually the first drugstore cosmetic product (aside from Maybelline mascara) that I've wanted to consistently use in a long time, and the value is great. From a marketing perspective, a huge selling point to me was that the cream was grouped with the skincare products (although there was most likely no other option - Garnier doesn't have cosmetics, right?), but casting this skincare feel on the product reinvents it and creates a bit of a wedge between it and other tinted moisturizers. The fact that you can call it "balm" but it actually serves as a kind of foundation isn't a bad strategy either. Good job, Garnier.

If you're interested in further researching these BB creams, this article is helpful.  So have you tried the beauty balm? Do you think it's just a fad, or is it the modern day tinted moisturizer? How do you think the drugstore versions stack up to the higher end products?

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