BB creams and CC creams both serve as excellent alternatives to traditional foundations and concealers.
While both have great qualities that differentiate them from each other, they do also share a few benefits when it comes to enhancing your skin’s appearance. This article will dive into the advantages of using BB and CC creams and highlight the key differences that make each product unique.
What Is BB Cream?
The "BB" in “BB cream” stands for "blemish balm" or "beauty balm." It's a versatile skincare product that aims to hydrate, replenish, and correct the skin.
BB cream combines the functions of a moisturizer, sunscreen, and foundation into one product — however, it's still important to incorporate those individual steps into your skincare routine as needed.
BB cream provides lighter coverage than most foundations and can be a good option for individuals with sensitive or dry skin. Its purpose is to bring moisture and radiance to the skin while evening out the skin tone with a tint. This lightweight product is easy to apply and blurs the lines between skincare and makeup.
How To Use BB Cream
BB cream is safe to use daily and is a great addition to your skincare or makeup routine.
For your morning skincare routine, we recommend following your normal steps first, like cleansing, toning, and moisturizing. After applying your morning moisturizer, apply the BB cream to your face. BB cream is designed to last for at least six hours, but you can reapply throughout the day as needed.
You can apply BB cream to the face using your fingers or a sponge. Squeeze no more than a dime-sized amount of cream at a time onto your fingers, brush, or sponge, and then gently spread it until you have covered the entirety of your face.
What Are the Benefits of Using BB Cream?
Incorporating BB cream into your skincare routine has several benefits.
Hydrating Benefits
Arguably, BB cream’s best feature is its ability to help moisturize the face. Because so many BB creams contain ingredients with moisturizing properties like hyaluronic acid, glycerin, and antioxidants, they are designed to encourage hydration and lock in moisture.
Even if you apply more foundation and other makeup products onto the skin, using BB cream beforehand makes it act as a primer, protecting the skin from dryness that can come from heavy makeup application.
While BB cream shouldn’t necessarily act as a replacement for your regular moisturizer, it can be a great additional step to ensure hydration.
Sun Protection
Regular sunscreen use is the best way to preserve youthful skin for as long as possible, and BB cream can be a great way to provide your complexion with SPF. Many BB creams contain SPF 30, providing the face with necessary sun protection.
Sun damage is the easiest way to age your complexion, as it diminishes the skin’s elasticity, which can lead to an increase in wrinkles, fine lines, and dark spots. Regular SPF use helps prevent early visible signs of aging.
Even Skin Tone
BB cream is tinted and can be a great color correction tool to even out the look of your skin tone. Whether your goal is to eliminate redness, hide dark spots, or cover up a blemish, BB cream can help.
Since it only provides light coverage, you may need to apply a regular foundation on top of your layer of BB cream to ensure better results, but for minor discoloration issues, BB cream does a great job at evening skin tone.
Our SPF 30 Tinted Mineral Moisturizer BB Cream is a fan-favorite pick thanks to its radiant, smooth, and protected coverage. Made with nutrient-rich ingredients like natural antioxidant fruit juices, it helps nourish your skin so you feel as good as you look.
What Is CC Cream?
CC cream stands for “color corrector” or “complexion corrector.” CC cream is a nourishing face cream that combines the coverage provided by concealer and foundation into one singular makeup product. Its main aim is to successfully hide and minimize the appearance of blemishes and discoloration on the face to provide a smooth, even skin tone.
A hybrid product, CC cream is also great for soothing the skin, thanks to hydrating and skin-brightening ingredients like glycerin, niacinamide, and hyaluronic acid. It provides great coverage and feels light and smooth on the skin.
How To Use CC Cream
Similar to the application process of BB cream, CC cream can be used daily and should be applied after completing your regular skincare routine.
Start by washing your face with a daily cleanser, applying toner, using any serums if applicable, and finally, moisturizing. Once your skin is prepped, pump the cream onto your fingertips or use your preferred makeup application tool.
It's best to start with a small, dime-sized amount of CC cream. Spread the tinted cream across your face and only add more as needed to achieve full coverage. Apply the CC cream more generously to areas requiring extra color correction.
What Are the Benefits of Using CC Cream?
CC cream is an easy and effective way to level up your skincare — here are some of its main benefits.
Color Correction
Blemishes, redness, pigmentation issues, and even skin dullness are all factors that contribute to uneven skin tone. Uneven skin tone can be frustrating — and if you’re dealing with it, CC cream might be the perfect tool.
Because the cream is formulated like a hybrid concealer and moisturizer, it does a great job at correcting skin tone, providing an even complexion.
CC cream covers the entire surface area of your face, but still does a great job targeting spots that need extra attention.
Coverage
CC cream is formulated to provide full, lasting coverage like a foundation. The main difference is that CC cream is designed to promote healthy skin while also giving you a lasting tinted layer.
This tinted cream offers medium coverage — similar to a standard foundation — and leaves the face with an even, matte finish that lasts for hours.
Youthful-Looking Skin
Especially if you have mature skin, CC cream can help restore a youthful radiance that isn’t always possible through standard foundations.
Thanks to its coverage and color-correcting abilities, CC cream creates a smooth complexion, minimizing the appearance of photoaging.
Sun Protection
Similar to BB cream, some CC creams are also formulated to act as sunscreens. CC creams are versatile and designed to provide ample coverage while also protecting your skin from sun damage.
Sunburns and excessive sun exposure can prematurely age the skin and lead to health problems down the line.
Our Stem Cellular CC Cream Zinc SPF 30 is a great go-to CC cream. With a diverse range of shades, anyone can expertly color correct and defy age with this tinted cream. It is made with organic ingredients and applies smoothly to the skin, providing a lasting medium coverage look.
What Is the Difference Between BB Cream and CC Cream?
After exploring the ins and outs of both BB cream and CC cream, it is safe to say they share some factors in common. So, what makes these tinted creams different?
Levels of Coverage
For starters, the levels of coverage vary between BB cream and CC cream.
BB cream is tinted and can certainly provide light coverage, while CC cream is formulated specifically to act as a concealer or foundation. Naturally, CC cream provides more coverage overall. CC creams also tend to have a wider range of skin tone shades, so it is generally easier to match shades.
BB cream is very lightweight, so it doesn’t provide full coverage. Instead, it operates almost more as a primer than a foundation replacement. CC cream has a matte finish and works as a more buildable base than BB cream.
In all, both creams come tinted and provide coverage, but CC cream tends to deliver fuller, longer-lasting coverage.
Levels of Color Correction
Both creams have color-correcting properties, but again, CC cream generally does a better job at evening skin tones and minimizing the appearance of blemishes and spots. Because it has a stronger tint and a thicker base, CC cream blends very well, making it easier to cover up uneven skin patches and discoloration.
BB cream also acts as a color corrector, but to a lesser extent. It provides a solid, even base to your complexion, helping to make the face glow and out skin tone. It just doesn’t work as well as spot treatment or minimizing signs of aging and discoloration the way CC cream does.
Levels of Hydration
BB cream and CC cream also differ in their respective levels of hydration. While both make the skin feel smooth and glowy, BB cream is more successful at hydrating the skin. As such a lightweight product that’s filled with moisturizing ingredients, BB cream excels at locking in moisture and keeping the skin refreshed.
CC cream can moisturize the skin too, but typically not to the extent of a BB cream. Ultimately, BB cream and CC cream share many similarities, but differ the most in terms of overall coverage and hydration.
Step Up Your Skincare Routine
Incorporating a BB cream or CC cream into your skincare routine is a great way to color-correct while protecting your skin. Use our guide to choose the right tinted cream for you and step up your routine today.
Sources:
Sun-damaged Skin: Photoaging, Signs, Causes & Treatment | Cleveland Clinic