Missha M Signature Real Complete BB Cream

When I went to the Motherland of BB Creams last December, I took the opportunity to walk from store to store to swatch a bunch. But with the overwhelming number of them, I just couldn’t decide which was the best. So in the end I left with a couple Missha bbcreams, simply because they are some of the few I have actually read about in the Western blogosphere.

So today...I present to you the ever popular Missha M Signature Real BB Cream!

Quick Facts:
Brand: Missha
Name: Signature Real Complete BB Cream
Color: No. 21, Light Pink Beige
Size: 45g, 10.5cm tall (without pump)
Expiry Date: 12months
Price in Korea: 23,800KRW

Now before I begin the review, I wanted to say two things~

1.) It took a lot of courage for me to write this review and show my bare face, so please be gentle! I was quite depressed to look at my skin closeups, you know. So thank you to everyone who has thusfar called me dolly (^.^), but henceforth, it shall be known that without my hair, makeup, and eyebrows, I look like a man! Hopefully a smexy man at least~?

2.) Secondly, the results I document are for my own skin, blahblahblah. I do my best to keep my reviews objective, but obviously everyone’s skin is different! I think it’s only fair that I introduce my skin to you, so you can get an idea of where I'm coming from: 

(As a warmup, here is my better side lol)

To elaborate on my skin woes a bit more:

When it come to BB creams, my main concern is coverage for my cheeks, namely, the red spots. I've got a couple pock marks, somewhat large pores on parts of left cheek, but since my cheeks are the palest part of my face, my polkadots are the most noticeable. It sort of looks like vanilla red bean ice cream with fork marks here and there. Perhaps it's true when they say you are what you eat!

 

Okay, moving on to the review!

Packaging (for all you packaging lovers): The tube has a smooth hard plastic encasing with a pump dispenser. The cap is also very sturdy. Whaddya know, Missha even decided to fancify the box that it comes in! It's not the usual cheap paperboard, and it has an embossed design.


Texture: Medium-thick. Not as thick as some BB Creams, but thick enough to streak over rough surfaces if applied unevenly. 



Lasting Power: I wore it for 8 hours without face powder: some of it melted off by then, but most of it stayed on.


Oil Control: It made me feel sticky for a few hours, but afterwards I couldn't feel it.


Scent: None that is obvious.


Finish: Matte

Color: Light beige with pinkish undertones. I'll mention this again when I show swatches.

Coverage: I saved the longest part for last! Here are my swatches. I took these photos by my window with natural lighting.

Closeups: 

I applied very thick layers here, especially on the left cheek (my bad side).

Ninja stars to show you my ninja-shaped pock mark.

Full View Swatches: 

In these swatches, I was too slow to apply my bb cream, so some after photos appear to be brighter. This is because of the lighting difference, not because the bbcream whitened my face (more on that in a bit!) 

My Result: Sooooo do you see much difference? I didn't.  And it's not the lighting, even in real life I notice very little difference. I mean, if you look very closely, it did soften the redness a bit, but ever so slightly. I should also mention that it settled into my pock mark, which kind of made it look like a wall hole with poorly applied putty over it. (But at least it wasn't pink anymore?) And for my dry nose tip, the cream looked like cakey uneven powder until I applied more. 

As far as evening out my skin tone, it did a great job on my tan nose, but that's about it. For the most part, this bb cream had negligible brightening/whitening for me...If anything, my face looked much browner--instead of the usual yellow--under indoor lighting. Overall, I noticed little improvement for my skin. Using more didn't help much either, I tried!

But everyone else seemed to have drastic improvement; why didn't I?!  So I decided to try the cream on my boyfriend. He willingly lent me his cheek while adding, "I feel like a model~"

Here are his swatches:

Oppa's Result: Wow! A much bigger difference even after only 1 layer! His skin became several shades paler, his complexion evened, and most of his redness was covered in one layer. Moreover, the coverage and brightening effect was very buildable on him. Oppa, like many others before, had a noticeable improvement. Why, why not me?


I have come to the conclusion that the pink undertones in this bbcream do a very good job at brightening/evening-out tanner pigmentation/complexion, but its improvement for redness is much less. Since I'm not very tan, the pink undertones didn't do much to me, and because my red spots contrast with my complexion, they are just very obvious and hard to hide. In other words...I'm hopeless!! 

Notes to Self: Wasn't really impressed, especially for how much I was expecting. Granted, very few bbcreams have been able to decently cover my red spots without requiring additional concealer, but I definitely have found others better suited for my skin concerns. In fact, I'll share it next time~

Question: Does anyone else have difficulty covering red spots with only bbcream?