Face Good

My dear readers, do excuse me for my lack of updates. I was in the land of the rising sun last week. Japan is truly a beauty haven! Every girl in sight was well-dressed, their trendy outfits complete with immaculate make-up and perfect hairdos with not a strand out of place. I’ve read that Japanese girls rarely go out without make-up. From my observations, this statement is definitely true. Even the cashiers at convenient stores have spotless skin!

Given the high consumer demand for cosmetic products, there’s such a huge assortment of domestic cosmetics and brands in Japan, many which I have not heard of, that I had no idea what to get! Besides, I don’t like the idea of using cosmetics whose instructions I can’t read!

However, I did purchase a tube of Blemish Balm Moist Cream by the brand Nanoce. Blemish Balm is a kind of comprehensive skin care and beauty cream that supposedly gives your skin coverage while protecting your skin with sunblock and moisturizing properties. I saw it in a shop called RanKing RanQueen inside Shibuya Station. It sells a variety of items ranging from food to beauty products, but its unique selling point is that it sells the top 10 most popular brands and items among Tokyoites for each product type. Nanoce BB Moist Cream was ranked first among the other ten brands of BB Creams sold in the store. Since my hands were itching from not having bought any Japanese cosmetic products, I decided to buy it, and I’m glad I did!

Shade-wise, I’d say it’s similar to shade 2 of your typical liquid foundation. If you have typically fair Asian skin, it should blend well enough with your skin tone. One issue I have with BB Creams is that it always comes in one skin tone, so it’s really difficult to find a brand with a shade that’s perfectly complimentary. So don’t forget to apply BB cream to your neck too, or you’ll end up with different skin tones for your neck and face, no matter how close the shade is to your skin!

The texture is watery and cool to the touch, so it feels comfortable and not at all suffocating on the pores. For people with oily skin, clogged pores and acne problems, this is certainly kinder on your skin in comparison to liquid foundation or thicker creams. You may however have to wait a few minutes before you apply your loose powder or finishing powder because it takes awhile to dry. If you have oily skin, applying loose powder over the BB cream helps to control shine.

The cream gives relatively good coverage for mild redness, freckles and faint scars but everything else shows up faintly. Covering moles and birth marks is certainly out of question. If you’re looking for complete cover-ups and flawless complexions, you’d still need a good powder foundation over your BB cream.

This BB Cream cost 1890 Yen, which is about 30 SGD. That’s a decent price for BB creams.
My only misgiving of this product is its strong medicinal scent. It can be remedied by a little perfume, but it a little worrying to not be able to identify the source of the smell. For anyone who’s interested to get this product, it seems that the only place you can get it from outside Japan is on www.makeupcelebrity.com