Where have I been? Clearly, not in Asia where the women have already unlocked the secret to a near-perfect complexion. I’ve been hearing buzz about BB creams stateside for some time now — from blogs to glossies, everyone’s lusting over the first American import, Dr. Jart BB Cream, currently available in Water Fuse (oil-free) SPF 25 and Premium SPF 45.  Shamefully, I only recently tried it (bad me!)… but, now I can say without a doubt that this is the best new face product on the market. There you have it.

BB stands for Blemish Base but somehow, in it’s journey to the USA, the blemish base has been replaced with “Beauty Balm.” It’s like calling a tomato a tomaaaato… to each is own. In the states, they are marketing BB as a moisturizer with an anti-aging treatment serum and primer capabilities. In Korea, BB is considered a foundation that also moisturizes, helps fight aging and acts as a primer to even out skin tone and help control oil secretion. Tomato, tomaaaato. All that I care about is that BB is working for me.

Sadly, I wasn’t blessed with the “glowing” skin, flawless complexion gene. For those who sympathize, you’re going to want to buy BB asap.

Let’s start with the facts:

It is tinted (a beige that is meant to adjust to everyone’s skin tone but seems a little light for my medium complexion).
It moisturizes.
It contains SPF.
It helps to control oil and shine (much like a primer) – the oil-free formula is your best bet if you’re a t-zone shiner.
It evens out skin tone and redness (much like a foundation).
It is NOT full coverage (but it is a great “prep” for a tinted moisturizer or a foundation, depending on your coverage desires).
Regarding anti-aging, I have no real proof that it works to slow down the aging process but since it contains SPF and keeps skin hydrated, it definitely isn’t going to make you age any faster.

I’m using it as a “primer with benefits,” meaning I apply the BB over a light moisturizer (sometimes I skip the additional moisture all together because I can feel that BB is adding moisture to my skin) and then I use a tinted moisturizer of foundation over the BB. Then again, I like more coverage. I’m also super crazy when it comes to any redness or blemishes (who isn’t, right?). What I’ve noticed is that the BB does help my tinted moisturizer stay “fresh” longer and it definitely helps to even out the redness and fill in some of those pesky fine lines and large pores. But what really sets this cream apart from all others – besides functioning as 6+ products in one – is that it literally makes my skin glow like Gwynie or Angie or… [insert any celebrity with perfect red carpet glow here]. I’ve been getting quite a few compliments on my “healthy” complexion (little do they know, I’m eating bags of hershey’s kisses every night before bed! – Let’s keep that between us).

My one grievance is that – as I mentioned above – the tinted color is too light and milky for my skin tone. I fix the color mishap by applying my tinted moisturizer, foundation, and/or bronzer on top, but I *wish* that the BB’s would come in different shades. Let us not forget that the human race is comprised of hundreds of thousand different skin tones.

Word on the beauty street is that BB creams in Korea do come in several shades so I’m assuming we’ll get a few more colors to choose from come next year…

PRICE: $32.00 for Water Fuse, Oil-Free; $39.00 for Premium

Are you BB-ing it up? If so, tell us your thoughts!