Few skincare/beauty products are getting as much buzz as BB Creams right now. I haven’t had much experience with them mostly because I’m loyal to my Sensai liquid foundation, but I was sent a sample of Hydroxatone BB Cream ($49.95), so figured I’d give the product a whirl. BB Cream stands for “blemish balm” or “beauty balm,” and they’re designed to be lightweight multi-taskers that combine primer, moisturizer, foundation, concealer, and SPF. BB Cream was originally developed by dermatologists in Germany for laser skin surgery patients, but its popularity really took off in Asia before spreading to Europe and now the US.

Hydroxatone’s version comes in three shades – so not a huge color selection, but it’s formulated with more high powered active ingredients than many other BB Creams. If you’re a super busy woman who doesn’t have the time to apply moisturizer/anti-ager, foundation/concealer, and SPF this is a great buy, but personally I would rather use three different products that work perfectly for my skin type and color than sacrifice a little bit in the way of a perfect color/efficacy. That said the cream is lightweight, goes on smooth, gave long-lasting coverage, and worked well to even out skin/cover blemishes (just not as good as my Sensai foundation/concealer)…I guess I rather just take the long road and lather on multiple products, but again if you’re pressed for time or have very oily skin BB Creams are great picks and if this one color-matches your skintone I’d say go for it!