Nivea Young Be Beautiful Tinted Moisturiser

Hot on the heels of the Garnier BB Cream, that I wasn't such a fan of, comes this:  a tinted moisturiser.  I've typically steered away from tinted moisturisers - I think I went through a phase of using nothing but when I was MUCH younger and have never really got back into it.

The Nivea Young Be Beautiful! Tinted Moisturiser is, as the name suggests, designed for young skin.  It should, in theory, moisturise, protect (it has a UVA/UVB filter, but no SPF rating) and even out your skin tone.

As with the BB cream, I didn't find this product nearly emollient enough but I also think I'm not the target market.  But when I used a moisturiser underneath, I found that this gave much better coverage than the BB cream.  Although I had the 'natural' colour, it came out of the tube a really scary dark brown but I found it blended in with my skin tone well.  It had a nice matt finish and I certainly didn't appear to be caked in makeup (or hhttp://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7093719917028615861#editor/target=post;postID=4605148760414607691ave a tide line!).

I'm struggling to find a retail price for this product, but I doubt it's exorbitant. 

If you're skin's not dry or dehydrated and you're after a foundation like product to have on standby, I would recommend giving this a go.  Given the lack of SPF I would make sure to use a sunblock too, particularly if you're going to be outside.

Not sure about availability.  The ever reliable Priceline doesn't appear to stock it.

Nivea.

Source:  sample.

Garnier BB Cream

Garnier BB Cream

 I know I'm the last person on the planet to review this stuff!  As soon as it came on the market, I was keen to get my hands on it, but even then it took me ages.  Which is ridiculous because it is so cheap (RRP is about $14 and it is very often on sale so you shouldn't have to pay more than $10).

The idea behind a BB cream is that it does everything:  moisturiser, foundation, sunblock, etc etc all in one magical tube.  As I have a toddler, something like this is very appealing because while I can always find the time for either sunblock or moisturiser a lot of the rest of the routine falls away, particularly if it's early in the morning and we're off to Kindergym.

The first thing I noticed on the box was that Garnier does specify an appropriate age range for the product (up to about 40-45) which I thought was very useful so no one has inappropriate expectations.

The product feels quite thick as you squeeze it out of the tube but it actually is very fine and light on the skin.  Coverage is extremely light but the first few times I used it I absolutely loved it. My skin felt and looked smooth and it did a great job of evening out skin tone without being obvious.  It had the right balance of matt and shine to it to look really natural too.

However, it clearly wasn't providing enough moisturiser power for my skin because after probably a week or so I found that my skin was really dry and little rough patches were appearing.  The BB cream was catching in the rough patches and looking ... less than good.

So of course then I had to go back to using a moisturiser underneath the BB cream and that kind of spoils the point.

If you have skin that has no tendency to dryness then this might well work for you.  However, while it does contain sunblock it is only SPF 15 so if you're spending time outside (or it's the middle of summer) you'd be wise to go an additional layer of sunblock.

And coverage is really light.  I know lots of people for whom it just wouldn't be enough and even I don't consider the coverage good enough for a night out.

It also only comes in two shades (I bought 'light' and found it blended to my skin tone absolutely fine) which I suspect might be a problem for some people with tricky to match complexions.  It also comes in sensitive and oil free formulas.

Overall, I liked this well enough and have continued to use it (although sporadically), but it's not made me fall in love with it.

Widely available.  RRP ~ $14

Garnier.

Source: purchased.