theNotice: a beauty blog

So, this happened. And it was exciting!

In the interest of Rae not spontaneously exploding out of sheer awkwardness, I’m going to leave you with a few pictures (but not a lot more words). Instead: just a quick merci!! to the lovely ladies and gents at Marcelle (Isabel, I’m looking at you) for this fantastic opportunity – I am always happy to work with a great Canadian brand like Marcelle, but the BB Cream in particular has been getting some serious l o v e in the Chen household as of late.

So, thank you for the opportunity to show my support for a great product! :)

I’ve never been a fan of the “celebrity endorsement” type of advertising, but I feel it’s quite different when it’s bloggers and companies they routinely work with, rather than a stranger with a contract. It’s just– it’s a very different level of trust, you know? I’ll trust a (good) blogger’s word for something because I know that they really have tried and loved the product, vs. the word of a stranger that just happens to be famous.

Anyhow. It happened! There was lots of flailing involved! And you should try the BB Cream, because I can’t use it (‘cones) but I really like it. :D

(My mum, who has never in her life owned a foundation, makes me prep her skin for a night out with the BB. Wears really well, works great with her combination oily-dry skin, and fills in large pores like a dream! So, yeah, I’d say it’s a hit.)

More Marcelle B.B. Cream coverage…

• Coming up: Excited for… Marcelle BB Cream
• Review: Worth the wait (and the hype) | Marcelle BB Cream review, photos, swatches
• Arm swatches: Marcelle BB Cream comparisons, swatches
• Face swatches/before and afters: The BB Breakdown | Marcelle vs. Garnier BB Cream Comparison

Keep reading! »

At long last – I’ve finally gotten my act together! As promised, here are full-face swatches (honestly, though, what are those called?! I hardly think they can be referred to as “swatches” at this point) of Marcelle and Garnier’s BB creams.

So, without further adieu…

Bare, freshly-cleansed skin!

Marcelle BB Cream Beauty Balm in Light to Medium

For my skintone, Marcelle’s Light to Medium was a good match – darker than I am, but not by too much. I really liked the neutral tone of the product, which did a great job of cancelling out both redness and sallowness, resulting in an overall illusion of evenness and “perfect skin.” (The satin finish is great, too, which also adds to the illusion.)

I was particularly impressed with the way it tackled my undereye circles and the redness I have in my eye area – I probably wouldn’t leave the house without concealer, just on principle, but I’d feel comfortable having forgotten to conceal if I was wearing this.

Wearing Marcelle’s BB Cream (both images)

Left: bare skin / Right: wearing Marcelle’s BB Cream

The weird little box in the left corner is a colour sampling of my skintone – the left side being bare, and the right, with BB cream. For consistency, I grabbed the colours from the same spot on my cheek in both photos. (Freckle-mapping for the win!)

As you can tell from the colour swatches, Marcelle’s BB adds depth of tone to my skin, and has a clever mix of yellow/greyish pigments to neutralize redness.

Garnier BB Cream Miracle Skin Perfector in Medium/Dark

I was less impressed with Garnier’s product, but I wanted to share photos for a very specific reason – I think it would be great as a Prtty Peaushun-like product (but, y’know, for your face.) As mentioned in the review, I was sent Medium/Dark, which really isn’t a match for me. However, it turned out to be great for faking a darker skintone, with results that are still very “real skin.”

As a BB cream in and of itself, though, I was less impressed – I found it left me overly dewy, a bit sticky, and while it did a good job of adding warmth, it failed to counteract redness.

Wearing Garnier’s BB Cream

Left: bare skin / Right: wearing Garnier’s BB Cream

A breakdown (with scribbles!) »

The product: Garnier Skin Renew Miracle Skin Perfector BB Cream SPF 15 in Medium/Dark

The look: Garnier’s BB Cream is more sheer than I had expected, and more dewy. You know how I mentioned that the Marcelle BB Cream is really… I don’t know; BB-Cream-ish? I feel like Garnier’s isn’t – I can’t tell how it differentiates from a basic tinted moisturizer, in coverage or in finish.

If you have quite good skin to begin with that just needs a small “pick me up,” this may be an option – but don’t expect it to give your skin any more than a bit of a boost. I think I would have been a lot happier with this if it had been marketed as a sheer, luminizing base rather than a BB Cream or “Miracle Skin Perfector,” because it’s just that: it imparts a warm, dewy finish, but with very little coverage.

Garnier Skin Renew BB Cream in Medium/Dark on NW15ish skin

The shade: I was sent Medium/Dark, which is a massive error in logic that I’m not even going to begin to approach. I had a bit of fun with it, though – sometimes it’s nice to fake out a different skintone for a little while, and it blended in really well, probably because it’s so sheer. I’m fairly certain that Garnier’s Medium/Dark is darker than Marcelle’s Medium to Dark, so if you’re still searching for a drugstore BB cream but you’re on the darker end of the spectrum, this might be a shade option you’ll want to check out.

While I can’t speak for the lighter shade, I found the undertones of this one to run a bit pink – not so much that Asian skintones will find it completely unwearable but enough that it’s noticeable; it adds a bit of warmth by way of red undertones, rather than orange ones.

The ingredients: ingredient dropdown

Try it if

• You have normal to slightly dry skin that’s just looking a bit lackluster,
• You want a sheer base product to give a bit of a warm glow,
• You’re looking for a drugstore BB cream with a bit (but not a lot) of SPF, or
• You want to “fake out” a slightly darker skintone for an editorial look, rather than out & about in public.

Skip it if

• You’re looking for something that will disguise large pores, uneven colouring (eg. redness, blotchiness, or sun spots), or blemishes.
• You can’t stand scented products – I think this scent is brilliant, to be honest, but much too strong in execution.
• Heavy products drive you crazy (I can feel this when I’m wearing it, even after I give it plenty of time to sink in.)
• You have dry patches, oily patches, or dehydrated patches – I’d say this is best suited to people who are fairly content with their skin to begin with.

Swatched L-R: MAC NW25, Garnier Med/Dark B.B. Cream, MAC NW30, MAC NC30, Garnier B.B., MAC NC35.

All MAC shades are Studio Finish SPF 15 concealers.

The verdict?

Garnier describes their BB Cream as an ”all-in-one every day moisturizer [... a] light, velvety-smooth lotion.” And, honestly, I’m going to have to say that it’s none of the above. It always irks me when a product isn’t bad, but doesn’t do as it should – because as a blogger, what am I supposed to rate it by, then?

If you’re looking for a B.B. Cream that will provide a sheer, dewy, luminizing base, then I would say this is worth checking out. However, if you’re on the market for more coverage, something scent- or silicone-free, or that truly “flawless” finish, this isn’t the product for you.

Garnier’s Skin Renew Miracle Skin Perfector B.B. Cream (quite the name!) retails at a SRP of $19.99 CAD, though you can get a $3 off coupon at their site, here. Full-face comparison photos later this week, if I can find time ;)

It’s the sixth; it’s the sixth!! Please, tell me you know what that means.

If you haven’t guessed, you should be ashamed today is the “official” launch date of Marcelle’s new BB Cream. As of today, it should be in stores as well as online, so do go check out your local drugstore if you’re in Canada and eagerly waiting for this to hit shelves!

If you hadn’t guessed, I’m going to assume that you’ve been living underground for the last month. Or, at least, in a place without internet. (But honestly; the internet is bloody everywhere nowadays. If you’ve been cut off from it entirely, you were probably underground or in a rainforest or a coma or something.)

A quick swipe of Light-Med, blended out as a gradient.

(Photo taken darker and with more contrast than usual, to help show how seamlessly this can be blended out.)

For our coverage of this lovely new beauty balm, check out the following links…

• Read up on the initial conversation here,
• Read more about BB creams here,
• Check out the review here, and finally,
• See comparison swatches for Light-Medium here.

More BB later this week, if I can find time ;) Another drugstore one, though I warn you, I don’t love it half as much as this one.

I know some of you will be ordering your Marcelle BB Cream online, so I wanted to provide some swatch comparisons for Light/Medium (my BB shade). It’s not really the sort of thing that calls for ton of text, so I’ll mainly let the photos speak for themselves – but please do feel free to ask for more info in the comments if you need it!

For the Marcelle fans out there, I swatched their BB against three of their foundations – True Radiance in True Beige and Ivory Beige (my usual shade), and their Sheer Tint Fluid Moisturizer in Luminous Beige. I’m curious to see how long the Sheer Tint will stick around for, now that they have their BB and Hydra-C Perfect Fusion Make-Up, but I suppose it just has to do with how well they all sell going forward! (No, I don’t have any inside info about it – Sheer Tint fans need not worry. It’s all just beauty blogger conjecture!)

In addition, I swatched the new Marcelle BB against 100% Pure’s Fruit Pigmented Tinted Moisturizer, in Crème – I know some of you picked it up after our review. Truth be told, I ended up getting a lot less wear out of the 100% Pure than I’d expected, more or less just because I don’t typically wear foundation. (As much as I liked it, it just never ended up integrating into my makeup routine.)

As for how the 100% Pure TM and the Marcelle BB stack up? Well, the latter’s not silicone- or scent-free, but it knocks the TM out of the park on all other counts. More portable packaging, more accessible, better finish, better texture, better price tag… the list goes on!

Marcelle vs. Marcelle, 100% Pure swatch comparisons

Above: 100% Pure Fruit Pigmented Tinted Moisturizer in Crème, Marcelle BB Cream in Light to Medium, Marcelle Sheer Tint Fluid Moisturizer in Luminous Beige, Marcelle True Radiance Foundation in True Beige, Marcelle BB Cream in Light to Medium, Marcelle True Radiance Foundation in Ivory Beige.

Above: 100% Pure Crème, Marcelle BB Cream, Marcelle Luminous Beige, Marcelle True Beige, Marcelle BB Cream, Marcelle Ivory Beige.

Marcelle vs. MAC swatch comparisons

Above: MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NW20, Marcelle BB Cream in Light to Medium, MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NW25, Marcelle BB Cream in Light to Medium,MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NC30.

P.S. I’ve mentioned it before, but I have to say it again: if you’re viewing these photos in Chrome, they may not be very true to colour. I love Chrome, I do, and I use it as my main browser – but it still doesn’t colour-manage! *shakes fist at the Google gods* If you’re really concerned about colour accuracy, check these photos out in another browser, too, okay?

Swatch photos without labels »