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What is the Difference Between BB and CC Cream?

What's in this article:

What are BB and CC creams?

BB and CC creams are versatile skincare-makeup hybrids that offer a range of benefits in one convenient product. Whether you’re looking for a solution to achieve naturally-looking and radiant skin or want to conceal specific skin concerns such as redness or pigmentation, colour-correcting creams can be a great addition to your routine.
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Understanding BB cream for skin

What is BB Cream?

BB cream, short for "blemish balm" or "beauty balm," primarily focuses on hydrating the skin and providing sheer coverage. Often enriched with antioxidants and moisturisers, BB Creams offer more benefits than just coverage, actively nourishing the skin and protecting it from environmental aggressors.

By providing essential hydration, BB cream helps maintain the skin's moisture balance, making it particularly beneficial for people with dry or dehydrated skin. It may also contain sun filters to protect the skin from UV rays.

 

Understanding BB cream for skin

What is CC Cream?

CC cream, short for "colour-correcting", is a versatile skincare product - it combines multiple functions, offering a good coverage, hydration, complexion correction and more often than not sun protection, all in one. It corrects skin tone by using opposite colours on the colour wheel, for example green to counteract red. It can therefore help to improve the appearance of certain specific skin concerns, such as redness and uneven skin tone.

Although its coverage is close to that of foundations, its lighter texture and more natural appearance set it apart from heavier foundations, providing a seamless and effortless finish that enhances the skin's radiance.

BB cream, CC cream and tinted cream

What is the Difference Between BB, CC cream and a tinted day cream?

BB cream offers sheer coverage and hydration, perfect for dry or sensitive skin. It sometimes contains moisturising ingredients like Hyaluronic Acid and Botanical Extracts for nourishment and protection, leaving a dewy finish. 

CC cream, suitable for all skin types, especially oily or combination skin, features a lightweight texture and ingredients such as vitamins, colour-correcting pigments, aimed at addressing imperfections and achieving a natural, even complexion. It provides better coverage than a BB cream, but is still lighter than a foundation.

Tinted skincare has similar or lighter coverage than BB cream, but its texture and application may vary. It may be available as a cream or as a fluid with a light texture and rapid penetration, and can be used on skin with imperfections as well as skin prone to hyperpigmentation, depending on its formulation.

These three types of product also often contain a broad-spectrum sun protection factor (SPF) to protect the skin from damage induced by sun exposure.
Facts Overview

BB and CC Cream Facts

Benefits: BB cream offers lightweight coverage and hydration, ideal for concealing imperfections. CC cream provides colour correction for redness and uneven skin tone while offering a texture lighter than foundation.

Uses: BB cream provides hydration, conceals imperfections, simplifying beauty routines by combining skincare and light coverage into one product. CC cream blends skincare and makeup, offering hydration, coverage, and helps to even out the skin tone.

Application: Prepare the skin by cleansing moisturising, and dab into skin for a smooth, radiant finish.

Differences and similarities: These products help even out the skin tone. However, CC cream offers more foundation-like coverage, with better colour correction, targeting redness and unevenness. BB cream offers good hydration and lighter coverage to cover up imperfections while maintaining a natural look.

Benefits of BB and CC Creams

young woman applying Nivea Sun protection cream on her face

3 Benefits of BB Cream:

  1. Hydration:
    BB cream provides essential hydration to the skin, helping to maintain moisture balance and prevent dryness, making it suitable for people with dry or dehydrated skin.

  2. Sheer Coverage:
    BB cream offers sheer coverage that evens out the skin tone and provides a natural-looking finish, perfect for those seeking a lightweight and effortless makeup look.

  3. Versatility:
    Similar to CC cream, BB cream serves as a multipurpose product, combining the benefits of moisturiser, foundation, and sometimes primer into one convenient formula.

 

3 Benefits of CC Cream:

  1. Colour Correction:
    CC cream effectively conceals redness, discolouration, and uneven skin tone, providing a smoother complexion.

  2. Multifunctionality:
    CC cream combines skincare and makeup benefits, offering hydration, coverage, and often sun protection in one product.

  3. Sun Protection:
    CC creams (as well as some BB creams) often include SPF, providing daily protection against harmful UV rays and helping to prevent sun damage.

6 skin concerns CC creams may help to address

CC creams, available in the form of a cream or a fluid formula, are skincare products multitasker, helping to improve the appearance of various skin concerns. Depending on its formula and the ingredients it contains, a CC cream can help correct the following concerns:
  1. Redness:
    CC creams can contain colour-correcting agents that neutralise redness, promoting a more even skin tone and reducing the appearance of flushed areas.

  2. Dullness:
    Often infused with brightening ingredients, CC creams revive lacklustre skin by helping to mask the effects of dullness and provide a radiant and refreshed complexion.

  3. Dark Undereye Circles:
    Specifically formulated with light-reflecting properties, CC creams can help conceal and brighten dark undereye circles, giving the eyes a more awakened and vibrant look.

  4. Uneven Skin Tone:
    By balancing out variations in skin tone, CC creams create a harmonious and uniform canvas, diminishing the visibility of uneven pigmentation.

  5. Hyperpigmentation:
    The colour correction properties in CC creams help to conceal hyperpigmentation, helping to reduce the appearance of dark spots and discoloration over time.

  6. Acne Scarring:
    CC creams with buildable coverage can help to conceal acne scarring, providing a smoother complexion while nurturing the skin with added skincare benefits.

How to Choose a CC Cream?

1. Understand Your Skin Tone and Undertone

Just like with every makeup product, it’s essential to understand your skin’s tone and undertone to make sure the colour-correcting cream complements your complexion seamlessly. Undertones can be categorised into cool, warm, or neutral, depending on the underlying hue beneath your skin's surface:

Cool: pinkish or blue-ish hues in the skin
Warm: traces of yellow and red in the skin
Neutral: an equal mix of cool and warm tones in the skin

Determining your undertone can help you choose foundation, concealer, and other makeup shades that enhance your natural beauty and ensure a harmonious makeup look. Whether you have a pinkish, yellowish, or neutral undertone, identifying it will guide you in achieving a flawless and radiant finish with your makeup application.

You can also opt for products containing adaptive pigments that blend with your skin tone to achieve natural-looking coverage. Although these are available in a more limited range of shades, they have the advantage of being more versatile and adaptable to a wide range of skin tones.

woman applying Nivea face cream on her face

2. Look for skin-enhancing ingredients

Choose CC creams that not only provide coverage for your skin but also contain skin-friendly ingredients that can help treat your skin concerns.

If you have brown spots or hyperpigmentation, opt for a corrective skin care product that combines specific skincare ingredients for anti-spot action with pigments to correct the complexion.
With Hyaluronic Acid & Luminous630®, the NIVEA Cellular Luminous630 CC Fluid 3-in-1 offers three key benefits in one product: provides natural coverage to instantly even out the skin, reducing dark spots and providing sun protection. The innovative formula deeply hydrates the skin while visibly reducing dark spots and evening out the complexion for a radiant glow.

One of the features of the NIVEA Luminous CC Fluid is its availability in multiple shades, catering to various skin tones. The lightweight texture of this CC cream gives skin a natural glow while its hydrating properties keep the skin moisturised and supple.

Discover Luminous630

HOW TO APPLY CC CREAM?

Simply dot the CC cream onto key areas of your face – forehead, cheeks, nose, and chin. Then, using your fingertips or a makeup sponge, gently blend the cream into your skin. Focus on achieving an even application for a natural finish.


If you have specific areas with redness or uneven skin tone, concentrate a bit more product in those areas for targeted coverage.
How to use CC cream?

How to Incorporate CC Cream into Your Skincare Routine?

Incorporating NIVEA CC Fluid into your skincare routine may help you achieve a more radiant complexion. Follow these easy steps for seamless application:

1. Start with a Thorough Cleanse:

Begin your skincare routine by cleansing your face thoroughly. This helps to remove any impurities and ensures a clean canvas for the application of CC cream.

Face Cleansers

2. Apply Serum:

After cleansing, apply a serum. Serums help to deliver active ingredients deep into the epiderm, targeting specific concerns such as lack of hydration, pigmentation or wrinkles. Allow your serum to sink into the skin before the next step.

Explore Face Serums

3 Moisturise

It's generally not necessary to moisturise the skin before using a CC cream, as these multi-purpose skincare products usually contain moisturising ingredients in their formula, simplifying the routine.
However, if your skin is very dry or needs extra care, don't hesitate to apply the moisturiser best suited to your skin type before your CC cream.

Face Creams

4. Apply Eye Cream:

Gently apply eye cream to the delicate skin around your eyes, using your ring finger to pat the product in until fully absorbed. This helps to hydrate and nourish the sensitive eye area, reducing the appearance of fine lines and puffiness.

The Cellular Luminous630 Anti-Dark Circles Eye Treatment Cream contains the innovative Luminous630® ingredient to help balance pigmentation irregularities and visibly reduce dark circles around the eyes.

5. Apply NIVEA CC Fluid:

Squeeze a small amount of CC Fluid onto your fingertips. A little goes a long way, so start with a small quantity and add more if needed. 

The NIVEA Luminous630 CC Fluid 3-in-1 provides natural-looking coverage and instantly evens out uneven skin tones while reducing pigment spots over time. It also contains Hyaluronic Acid to hydrate and smooth the skin.

SUMMARY

BB and CC Cream at a Glance

BB and CC creams serve as multifunctional skincare-makeup hybrids, simplifying beauty routines. While both offer some coverage and skincare benefits for a natural appearance, BB cream is designed to conceal imperfections, and CC cream specifically targets colour correction for redness and uneven tone. 


Both these types of formulas provide multiple benefits in one product, catering to various skin types and preferences, making them essential additions to any skincare regimen, offering convenience and versatility for achieving natural and radiant-looking skin.

FAQ - BB Cream and CC Cream

What is the difference between BB cream and CC cream?

BB cream (Beauty/Blemish Balm) provides sheer coverage, hydration, and sun protection  in some cases, acting as a tinted moisturiser. In contrast, CC cream (Colour Correcting) primarily focuses on colour correction, addressing issues like redness and uneven skin tone while offering similar benefits to BB cream.

What skin concerns does CC cream address?

CC cream is designed to improve the look of various skin concerns, including redness, uneven skin tone, and dullness. It offers a comprehensive solution for those seeking a balanced and radiant complexion.

What are the benefits of using BB cream?

BB cream provides hydration, sheer coverage and in some cases sun protection, and often contains skincare benefits like antioxidants and moisturisers.

Can CC cream replace my daily moisturiser and sunscreen?

CC Creams often contain a sun protection however, not always. Ensure you check the product description to see which SPF has been added, and  if you should also be applying a sunscreen. Even if it already contains SPF, it is sometimes necessary to add extra sun protection in the event of heavy exposure, and to reapply regularly throughout the day.

How should I apply CC cream for the best results?

Apply CC cream after thoroughly cleansing your skin. Dot the cream on different parts of your face and blend it evenly with your fingertips, a sponge, or a brush. Start with a small amount and build as needed for the desired coverage.

Is CC cream suitable for all skin tones?

Most CC creams are generally formulated in different shades of colour to complement various skin tones, but compatibility with your skin may vary depending on the product's formula. It's advisable to check product specifications or try a sample to ensure a seamless match with your skin tone. You can also choose a product containing adaptive pigments that blend in with your skin tone.

How long does CC cream last on the skin?

The longevity of CC cream can vary, but it generally provides lasting coverage throughout the day. Consider setting it with a translucent powder for extended wear, especially in hot or humid conditions.

Can you use CC cream for mature skin?

CC creams for mature skin often contain anti-aging ingredients, providing hydration and addressing specific concerns like fine lines. Look for formulations that offer a balance of coverage and nourishment for a radiant, youthful appearance.

How do I apply BB cream?

Apply BB cream onto cleansed skin and blend it evenly using your fingertips, a makeup sponge, or a brush for a natural finish.

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