One of the many delightful things that happens when we age is that skin pores become more visible. At the same time your eyesight is probably getting worse so at least the good news is that you may not notice this at first.
Enlarged pores happen because the skin is losing collagen, which leads to lost elasticity and pores becoming dilated. But the biggest culprit is sun damage; that’s just bad for skin all over. So the best we can do for enlarged pores is to minimise further damage by protecting our skin from the sun, plus use make up to cover up the worst of it.
With that in mind, for the last week I’ve been trying out a new BB cream from French pharmacy brand La Roche-Posay – the recently launched Effaclar BB Blur. It gives a great blurring effect on visible pores, blemishes and redness.
Effaclar BB Blur comes in two shades – Fair/Light and Light/Medium (no darker option? Let’s hope that will follow soon). I tried out the Fair/Light option since I have the sort of pale Celtic skin that makes milk look tanned.
On first squeeze, the product looks like it’s going to be way too dark, but it soon adjusts and lightens up on the skin. It gives a medium coverage that’s more than a tinted moisturiser but less than a full coverage foundation, so for me this is perfect for daytime wear.
As you can see below, it comes out of the tube as a mousse, but when you apply it with fingers you can feel the creamy silicone slippiness. It reminds me of the cult Korean product, Miguhara BP Cream, which is both a BB cream and primer. You definitely don’t need a primer with this (or if you use one, make it a cream rather than silicone one). You don’t really need powder either, since the effect is so matte. This is one of those Quick, make me look airbrushed products to apply when you’re in a rush in the morning.
Effaclar BB Blur is mainly aimed at oily skin, but it was fine for my non-oily skin too. It maybe wouldn’t suit very dry or dehydrated skin since it’s so mattifying, but even then I think you’d be OK with a good moisturiser underneath. It’s also not for anyone with sensitivity to silicones, because there are plenty of them in here, with dimethicone as the main ingredient.
Other star ingredients include: Airlicium, which forms a breathable film over the skin to smoothe its surface. Apparently NASA use this – yes it is skincare FROM SPACE. #wowsers
There’s also Perlite, a natural ingredient often used by gardeners since it holds moisture without becoming soggy. Here it’s functioning to protect against humidity and soak up sweat like blotting paper. Hence when I wore this BB cream in the gym, it was still on my face after my BodyCombat class and that’s pretty rare. It lasted all day on my skin, although there was definitely less of it from mid-afternoon onwards.
I was happy to see that it contains SPF20 (although adding a separate sunscreen is a good idea too). If you are concerned about skin damage and ageing, use sun cream every day and never buy a foundation or BB cream that doesn’t contain a decent amount of SPF.
At £16.50 for 30ml I think this is pretty good value. I love the smooth feel of the product and the fact that it really does give a blurring effect without looking like you’re caked in make up.
Product details
La Roche-Posay Effaclar BB Blur is widely available online and in stores, RRP £16.50 for 30ml. La Roche-Posay is often on offer in Boots – currently it’s buy one, get one half price on some of the range.
*PR sample