Bourjois 123 Perfect CC Cream '34 Bronze' Review - Foundation or Tinted Moisturizer ?

I never thought I’d spend so much on a tinted moisturizer, but I did! It was on my mind, haunting me for so long that I just gave in one day. It all started when I ventured into Parcos at Infinity-2 one day(that day I talked about HERE). I actually wanted to try out the newly launched cream-to-powder shadows by Bourjois, but they weren't stocked (I doubt if they are available even now). Then, I saw the CC cream and decided to try it out. ‘I won’t really buy it anyways’, I thought to myself, ‘too expensive’. After finding a shade close to my skin tone, I patted the tester on to my skin and I just fell in love with the texture and coverage. The store had my shade only in testers so I couldn't buy it then and I thought ‘this is a sign, I shouldn't buy it now, or ever’. But then, the pangs began. I started to dream about it, in the different ways it could be of use to me, how it would be perfect for this season and that occasion, and blah blah. When you really like something, your subconscious conspires to fixate on it, and clouds all your thoughts with images of it. So I gave in, and brought it home with me. ^_^

Price; Rs.710 / $11.4

Qty: 30ml / 1 US oz
Shades : 31 Ivory , 32 Light Beige , 33 Rose Beige, 34 Bronze

Ingredients:

Aqua (Water), Caprylyl Methicone, Dimethicone, Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate, Methyl Trimethicone, Peg-10 Dimethicone, Propanediol, Aluminum Starch Octenylsuccinate, Saccharide Isomerate, Dimethicone/Vinyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Chloride, Bis-Peg/Ppg-14/14 Dimethicone, Disodium Stearoyl Glutamate, Parfum (Fragrance), Propylene Carbonate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Ethylhexylglycerin, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Panthenol, Silica, Aluminum Hydroxide, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Lysolecithin, Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate, Amyl Cinnamal, Bht, Peg/Ppg-18/18 Dimethicone, Triethoxycaprylylsilane, Pantolactone, Phenethyl Alcohol, Tocopherol, Pentaerythrityl Tetra-Di-T-Butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate.

[+/- (May Contain): Ci 77891 (Titanium Dioxide), Ci 77491, Ci 77492, Ci 77499 (Iron Oxides), Mica, Ci 77007 (Ultramarines), Ci 77288 (Chromium Oxide Greens)].

My Take on Bourjois 123 Perfect CC Cream

Packaging:

 I only realized this after getting home: Bourjois products are not sealed. What the fudge Bourjois? You sell your products at sky high prices yet you fail to follow such basic hygiene standards. Well, TBS also follows the same standards, LOL. The CC Comes in a tube which has a nozzle opening .the cream is very runny so there’s always product all over the opening, aka, w.a.s.t.a.g.e. The spillage worsens when I travel with it. A pump would have been ideal for this product.

Shade:
The Bourjois CC Cream is available in 4 shades and I have the darkest - '34 Bronze'. Currently, my skintone is NC42 in summers and NC41  otherwise. I feel that Bronze suits me both the times but it definitely looks more natural when I'm lighter than NC42. Just my opinion! The product is very pigmented - quite unlike a tinted moisturizer- and if you buy a wrong shade the mismatch will be visible.

Texture:

 For me, one of the best part of this CC Cream is its texture. It has a very runny texture that is smooth to apply and blends away flawlessly. Before my Real Techniques brushes came along, I always used my fingers to apply it. A little bit goes a long way with this product. I’m stressing this because I’ve seen tutorials where people apply way too much of this product in the first layer itself. Its very easy to just keep layering this product because it blends so easily. It feels weightless on the skin even after layering and its not detectable either as long as you don’t go overboard, its definitely one of those ‘second-skin-like-feel’ products. 

Coverage:

This really depends. It provides medium to full coverage, But, not all places get full coverage.  A CC cream is supposed to ‘Color Correct’, that is even out your skin tone. This CC cream has 3 pigments: Apricot for Anti -Fatigue, Green for Anti -Redness and White for Anti –Dullness.  When it comes to evening out dark areas, this fails. This makes the more pigmented i.e darker areas of my face appear grayish in photographs. My eye contour, forehead and area around the mouth are all darker than the rest of my face, this definitely has to be topped with a concealer on those areas for fuller coverage and evening out.

However, this can be built upto full coverage for spots and blemishes. I had one huge, 3D pimple on my cheek and 2 layers of this CC cream over the pimple and a little setting powder fully covered it. It covers most of the redness on my skin perfectly, but the redness on my nose sometimes still shows through. I use both brush and fingers to build up to a full coverage, if you don’t have many issues on your face, fingers are enough to give you the coverage you need.

Wear time:

This aspect really depends on the weather. In the period that I've used this, my skin has changed from combination to normal to normal-dry. In summer season I found that it wears off in two hours or so whereas during cooler days I found that it stays all day, sometimes even without powdering. Some days I put it on and need to powder my face 2-3 times in the day. Most of it fades after 6-7 hours & when I remove my makeup after 12hrs (of applying it) some of it is still there. I can tell that for combination and normal skin, this is not a product to be worn in summers without a primer. For fall and winter, this is a great product for dry, normal and combination skin types. I haven't experienced oxidizing when I wore this, it just completely wore off from my skin during the time my skin was combination-oily. I got more oil control when I applied powder on top using a puff.

Claims vs Performance

-Bourjois claims 10hr hydration with the 123 perfect CC Cream but my skin doesn't feel hydrated after I've put it. Currently my skin is normal to dry and I feel the need to put a moisturizer before I apply this, which I do, by the way.

-The Bourjois 123 CC Cream contains SPF15 which is less for summers but ok for winters. I find that it doesn't photograph well at all (without flash, I haven’t tried it with flash), it gives a whitish cast around my mouth and under eyes. So if I’m going anywhere where I require to be photographed, I make sure to layer those areas with concealer.

-Speaking of color correction, for the most part, it covers redness, but doesn't even out darker areas of my face.

-I like that when I layer this over pimples, it doesn't aggravate my allergy! Then again, my skin has not reacted negatively to silicones yet, if silicones do not suit your skin, you might want to stay away from this because it has a lot of them.

-It's only available in 4 shades.

click to zoom!

Overall Verdict: 4/5

The Bourjois 123 CC Cream feels like a high end product, and is even priced accordingly. While it doesn't completely even out my complexion, it provides a medium to full coverage. This is a product I would use for the “no makeup makeup look”. Its also very easy to use and you can apply it with just fingers as well. If don’t have many issues on your face, fingers are enough to give you the coverage you need. It doesn't provide hydration as it claims and wear time depends on the weather, to top it off, it doesn't look good in pictures over darker areas of my face. Still, I find myself reaching for this more than my beloved Garnier BB cream, just because it gives a better coverage, is undetectable on my skin and is easy to use. I really wish it had a pump instead of a nozzle. At this price, you might be able to find a medium-full coverage foundation so if your main concern is evening out skin tone/hiding dark circles/acne scars, that would be a better choice. If you don’t have uneven skin tone then this would be perfect for you. I’m not sure how it found fare over scars because I don’t have any.