The Battle Of The BB Creams: Day 5 - Clinique Age Defense BB Cream SPF30/PA+++, Swatches, Review & Photos

Day 5 of the Battle of the BB Creams will be Clinique Age Defense BB Cream SPF30/PA+++, which was previously only available in duty-free in Asia, but as far as I know, is already available in Clinique counter in department stores in Malaysia at the time of writing. I am not sure about the other countries.

Clinique Age Defense BB Cream SPF30/PA+++

I purchased this on board a Cathay Pacific flight back from Hong Kong to the UK a few months ago. If you are wondering why I had purchased this instead of MAC BB Cream, well, if I had the chance to try out some sample beforehand like I did with the MAC BB Cream, then I wouldn't have. But that flight was long and I was feeling really miserable (it was just after my Dad's funeral), so I flipped through their inflight duty-free magazine and first I saw the Clinique Moisture Surge Thirst Relief set (I had seen this set on my previous flights with Cathay Pacific but didn't buy it yet) and I like their Moisture Surge hydrator very much. So I bought that set (review soon, hopefully). Then I saw the Clinique BB Cream. I wouldn't call it an impulse buy, but more of a comfort buy at that time. Oh well, now that I have bought it, I might as well include it in this BB Cream series.

Clinique Age Defense BB Cream SPF30/PA+++

Swatches of Clinique Age Defense BB Cream SPF30/PA+++ (photos above and below)

Blends to a brighter smooth powdery finish

This BB Cream is a light beige colour with pink undertone. It has a light texture but on spreading it on the skin, it feels a little like cream and blends to a somewhat powdery finish. On my face, it looks smooth and it is very close to my skin tone(NC25-30 for your reference). It brightens my complexion significantly. It has a SPF of 30 and PA+++. And like all Clinique products, it is fragrance-free, but has that fragrance-free scent.

The coverage provided by the Clinique BB Cream is quite good as it conceals almost all the redness of fine broken capillaries on my left cheek but it doesn't cover the pores on my nose. And the nice smooth powdery finish, unfortunately didn't last very long.

With this BB Cream, initially, I didn't use any powder to set it, as I reckoned that after blending, it gave a smooth powdery finish. But I was wrong. My T-zone started to get oily less than an hour after application and the product sank into the pores on my nose. Good thing when I tested it the first few times, I was at home and didn't go out thereafter. Then by the 2nd hour, it all melted. I thought it was just a fluke, but I tried it several times on different days and I still get the same result.

Then, I tried it with a loose powder - MAC Magically Cool Liquid Powder in Truth & Light (from Dr. Facilier of Venomous Villains Collection, September 2010, but now available permanently in this shade and 2 other shades). OK, it got better by layering some loose powder on top to set the BB Cream. My T-zone didn't become oily until about 1 and a half hour after application, and it wasn't oily but shiny. But by the 2nd hour, again oily T-zone and product sinking into the pores on my nose. The overall wear time improved by about an hour to 3 hours by using a loose powder to set it.

I have never been disappointed with Clinique products - skincare and cosmetics, that I have used in the past and present. But somehow, this one is not up to my expectation. I have provided some photos below to show you what happened.

The Clinique BB Cream comes in 1 shade and was previously available in selected duty-free only, but now is available in Clinique counters in department stores in Malaysia. It comes in a tube with 40ml of product costing me USD31 (the price I paid onboard). It is HKD240 or RM105 in Malaysia.

On my face

Half-half application
BB Cream applied on the right side of my face for comparison.

Full face application with MAC Magically Cool Liquid Powder in Truth & Light set on top.

Full face application with loose powder set on top - close up to show the shine and product sinking into my pores.

This BB Cream is really very close to my skin tone and the effect initially was very promising. But sadly, it didn't wear too well on my skin.