Review: Laneige Snow BB Soothing Cushion

Hello everyone,

While out shopping with my mum one day, I caught a glimpse of Laneige's advertisement for a product called the Snow BB Soothing Cushion.

This post will be segmented into 2 parts as follows:

1. My Personal Experience with BB Creams
2. My thoughts on the Laneige Snow BB Soothing Cushion

Do just jump to the relevant section if you do not wish to read the full article. :)

1. My Personal Experience with BB Creams

I gave BB creams a shot when they became all the rage about 1-2 years back. The Korean actress "no-makeup" look is one which I'm sure many ladies desire or actively pursue. I am no exception, and jumped onto the BB bandwagon as well. 

After giving several Watsons/Guardian brands a try, I decided that BB creams were not for me. I found many of the formulations too thick and greasy for my liking, especially since I have combination skin (oily on T zone, dry on the cheeks).

After using it daily for about a week or so, I started to break out really badly. I'm guessing that this is because I have moderately sensitive skin, and because BB creams did so much 'work', it was packed full of chemicals and ingredients that irritated my skin. I defected from the BB cream camp not too long after in favor of foundation. 

Personally, I don't believe in the BB cream hype. It sounds like a dream, but after some serious pondering, BB creams promise an awful lot of things, don't they? It has the properties of a moisturizer, sunscreen, make-up base and foundation all at once! Now, I'm not saying that BB creams are bad or anything, I'm just saying that "Wow, it does sound too good to be true, no?"

2. My Thoughts on the Laneige Snow BB Soothing Cushion

Anyhow, Laneige's advertisement caught my eye and I quickly did my research on the product. Here are some of its promised benefits, as extracted from the Laneige Singapore website.

As usual, BB creams are marketed as an "all-in-one" miracle formula, which raises a few eyebrows for me. Nonetheless, this product has received a rating of 4.5/5 on Makeupalley.com with a 100% repurchase rate. Do take this with a pinch of salt though as it is based only on 2 reviews. I continued my research and found several blogs that also reviewed this product, with good effect.

Despite my less than rosy history with BB creams, I decided to take the plunge on this one because somehow, there was a part of me that secretly desired and hoped for all of its claims to be true.

• Price & Specifications

This retails for $59 in Sephora and all Laneige counters in Singapore. The full list of stores may be found here: Laneige Store Locator (Singapore)

It comes in 4 colours (from lightest to darkest):

#13 True beige: Beige colour with pink tone

#21 Natural beige: Calm natural beige

#23 Sand beige: For tanned skin

#33 Brown beige: For darker skin

Each box comes with 2 x 15g of product. One is already prepacked into the case with mirror + sponge, while the other is is sealed for future use. 

• Packaging

Sleek silver box

My shade: Natural Beige #21

Contents of the package: A sealed refill (left) and the pre-loaded/packed case with mirror

Big mirror enclosed in the case. For hygiene, the sponge is also separated from the product with a blue divider.

Protective seal to prevent the BB Cream from drying out.

The sponge soaked in BB cream.

• Ingredients (First 10)

The ingredients found in the BB cream are:

1. Water
2. Cyclopentasiloxane - Silicone
3. Zinc Oxide - for sunscreen properties
4. Titanium Dioxide - for sunscreen properties
5. Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate - for sunscreen properties
6. Cyclohexasiloxane - Silicone
7. Phenyl Trimethicone - Silicone
8. Lauryl PEG-9Polydimethylsiloxyethyl Dimethicone - Silicone
9. Butylene Glycol Dicaprylate - solvent for UV filters
10. Arbutin - for whitening properties

Like many BB creams and foundations out there, there are a lot of silicones in the product. Silicones help the product glide on smoothly onto your skin, and are usually the ingredients responsible for making you feel like the product just "slides" onto your skin.

Silicone molecules are also too large to penetrate the skin and therefore form a layer over the skin, essentially creating a mask that helps prevent the loss of moisture from your skin surface. By creating a layer over the skin, the BB cream can also help create the appearance of more even and smooth skin.

However, do note that there are some downsides to having so many silicones in one single product. As mentioned, silicones form a layer over your skin to keep moisture from leaving. But this also prevents dead skin cells from sloughing off naturally, and it also has the potential to trap acne-causing bacteria and dirt in your pores.

I therefore recommend that if you want to use this BB cream on a very regular basis, you have to be very diligent with how you clean your face prior to using this (exfoliate, maybe) and making sure that the sponge applicator it comes with is ALWAYS CLEAN.

Silicones don't break our skin out by themselves, but given this product is so heavily filled with them, improper hygiene could lead to some undesired breakouts.

• Coverage

Before applying the BB Cream

After applying the BB Cream

As seen from the photos above, the BB cream provides very light coverage. It helps to even out the skin tone and hide minor blemishes and pigmentation marks. I would still recommend that concealer be used to cover larger acne scars or pimples. 

True to its name, when applied, there is a cooling and very soothing sensation felt on my skin. It doesn't feel greasy at all, not like the other BB creams that I've used before. As you can see from the photos, it gives a semi-dewy (or semi-matte) finish, much like bare skin with nothing on at all. I think this is great for days when you do not want to slap on multiple layers of foundation but still want something with great UV protection and some light coverage.

• Score

My personal rating for this: 4 / 5

• Conclusion

Overall, I think I will be keeping this BB cream in my make-up cabinet for now. It's the most lightweight BB cream I have ever used. I'm not sure it lives up to the hype of being sweat-proof though, cos when I was done with my dance lesson I'm pretty sure it had almost all melted away from my face. 

So, I would recommend this to people who are looking for a BB cream that's light and easy to apply. It's also extremely portable, so I foresee that this will be really popular for travelling ladies. 

The only downside to this is that it can potentially clog your pores because it's filled with silicones and the sponge soaked with BB cream + your applicator are potential bacteria breeding grounds. Also, at $59, it is pretty expensive for a BB cream!

I would probably not repurchase after I'm out of the product, unless in the future, Laneige sells the refills separately. Otherwise, I'd have to fork out money for the case again (which is really quite wasteful!).

That was a comprehensive review of the Laneige Snow BB Soothing Cushion and I hope you enjoyed it! Do let me know if there's anything I can improve on, and until next time, I hope you have a wonderful life! :)