Stila Stay All Day HD Beauty Balm Review & Swatches
If you’re unfamiliar with BB Creams I do suggest reading this post prior to reading my review of the new Stila Stay All Day 10 in 1 HD Beauty Balm. Hopefully it’ll enlighten you to what a BB Cream is.
With Summer here, we’ll be seeing more and more BB Creams popping up but these products aren’t new by any means as they have been popular in Korea for a very long time and just over the last year or two Japan and the rest of Asia.
BB Creams are a cool product in the fact they offer flawless, long wearing coverage with the added benefit of anti-aging, whitening, and SPF ingredients to keep skin looking its very best. There are SO many brands of BB Creams in Korea in a variety of formulas to try but lucky enough we are a bit more limited here in the US. I say lucky because sometimes it does get overwhelming and finding just the right BB Cream for your skin tone and issues comes down to trying many products before finally finding just the right one for your tone, skin type, and issues. Believe me, I’ve tried hundreds!
Not many Western brands have succeeded in capturing the idea, concept, and formula of an Asian BB Cream but the attempts and tries so far are interesting.
Stila Stay All Day HD Beauty Balm will essentially be a disappointment if you’ve tried Asian BB Creams before however it might just prove a win for those who haven’t been initiated into the world of Asian BB Creams.
Let’s take a look!
I like this.
I even suggest you purchase it.
It creates a flawless look and has a creamy, lightweight texture.
But it’s not a typical BB Cream.
For one thing, it lacks an SPF. Most all BB Creams have an SPF 30 to 50 or even higher. This eliminates the need to apply an SPF as your BB Cream acts to protect your skin from harmful sun rays. Stila failed miserably in not including an SPF in the product as it is an essential and key factor in an Asian BB Cream. It’s one of the keys that gives BB Cream its multitasking abilities.
Their claims are it helps reduce pore skin, provides oil and blemish control, hides skin imperfections and reduces the appearances of wrinkles. It also features a complex to reduce redness and skin irritations.
Mmm…..much of this is indeed promised by Asian BB Creams but also anti-aging aspects as well as whitening and brightening ingredients such as Arbutin are typically included.
The formula is a thin, creamy gel-like consistency that absorbs easily into the skin. It offers flawless coverage and photographs beautifully. It evens out skin tone and has a lightweight texture that allows skin to breath easily. It should work well on most all skin types since the texture has a lighter finish that mattifies yet still manages to gently hydrate for those who have drier skin. Truly it creates picture perfect skin. For me it eased dullness considerably.
The problem?
Pigment.
The product is very sheer. Unlike Asian BB Creams which have buildable coverage this takes on more of the role of a tinted moisturizer with a far denser formula that isn’t as thin as this one. This isn’t surprising as this seems the route that most BB Creams that grace our market have taken. It’s seems like companies and brands are playing with the idea of a BB Cream as a hybrid tinted moisturizer slash foundation with a creamier texture and feel than a more traditional tinted moisturizer which tends to run a bit thinner.
If you have fairly decent, smooth, blemish-free skin you’ll find this wears very nicely and enhances your skin while easing dullness and creates a nice airbrushed finish.
However, those prone to break outs, those with acne scarring, or other issues they wish to conceal will find the coverage is disappointingly sheer.
In Asia, BB Creams are released in a single shade sometimes two and if you’re extra lucky a third shade. Stila’s BB Cream is a single universal shade. It fit me near perfectly. The color is a lighter beige that looked very natural on my medium fair skin. There isn’t any pink tones in this beige but a small of amount of yellow is in the mix. The medium shade of beige goes slightly creamy in tone as you apply. Sadly, the shade does limit darker skin tones from indulging but….it’s so sheer you might just be able to get away with it if your medium or tanned, olive skin or darker might have to test and see.
I liked it.
As a BB Cream it’s disappointing as hell.
But as a tinted moisturizer/base of sorts, it’s actually fairly nice. My skin is dry and dull with no acne issues or scarring. It eased dullness and delicately hydrated my skin. My skin was perfected after use. The product also had a nice wear time without oxidizing too quickly, with primer I could get six hours of wear and without nearly five.
Overall, if you fall into the right skin tone I’d suggest trying it. The creamy texture is a delight to apply and enhances skin beautifully.
It’s definitely not a BB Cream in the traditional sense but it is a nice base product on its own.
Sadly, I’d love to Muse Approve it but the lack of SPF among other things prevents me from raving it too hard.
Tried it?
Love it?
Do share!
Available now from Stila Cosmetics.