Saturday 10 April 2010

Skin79 Preview

Any guesses which brand is about to land on our sunny shores?

It's Skin79, the South Korean brand that started the whole BB Creams phenomenon in 2006 and which remains the no.1 market leader in South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. Yesterday, I attended a bloggers' preview of the brand which is scheduled to debut exclusively in Watsons stores in Singapore on 26 April. The line will be available in 40 Watsons stores. Ngee Ann City and a few other larger malls will have the most comprehensive counters with dedicated beauty consultants for the first few months.

The good news is that the prices at Watsons will be on par with the prices in South Korea, so no need to bother friends travelling abroad to haul these back or ordering through Gmarket and blogshops! Skin79 has more than 100 products in total but not all of these will be available in Singapore. The range that will be available in Watsons will be mainly the BB Creams, pacts, concealers and highlighters which you can see in these photos. You can also see more photos of the event on Skin79's Facebook page.

The predominantly pink packaging is simple and elegant without being too cutesy.

BB Creams, which usually stands for 'blemish balm' creams (although Skin79 prefers to calls its products 'beblesh balm') were initially designed for use by people who had recovering from laser skin treatments or chemical peels. The BB Creams contain a whole host of skin benefits while also acting as a makeup base and foundation in one. Skin79's BB Creams provide up to ten skin benefits, including whitening, improving wrinkles, nourishment, hydration, improving resilience, protection against pollution and sun damage, sebum control and coverage.

BB Creams tend to be a love-'em-or-hate-'em product. I've only tried one BB Cream from SINN (a Japanese brand) to date and it didn't work for me as the oil control and finish were less than impressive. The lack of shade selections also makes me wonder how these could possibly work for everyone and provide coverage at the same time. But quite a few beauty bloggers swear by BB Creams so I'm always open to trying out new ones. Beauty products tend to be very subjective so rather than believe in all the hype, it's more useful to experiment with a range and see what works best for your skintype and needs.


Skin79 offers a range of BB Creams for different skintypes. The Super Blush BB Cream Triple Functions (S$36.90) with SPF25 PA++ is the brand's all-time bestseller and is suitable for oily/combination skin. It contains ingredients like adenosine and arbutin to help improve skin clarity, luminosity and elasticity. The VIP Gold Super Plus BB Cream (S$36.90) is more suitable for dry/combination skin and contains caviar and gold to help nourish and illuminate the skin.



The most expensive product in the range is the set of three serums which are designed for whitening, anti-aging and repair purposes, depending on what your skin needs. The set costs S$69.90, which is quite affordable compared to other brands.

One product that caught my eye was these highlighter balls!


These add a lovely pearly glow to the skin.

Another highlighter product with a brush applicator reminiscent of YSL's famous Touche Eclat.


This adds a glowy sheen.


In Taiwan, pop songstress Jolin Tsai is the brand ambassador for Skin79.

Each blogger received the Super Plus and VIP Gold BB Creams, and a miniature tube of the VIP Gold, to try out and review.

Each miniature tube was accessorised with a letter charm corresponding to our names. Such a thoughtful and sweet touch!

Product description for the Super Plus Beblesh Balm.

Ingredients list (not paraben-free).

And for the VIP Gold Beblesh Balm.


The pic below shows Super Plus BB Triple Benefits on the left side and VIP Gold on the right side. VIP Gold is actually a bit lighter and more neutral-toned than Super Plus.

I applied Super Plus BB Triple Benefits on the left half of the back of my hand and VIP Gold on the right half (near the knuckles). VIP Gold appeared more natural on my skintone but unfortunately, it is actually more for dry skin whereas my skin is oily.

As you can see, the VIP Gold sheered out into a very natural-looking finish and evens out my skintone.

I will review these two BB Creams in more detail after I have tried them out. Do check out icyabstract's blog and everbluec/Chantana's blog for their accounts and pics of the event! My buddy, Kathi, has reviewed tons of Skin79 products on her Lotus Palace blog. She is an expert on BB Creams, having tried several of the leading and niche brands and her blog is an excellent resource for detailed reviews on the various brands.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Skin79 is one brand that don't break me out compared to some other bb cream. I'm glad it's going to be easily available and reasonably priced.

Eliza said...

Actually they were available in Chinatown late last year, b4 I left Singapore. One of the shops in people's park complex. I've the pink one and it's really good for oil control in the t-zone while keeping the cheeks moisturised. I was amazed!

Anonymous said...

Interesting!
But I'm afraid BB creams tend to clog pores especially for ppl with oily/acne prone skin bcoz we have larger pores than normal ppl do :(
Haru, I always wonder what are foundation & your routine skincare?

Sara Kye said...

I didn't swatch the highlighter balls, for some reason... the swatch looks really pretty though! Thanks for the mention (:

Haru said...

hi,
I tried out the VIP Gold BB Cream today and was very impressed. Not sure if it is pore-clogging as I've only used it once so far, but I'm impressed with its oil control and natural finish.

I don't have a staple foundation as I switch between brands all the time but it is always either powder foundation or liquid foundation. Same for skincare, I use a variety of brands depending on what is my skin concern at that point in time. The basic skincare steps are the same. I always cleanse and moisturise in the morning before putting on makeup. At the end of the day, I use a cleansing oil (Shu Uemura) to remove makeup followed by face cleanser (Shiseido White Lucent or Avene Cleanane Soap-free Gel Cleanser), then toner (DDF 10% Glycolic, Kenzoki Clearwater, Kiehls Herbal Blue) and/or moisturiser. I also use face scrubs (Lush Herbalism) and clay masks twice a week (Kate Somerville).

Cosine said...

Concealer is the most important thing to me in makeup and their's is horrid! Too dry and too light in colour. I'm fairer than NC15 shade and all their powder leave me looking like a ghost. The BB creams are lovely though... pity their products cannot compliment each other for me.

wyf said...

So far, I had only tried teh BB Mousse from Etude House & was less than impressed although the pricing was reasonable. I ended up using it as a sunscreen for my legs.