I’m sure you’ve all heard that BB Creams are the latest beauty innovation to hit make up counters and dressing tables everywhere. My Mum swears by Bare Escentuals Mineral Make Up, but I’m not totally sold on that just yet.
My BB Cream of choice is Sleek’s Be Beautiful Blemish Balm (BPL says: read my post about this product here!). I use it both as a concealer and all over my face for full coverage, and I love it. I couldn’t wait to see how it stood up against Avon’s version.
As an Avon Rep I get the opportunity to try out new products before they become available to customers, and during this month’s campaign I was really excited to try out Avon’s first ever BB Cream.
Avon’s Ideal Flawless Skin Loving Beauty Balm is being touted as being the ‘multi benefit make-up that feels lighter than foundation’. On paper it reads like a dream; ‘lightweight feel, evens skin tone, conceals flaws, SPF15 protection, hydrates skin, mineral infused, Vitamin E infused, minimises redness…’ and is available in six shades to suit all skin tones; the lightest being Ivory and the darkest, Nutmeg.
Before receiving the product I had already committed myself to doing this review for Beauty Pulse London, and I had it all worked out; I was planning on using the Avon Beauty Balm during my usual make-up routine on a regular day, but despite being let down by the product before I’d even applied it, I felt I had to share my experience.
I’m getting a bit better at this make-up lark as I get older, and I have real issues with a shiny T-Zone. To help with this, I’ve been using Avon’s Magix Face Perfector as a Primer and for me it works a treat (BPL says: I LOVE this primer too!).
Now, the first disappointment for me was the size of the product; the Avon Beauty Balm retails at £12 for a 30ml tube, and at double the price and a fraction smaller than my Sleek BB Cream, I can’t say I was overly impressed.
The Balm comes in six shades as I mentioned, and I ordered the darkest, Nutmeg. In the brochure it looked pretty much the same colour as the Sleek BB Cream.
No.
I was quite shocked to see the difference in colour between the two products (on the back of my hand, the Sleek BB in Dark is on the left and the Avon BB in Nutmeg is on the right), and this was the point where I almost backed out of doing the review (BPL says: I’m glad that you didn’t!).
I continued to apply the Avon BB, warming it on the back of my hand and applying it with my MAC 187 Brush and blending it in. You can probably tell by the photograph that it just wasn’t going to cut it, but I tried to make the best of it!
I pencilled in my brows, slicked on a bit of mascara and brushed on a little blusher and this was my final look. If I had to give the Avon Beauty Balm marks out of 10, I’d award it a 4.
Firstly the size of the product was surprising; I expected something more substantial, especially for the retail price (luckily as a Rep I get to sample the product at a huge discount). Secondly, the colour and texture were very disappointing. For this to be the darkest colour in the range is a mockery. In terms of texture, I found the Avon Beauty Balm quite runny and thin, and on applying to my skin was a bit patchy. I ended up using a lot more than I usually would owing to the texture of the Balm, and it definitely didn’t allude to its claim of being ‘lighter than foundation’ as I can still feel it on my face two hours later
(BPL says:I had a similar experience with the Avon Ideal Flawless Invisible Foundation:-().
Evening my skin tone? Maybe a little, but I really didn’t appreciate looking two shades lighter than I am.
Would I recommend this?
For myself and others who have dark skin tones, no.
The Avon Ideal Flawless Skin Loving Beauty Balm wasn’t so ideal or flawless for me, and I definitely didn’t love it!
BPL says: thanks for your honest review Rae!
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Ideal Flawless Skin Loving Beauty Balm SPF15 (30ml) will be available from your Avon Representative from Campaign 6 (February 27 – April 4 2013) or online from avonshop.co.uk – order with the confidence of a secure delivery.
RRP £12
Great review. Disappointing to see that Avon is not catering for deeper shades. The nutmeg in my kitchen cupboard is not that shade of brown – it is much deeper!!!
It is such a shame! The quality of Avon products are excellent for the price…
I was curious about this brand. I have yet to see a BB cream that is match perfect at the moment I getaway with Maybelline’s Universal Glow some times Lush’s Dark Pink which is a pigment to mix with your moisturizer.
Great review I was going to order it thinking it would be ideal for my sensitive skin I don’t use foundation at all and thought this would be a good start (at 41) but I think I’ll leave it alone now 🙁
I’ve just purchased this product in nude
Great products it really worked very well.:)
Thanks for the post.
Thanks for reading!
Looks like I have found something for my other half to try.