If you’re in the market for drugstore bb cream, you have most likely stumbled upon Rimmel London 9-in-1 BB cream. It seems to have cropped up in drugstores in a range of countries. It’s widespread popularity mixed with it’s low price meant I had to try it out.
The cream
For any bb cream, 9-in-1 is a pretty big claim. It is kind of similar to when you buy “thirteen flavour” dog food and wonder whether it really is true. Except the main difference is, you can actually test whether this cream is 9-in-1.
The nine results listed are Primes, moisturizes, minimizes pores, conceals, covers, smoothes, mattifies, brightens, and helps protect. So how does this cream match up?
Primes: Pass! While I wouldn’t use this as a primer because it does such a good job at concealing, if you want heavy coverage it works perfectly fine at priming the skin
Moisturises: Pass! After about three months of use, my skin did in fact feel more hydrated.
Minimises pores: Pass! While there is no way to really “minimise” pores, they BB cream does a very good job at minimising the appearance of pores.
Conceals: Very big pass! You can easily use this cream as a spot-fix. However it does require a bit more than you would normally use.
Covers: Pass – well kind of. This one is all down to personal preference. If you want a light to medium coverage this stuff does the trick. Otherwise you will need a more heavy foundation – but it covers just as well as a BB cream should.
Smoothes: This BB cream was not actually too good at smoothing. I would recommend using a light moisturiser first because it does tend to gather in skin patches.
Mattifies: Pass! However as with any BB cream, you need a bit of a heavy application to get the full matte effect.
Brightens: Pass! This bb cream gives your skin a nice, healthy glow. Not too much of a glow to make you look sweaty, but enough of a glow to make you look youthful.
Protects: Pass – kind of. I certainly wouldn’t recommend using this as a substitute for sunscreen on a hot day. Rather I’d recommend the best sunscreen ever. But for a short amount of time in the sun, this will protect you fine.
The colour
This BB cream comes in only two shades – light and medium. The obvious downside to this is that there’s only a slim chance it wil fit your skin tone.
Both the light and the medium seem to be more geared towards people with yellow-based skin tones. As such, they can appear a bit orange especially is you have rosy cheeks! So if so, use this cream sparingly.
The plus side of this is you can fake a healthy glow if you use the cream lightly. However be careful not to overdo it!
The conclusion
For the price, this BB cream is an absolute steal. While I personally would not use it for all the nine results it offers, I would definitely recommend it for a light, everyday BB cream.
