Review n Look: Lakme CC Complexion Care Cream in S# Bronze

Lakme CC Complexion Care Cream S# Bronze

All in 1 instant skin stylist with SPF 20.

Claims: 

This instant skin stylist brings together all the goodness of your daily skin cream with just the right touch of make up to give you skin that looks styled by an expert, everyday. It instantly protects, moisturizes, brightens, evens skin tone, conceals, and freshens.

To use, dab over cleansed skin and blend in till absorbed for instant brightness and a perfect finish. Suitable for use everyday.

Review:

CC cream actually stands for Color Correcting cream. These are basically tinted moisturizers with SPF. So don't expect a lot in the coverage department.

Lakme too has jumped into the bandwagon and launched the CC cream some time ago. However, Lakme's definition of CC is Complexion Care. Given the Indian's cravings for beautiful complexion, this stuff is just apt because not all of us are pale and face redness issues to need a color correction.

Beautiful fuchsia box

The box is so pretty and it is a fuchsia color. The color, I am sure,  will appeal to majority of the girls. That is half the marketing done right there. The tube is a beige color one with a silver screw cap. It is also nice, but not quite the stealer as the box. What I did like about this product is that the tube is also as much as the box. You know what I mean? Some products come in a slinzy tube while the box is so huge! So, here you get what you see.

Beige tube with silver and fuchsia text

But don't be carried away by the CC cream ad where a stylist / make up artist is applying the CC cream on the model (with a sponge applicator) and she is ready to hit the ramp. No, don't let it make you think that it is somewhat of a foundation. Foundation can make your skin tone even and provide a base for your make up. It requires some effort and / or some tools for application. It's very important to get an exact match or it looks very ashy. If not done properly, it ends up looking cakey too. Use it often or use it a lot and eventually your skin will look tired and lifeless. None of these are true in the case of the Lakme CC Complexion Care cream in my experience. That is how it stands out even though it has some purpose as a make up item, it is actually a skin care product.

Now is a good time to get into the list of ingredients that make this product to see what makes it tick.

Skin care ingredients:

Ginger root extract - Increases blood circulation.

Cyclopentasiloxane, Dicaprylyl carbonate - Makes skin silky.

Glycerin, Cholesterol, Allantoin, Tocopherol acetate - Makes skin softer.

Dimethicone crosspolymer, PEG - 10 dimethicone, Dimethicone, Bisabolol  - Makes skin smoother.

Ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate, Titanium dioxide  - Sunscreens.

Zinc oxide - Shrinks pores.

Niacinamide - Restores skin elasticity.

Magnesium sulfate - Fights acne.

Ingredients that form the product's base:

Potassium chloride - Increases thickness of the product.

Triethoxycaprylylsilane, Stearic acid, Palmitic acid, Sucrose distearate  - Binds the product together.

Disteardimonium hectorite - Keeps the ingredients in the product in suspension.

DMDM hydantoin, BHT, Iodopropynyl butylcarbamate - Preservatives

Disodium EDTA - Prevents ingredients in the product from reacting with each other.

Butylene glycol - Solvent for the ingredients in the product.

CI 77491, 77492 and 77499 - Colorants; these are the red, yellow, and black oxides of iron, respectively.

Water - Base.

Perfume - Fragrance.

As you can see, there are quite a lot of ingredients that help to address various skin care issues. For example, ginger root extract can pump up the blood circulation and give the face a healthy glow. There are so many skin conditioning ingredients that help to soften, smoothen, and give it a silky finish. There are anti aging ingredients to help fight wrinkles and fine lines. There is also an anti acne ingredient. And of course there is sunscreen. So you see it has so many benefits as a skin care product.

This is when I get to comment on its usage. The product's texture resembles a foundation and not a cream. Cream would have been easy to spread and then massage in. This CC cream dries up and settles down in a matter of seconds. Dot it all over the face and by the time you give one swipe , it's almost settled. So you gotta work briskly with it. Unlike traditional creams which come with wide opening, this one comes out of a tiny hole in the form of a thin string. It's probably meant to be used sparingly. It just sits on top of the skin and doesn't absorb into the skin. It makes skin look like skin, albeit a lot better. It's got a yellow undertone, so it will flatter those with a warm undertone. I guess most of us Indians are warm toned.

Tiny nozzle

Coming to its shades, there are just two shades - beige and bronze. Beige is very light in color and will suit the very fair Indian skin tones. Bronze is just a little bit darker than Beige and actually suits the fair to medium Indian skin tones. So what do the rest of us dusky girls do? Make do with the Bronze in very small bits so that it doesn't look fake but still look decent enough. Yeah! Meh! Big meh! Take a clue from my pictures below to see how I have got the CC cream in Bronze to work for me.

    

That is all the product I used to dot all over my face and neck

As you can see that the shade is much lighter than my own skin tone. I take a tiny amount and dot all over my face. Then I quickly spread it out with short and brisk movements.

The final look is a bright and even looking skin. Coverage is light and not really buildable. It minimized the appearance of pores. I love the radiant glow and also that it looks very natural. It has a matte finish but also lets skin's natural shine peek through. It doesn't settle into the creases in the skin but dry or rough patches look even worse. Staying power is average in moderate weather but will melt in heat or humidity.

  

Left: Bare skin; Right: Lakme CC cream in Bronze

Coming to its claims and skin care benefits, not all of it is true. It does brighten skin, and minimizes the appearance of pores and fine lines. It doesn't moisturize the skin even a tad bit but looks terrible on dry or flakey skin. It doesn't refresh or give any sort of such a feeling either. It cannot even conceal a small little freckle. Overall, it works well on normal to oily skin which is more or less perfect. What it does is boost the radiance and pull the look together. Oh, if your skin is pimple free then you can also feel its smoothening effect and silky finish. I have been using it for more than a year and a half and although there is no skin care benefit, it hasn't at least spoilt my complexion. Most foundations leave my skin lifeless but not this one. That is why I have no problem using it on a daily basis.

So, overall it behaves like a light foundation . It suits normal to oily skin types. It's much cheaper and easier to use than a foundation but slightly more expensive than a regular moisturizer / sunscreen. If you have nearly even skin, then it is good for just a hint of make up.

Lakme CC Complexion Care Cream in Bronze