HanSkin Gold Pearl B.B.

Well, playing with bb creams I figured sooner or later I would stumble upon the goods and the bads. Actually, it's not that black and white and there's a spectrum of goods and bads. And by bad I mean they don't work for me, either the color being too dark or the formula too drying for my already dry skin.

For example, there are spectacular hits like Dr.Jart+ Renewalist (I bought a loose powder version of this too, will review later), HanSkin Super Light Touch, Mineral Magic, and UV Screen, and Dr.G Gowoonsesang Total Active (I even bought backups!). Then there are good ones like Dr.Jart+ Black Label Detox, and Dr.G Gowoonsesang Perfect Pore Cover and Primer BB Protector. And the ho-hum decent but not great like Skin79 Oriental Gold Plus, Lioele Beyond the Solution, Dr.G Gowoonsesang Actifirm Recovery, and Skin79 Snail Nutrition. Of course, there are misses too, like Dr.Jart+ Water Fuse, Lioele Water Drop, Dr.G Gowoonsesang Hydra Intensive, and Skin79 The Oriental Perfect Cover.

Which means there is one last category that I'm loathed to mention, the absolutely disastrous. Unfortunately, this 15mL tube of HanSkin Gold Pearl B.B. fits squarely in that category. In short, it's a disaster :(

From left to right: Mineral Magic Moisture B.B. SPF30 PA++, UV Screen B.B. SPF50+ PA+++, this Gold Pearl B.B., and Smooth Reflex Moisture B.B. SPF27 PA++. All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

First I want to be clear: I actually haven't tried this bb cream. I know, I called it a disaster but I haven't actually worn it, I'm so terrible. But scroll down further and see why I haven't worn it. So I'm not commenting on how terrible this is because it destroyed my skin or anything. It hasn't. Because there's just no way in hell I'd put this stuff on my face to begin with, much less walk out my door with it on :P

Anyway, interestingly enough this Hanskin bb cream is made in Japan and came sealed. Either way, the name "Gold Pearl" cannot be more deceiving. As you can see from the swatch and blended photos below, it's neither gold nor pearl but is instead orange with scattered gold glitter. Yes, orange, and yes, glitter. Whose idea is this??? O.o 

When I first opened up the tube I thought, okay, it's really dark, so it's more of a bronzer and I might be able to use it for contouring. Then I squeezed out some onto the back of my hand and, well, NOPE. This is no bronzer, because holly hell it's orange. Orange, folks, ORANGE. And after blending, it still looks orange, as if I'd gone out and got myself a terrible fake tan. No can do. Into the trash bin it went.