4 BB Creams for Women of Color

The HKI editorial team is a lover of any product that answers a woman’s beauty needs, and that makes her feel beautiful and at her best. Rather than throw in the towel on the BB cream category (which seems slow to mature) after making a stink about the dismal shade selection of BB creams for women of color, I hung in there long enough to be greeted with Hydroxatone’s first deeper shade offering of Hydroxatone Anti-Aging BB Cream ($59.95, hydroxatone.com) – 5 in all.

Among its many benefits, wear it under your foundation while simultaneously treating your fine lines and wrinkles and let the Vitamin C it contains help stimulate the growth of new skin cells. SIDE STORY: After the first dollop landed and then disappeared on the back of my left hand, ‘Anti-Aging’ became a friend in my head. Keep the shades comin’! This is how you do one step beauty in a bottle. Gorge and no ash.

If you’re after a little more coverage than the average BB cream, HKI suggests a small   investment of $34 in AJ Crimson BB + D Cream (ajcrimson.com) – 11 shades to choose from. AJ’s freshman attempt in HKI’s view is a rousing success. The formula meant to be worn by a global community glides on smoothly, covers extraordinarily so much so that you forget you’re also treating, hydrating, priming and protecting your skin. We like AJ.

It’s true, Amarte Skin Care and Lumene have only may be 2-3 light shades between them, so then how do these BB’s speak to a global ‘us?’ They do, in that they can be worn by women whose skin tone is similar to actress Jennifer Beal of Irish and Black descent.  Amarte Natural Finish BB Cream ($80, amartecosmetics.com) is designed with SPF 36 to protect as it creates a natural, healthy-looking complexion. The Rochelle Aytes’s of the world can find solace in wearing one of the two shades of Lumene Vitamin C Plus Illuminating Anti-Age BB Cream SPF 20 ($14.99, walgreens.com) offers. ‘Illuminating’ is infused with Arctic Cloudberry which comes with high-levels of Vitamin A-B-C-E that hydrates, evens skin tone and covers blemishes as it promotes a youthful appearance.

Now do you believe me? BB creams exist for both you and me.