History of Korean BB Creams

Back in the 1990's, there was so much hype over BB creams in Korea. The brand Hanskin was the first BB cream specialized company in Korea. The news about Hanskin spread all over Korea back then. If you lived in Korea and were using a BB cream, it was most likely Hanskin. The brand dominated the BB cream market and still, a lot of people who are new to BB cream will likely hear about and try Hanskin first.

Then, the big road-shops and high street brands such as Missha, Etude House and Skinfood started to release their BB cream collections on a regular basis. This is what we think of as the second era of Korean BB creams to hit the market. They were good at advertising, but they really didn't give much information on the product themselves. They were just grabbing on to the BB cream trend.

But things are so much different now. We now have so many great options for BB creams in Korea. Korean BB cream market is fully saturated and luxury global brands are coming out with their BB creams. We think of this now as the third era of Korean BB creams. Korean consumers are way smarter and are able to make educated decisions these days. We can make our decisions based on the products themselves over simply the brand name.

Today, many underground skin care brands are threatening big brands with their quality, better ingredients, and the length of time they took to develop the best product. They results speak by their products themselves. These brands are also breaking down all the information that customer wants to know and not surviving on their brand posted on the bottle.

Korean dermatologists have recently started to jump into the BB cream wagon as well. After all the BB cream flood in Korea, there is no way I could choose or rank the best BB creams because I think we all need to be knowledgeable on our skin type and conditions which will enable us to pick a BB Cream best for our skin. But for those of you outside of Korea who are curious, here are 5 of the top selling BB cream brands in my country.

Top 5 BB Creams

Not in particular order

• Skin 79 Super Plus BB: Light weight, absorbs quickly, hydrating, healthy looking, SPF 25/PA++, whitening, wrinkle care, sebum control.

• Etude House Precious Mineral BB Cream: Luminous finish, pore coverage, healthy looking, SPF 30/PA++, wrinkle care.

• Missha Signature Real Complete BB Cream: Luxurious texture, fine and gentle texture that melts to your skin, great coverage, flawless skin complexion, SPF 25/PA ++, wrinkle care, brightening.

• Jelly BB creams (Skinfood Red Orange Jelly BB Cream or Holika Holika Aqua Petit Jelly BB cream: Jelly pudding like texture, moisture-rich revitalizing ingredients, smooth and fresh finish, ideal BB cream