Review: IT Cosmetics Your Skin But Better CC Cream

IT Cosmetics has been one of the most coveted brands of 2017 along with classmates Glossier, Tatcha and recently launched Fenty Beauty. Gracing TV screens on QVC since 2010 and hitting the news last year with its $1.2 billion acquisition by L'Oreal, the brand has an impressive track record. However, you'll be forgiven if you don't know it for those reasons. If I mention 'Superhero Mascara', 'Confidence in a Cream' or 'Bye Bye Under Eye', these catchy names may ring a few bells. With an aggressive influencer campaign this year, it’s the brand that literally every YouTuber has been praising. I have both admired it from afar and being utterly drawn in. Read on for a full beauty review of the latest bestseller to join their Top 10.

Founded by Jamie Kern Lima after she followed a career in journalism, IT Cosmetics was born out of her motivation to create problem-solving products for flawless skin, a sufferer of rosacea herself. The brand's ethos is wrapped up perfectly in the name of the product under the spotlight in this post - "Your Skin But Better". Amen to that. I just have to look at my close girlfriends to see that whilst we all have very different skin types, we all have one thing in common and that's wanting make-up that brings out the best in our skin (and hides the worst!).

The Back Story

With a hint of my father about me, some* purchases are incredibly considered (*some are most definitely NOT. Like shoes.). IT Cosmetic’s Your Skin But Better CC+ Cream with SPF 50+ was one of those more considered purchases. I was curious to test how fickle my darling vloggers would be about the product, keeping on an eye on how quickly they moved onto the next item in their blogger mail (I love to hate those videos!). After some serious staying power in their acrylic beauty boxes, I was psyching myself up to part with $40. Turns out, all it takes is three months of contemplation and a sprinkle of girly encouragement on a trip to Sephora to get my VIP Rouge status flexing. God, I love that loyalty scheme. And, as easy as contactless payment (although the Americans haven’t got there yet!), I was the new owner of a foundation - sorry, colour corrector. If it was good enough for The Anna Edit and Lily Pebbles to squeeze the tube to the very end, get that stuff on my face and colour-correct the hell out of me!

The Promise

This product claims to be ideal for people with oily/combination complexions *puts hand up* and so I have high hopes for a mattifying effect throughout the day. One colour match later and surprise surprise, I'm the palest on the spectrum. Refreshingly, the 'Light' shade is literally a perfect match for this English Rose so I have high hopes for superior blending capabilities.

The Application

Despite just finishing a bottle of Nars Sheer Glow Foundation and their advice being to apply with your fingertips to help warm up the product, I am deferring to my squishy Real Techniques beauty blender. (Side note: I didn’t realise for the first few weeks that you’re meant to dampen it. Rookie. Then once I realised, I couldn’t be bothered to walk to the bathroom every morning in my half-asleep state, so I discovered a cheeky hack of spritzing my Urban Decay All Nighter setting spray all over the surface of the sponge. All(!) that time saved). Couple of pumps of the CC Cream onto the sponge and dab onto forehand, cheeks, nose, forehead and chin*. (*As I suffer from hormonal breakouts and scarring, this is more of a full jawline application!)

First Impressions
It's fragranced! I wasn't expecting that. It's a pleasant citrus aroma... but it's fragranced! Not sure many other foundations or CC creams out there possess such a high perfume in my experience so it might not be for everyone, particularly those with sensitive skin. However, it evokes the feeling of it working well on the skin, soothing, healing what lies beneath! The application of the product is A M A Z I N G. Super easy to blend in and layer up for those more stubborn areas of concern. It feels very light on the skin, unlike most full coverage products, but certainly does conceal!

Ongoing Impressions

I’m not (normally) a demanding woman and when it comes to foundation - there are just two things I want:

1. Cover (z)it up.
2. Be day-proof.

When I leave in the morning, no matter what heat or air-con my poor skin is exposed to, no matter how stressed and crinkled my forehead will be after a day in the office, and no matter how big that sandwich is I attempt to shove down my pie hole, I don’t want to be retouching every five minutes! Life is too short! I need a base to have confidence in and keep my best face forward. Whilst that may be a product from utopia, this CC Cream is a strong runner-up. My skin can breath, it doesn't feel weighed down and I don't get those crease lines as the day wears on. A little light powder is required to get through the full 9-hour day but that's no better or worse than any other product I've used over the years. 

Would I recommend it to my best friend / sister / mother? 
Yes

Would I repurchase it?
Yes

I hope you enjoyed reading the second instalment from my A to B review series. Whilst I'm off scouring the shelves of Sephora for the next product to come under the spotlight, I'd love to hear what new products have wowed you this year!

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