Dispatches from the world of high-performance, science-driven skincare, every week

With a militant approach to daily skincare, its a given that Asian women don’t mess around when it comes to their skin. Take their notorious, not to mention time-consuming habit of applying seven separate skincare products before they even think about applying their foundation. Seven! This is both frightening and magnificent. Add to that the fact that Japan alone boasts the world’s largest skincare market per capita and Japanese women spend more on skincare products than anywhere else in the world and you have a pretty clear picture of the Asian market’s power and influence over global skincare trends. Beauty routines are passed down from grandmothers to mothers, down to daughters and so their even, fresh and astoundingly youthful complexions are preserved over generations.

It’s this advanced Eastern skincare culture that we also have to thank for the unending glug of BB Creams (‘blemish balms’) that swamped the UK market last year and has just helped propel BB’s sister cream, the CC, into the spotlight. Distinguishing your BBs from your CCs is actually pretty straightforward. The CC cream – which stands for ‘colour corrector’ - is more of a primer than a base. Wear it alone for a sheer veil of coverage or, as a base for your regular foundation. Aside from being sheerer and lighter in texture, the CC also has a lengthy list of benefits in its armoury - brightening, reviving, protecting, reducing dark spots, treating and correcting tonal flaws, (neutralising any weird red blotches and Monday morning green pallor are just some of its skills) and as well as a smattering of long term skin-correcting ingredients and high SPF protection. 

 

They’re good in theory of course, but the question is – who’s actually doing CC right? The way it was intended? So, really, whose path is better to follow than those in possession of the most immaculate complexion – Asian women themselves? We’ve logged around twelve hours of research time, to decipher the three best-loved, most popular CC creams in Asia and there are three products in particular that came up time and again. 

First up, the Rachel K CC Cream, £25.50. No, not that Rachel, Rachel Kum, a former Miss Singapore, who created one of the first CC creams on the Asian market in 2011 and has quickly become one of the most if not the most popular. With cutting-edge ingredients and formula which combines pure and refined minerals, EGF - which stands for ‘Epidermal Growth Factor’, (which sounds like it might make you grow an extra ear, but simply helps to repair and stimulate natural collagen growth), as well as the oddly charming inclusion of ‘Deep Sea Water From Korea’. Now, the formula itself – like many Asian BB’s – is not shy on the coverage front. It looks and feels like liquid foundation but after some gentle blending completely disappears on the skin, leaving a natural-looking complexion, free of flaws and even toned. On the front it says, ‘beauty queens’ make-up secret’. Which is also sort of oddly enticing. 

 

Also hiding inside the make-up bags of thousands of Asian women is the iFiona ‘Moist’ CC Cream, which you can buy over here for a respectable £15.76. Available in four different guises, including anti-acne, the ‘moist’ version, if you’re able to move beyond its rather unsettling name, is the best of the lot. Light as air and containing white and green tea extracts to protect skin against harmful free radicals, EGF as well as a skin-smoothing extract of vitamin C. Packed with countless more ingredients (most of which sound like futuristic skincare sorcery), the proof is in the er, face and God damn it, iFiona delivers on promise, furnishing tired, sallow complexions with an imperceptible veil of goodness. Don’t be put off by the Manic Panic style packaging – this is the real deal. 

Late last year, Chanel became the first international brand to launch a CC cream into the Asian marketplace. The powerhouse of CC wizardry, the Chanel formula features cornflower water to comfort sensitive skin and an active ingredient, Rejuvencia, to shield cells against external damage. Asian women love it for its rare ability to control oil, its effortless, dewy finish and great staying power (many CC creams have a tendency to do the hit and run on skin). It’s currently only available in just one shade, 20 Beige, both because it’s marketed specifically for the Asian woman and is blendable to around seven different skin shades (not exactly useful if you’re Black or Asian). You’ll only find it in Taiwan, China, Singapore, Japan (or via web sources at approximately £52.50) but come August, you’ll also be able to pick it up in the UK. If the trend for all things Asian continues in the beauty sphere it might not be long before the women of Britain are practising the daily seven-product regime. Or maybe we’ll just have even better skin.