Chanel CC Cream - review

Chanel's new CC Cream

Chanel's CC (Complete Correction) Cream has an SPA of 30 and combines the benefits of skincare, a lightweight foundation and a colour correcting concealer all-in-one.

Whereas western BB creams are like a lighter foundation (heavier than a tinted moisturiser, lighter than a foundation), usually with some skincare ingredients added, CC creams are essentially BB creams containing colour correctors and added ingredients for smoothing- and evening-out the skin.

Don't get me started on tinted moisturisers.  And I also tend to favour a straight-up skincare regimen and a foundation rather than a one-size-does-all BB/CC cream (in addition, BB & CC creams usually come in only a very small few shades).  However I have recently started to use Chanel's new skincare regime Le Jour - La Nuit - Le Weekend, and as Le Weekend contains glycolic acid, and as it's recommended to use it without moisturiser, I've been trying to dial back on skincare and cosmetics at the weekend as a result.  Enter Chanel's CC cream - I figured it should fulfil these criteria, given that this product can be used to replace both moisturiser and foundation if you want a "bare" beauty look.

According to PR blurb, Chanel's CC Cream offers skincare benefits with the coverage of a natural-looking finish and contains:

• Cornflower water to soothe
• Hyaluronic acid to moisturise
• A mineral sunscreen (SFP30) to protect against sun damage
• A restructuring active ingredient to prevent and correct signs of aging
• Mineral pigments to even out skin tone and conceal imperfections (redness, dark spots, pores)

So what did I find and has it converted me?

Coverage

This has a light to medium coverage.  You can build it slightly as it does layer nicely enough.

Finish

Chanel claims that it leaves your skin even-toned and radiant, fresh and flawless.  Certainly, it does even-out your skin and leaves a fresh, "no makeup" look.  Flawless?  Sure, if you don't have too many flaws to begin with - otherwise, you will benefit from either layering this and/or using a concealer on top (the CC Cream itself layers very nicely) and/or using this as a primer and using a foundation on top.  In terms of finish, this one looks different on different skin types, but works with many.  I found it gave my skin a natural satin finish.

Wear

I don't agree with Chanel's claims that this is a long-lasting product;  for me it lasted "standard foundation" length of time (approximately 7-8 hours).  I didn't need to powder it - likely the talc and/or silica listed in the ingredients was doing this for me - in fact, it kept my skin nicely under control all day, with no need to powder or touch-up at any point.

Shades & Undertones

Despite there only being one shade, it blends and adapts nicely...

Chanel's CC Cream comes in only very few shades world-wide, and only one is available in Ireland: Beige Rosé (#32).  It contains ingredients that enable it to colour adapt to your own skin shade/tone.  The sceptic in me doubted this, but at an (unrelated) event where I was first introduced to the CC cream, there were four of us - from approximately an MAC NC10 to (approximately) an NC35, with an NW20-ish and an N23-25ish thrown in the mix.  This stuff, miraculously, looked fine on all of us.  I would say that it does look fraction pinker than yellow on the skin, if I were to be hyper-critical, but nothing that looks "off".  For darker skinned ladies, I would question it, I think it might come up a bit ashy if you're beyond an NC/NW40.

Best Applied With

This one is definitely best applied using your fingertips, either to cleansed skin or on top of moisturiser, depending on your own skin's needs (for me, I found that Chanel Le Weekend + Chanel CC cream were more than sufficient, I didn't need a serum or moisturiser).  You need to work reasonably quickly with this, and a genuinely teeny amount at a time, applied just to where you need it.  It can be used as a colour-correcting primer underneath foundation if you want/need.

Update: I have also used this with Chanel Le Jour + standard moisturiser and found it gave my skin a more matte finish.  So the ingredients of your base really do count.

Formulation

This is a lightweight cream texture, and feels almost slightly dry - almost like a whipped cream-mousse hybrid.  It's water-and-silicone based, so bear that in mind if you're using it as a primer (ie make sure you use a similar base foundation on top).  Scent-wise, this has annoyingly strong fruity-floral scent (peach, jasmine, peony).  It's too strong for my liking, but it does fade after about fifteen minutes.  If you can tolerate that overly-strong few minutes, bear with it, it will disappear.

Best Suited To

This should, in theory suit all skin types.  I have found it just about fine on both the dry and the oilier portions of my skin, with the dryer parts looking a little dry by the end of the day (if I was being hyper-critical) - so if you have dry or combination skin, I would likely advise using a moisturiser underneath it in those areas.

Skincare, Flashback, SPF, Price?

Ingredients-wise, this is heavy on minerals, and heavy on SPF (Factor 30 - so it's categorically absolutely going to flash-back, especially given that Titanium Dioxide is the second listed ingredient) and heavy on silicones.  Hyaluronic acid also figures, although extremely low in the list.  It also contains alcohol and parabens - now this is starting to look a lot like what I don't like in skincare, except for the fact that I am personally not really using it as a skincare product per se.  This costs around the €50 mark and is available on-counter as of last week.

Recommended?

Tentatively.  If you have reasonably good skin and/or like a very minimal looking base (coverage & finish) and/or have very few blemishes in the first instance and/or want a one-stop-shop, then why not.  Otherwise, if you have a good skincare regimen and decent foundation, I'd stay on your current track. I got it for a particular purpose and yes, I will continue to use it together with Le Weekend, I've found it works well with it, but I still prefer to use a foundation for "normal" use.  In that respect, I guess I haven't been converted to CC creams just yet.