Beauty Review: Juice Beauty CC Cream

I recently came across Juice Beauty’s CC Cream while I was researching moisturizers with mineral based sunscreens. It seemed intriguing because in addition to SPF 30 protection, the cream promised to even tone and texture, firm skin, and provide an overall glow — all while using mineral pigments for sheer color coverage, too. Not bad, right? BB and CC creams (each stands for “Beauty Balm” and “Color Correcting”) have become super popular in the past few years, since they offer so many benefits in a single product, but you’ll be hard pressed to find many natural/non-toxic options. Last year, I tried REN’s BB cream and liked it, but ultimately didn’t repurchase because I felt like the shade of the cream wasn’t a perfect match for me (and they only offer one color).

I’ve been using the Juice Beauty’s Stem Cellular Repair CC cream off and on for about a month now, and so far, so good. It didn’t start out that way though — I began using it right before I went through that bad seasonal breakout, so at first, I couldn’t tell if the cream was contributing to the problem. Using it now though, with totally clear skin, it hasn’t caused any blemishes, which is a definite relief! However, I do find that for me — and perhaps it’s just the colder weather — the cream isn’t quite moisturizing enough, so I’ve been using it over another serum and moisturizer. I think in the summer, it’d be great on its own. More thoughts on the cream, below…

Beyond being a too-light moisturizer for winter, I’ve really liked using this in place of a cream foundation or concealer. The cream comes in five shades to suit a variety of skin tones (the shade you see here is Desert Glow). To apply the cream, you can actually dot and streak it across your face straight from the tube — it has an interesting applicator that’s meant for you to apply the product directly onto your skin. From there, it blends in very easily, even with the zinc oxide in it. Zinc oxide is used for sun protection, and while for me it’s far preferable over chemical sunscreens like oxybenzone, it can sometimes leave white streaks that are hard to blend out. Having this CC cream blend so easily is a major plus in my opinion! The end coverage result is sheer but really natural looking. I find that immediately after blending it, it takes the oils a minute to sink in to your skin, so I wouldn’t recommend immediately applying another makeup on top of it (give it a minute). But once it sinks in to your skin, the finish is very even, and not overly matte (which I like). It just looks super natural and gives you a fresh faced, dewy look, which is perfect when you don’t want to wear a lot of makeup. If you want more coverage, you can add additional foundation on top.

As to all the claims of toning and firming? I think it definitely evens tone, but only if your skin is already looking pretty good on its own. It’s hard for me to tell about the firming part, and especially whether it’s the true cause of improved texture, because I think skin texture has a lot to do with many other factors like how hydrated you are. But for me, I didn’t buy the cream just because it would firm, so I’ve paid a lot less attention to that.

Overall, I really like this as a daily cream used in place of makeup for sheer coverage, and would definitely purchase another tube once this one runs out (I love that in summer, you can just go up a shade if you’re especially tan)! Juice Beauty sells their products at Whole Foods, so you might be able to find the CC cream there; otherwise, it’s available online in a few colors here, and on Juice Beauty’s website here. Let me know if you end up trying it!