Greetings internet friends! I’m back from another unintentional hiatus and I have lots of things to talk about!

Spoiler: I’m so disappointed with this product.

I’ve used a lot of La Roche-Posay Effaclar skincare products and have enjoyed all of them. The Purifying Foaming Gel Face Wash and Effaclar Mat Face Moisturizer are really lovely and I use them in the summer in an attempt to keep my skin from looking like an environmental disaster (yes that was an oil spill reference. Sorry).

The claims: La Roche-Posay introduces a new generation of skincare that instantly and visually blurs the look of pores, blemishes, fine lines, and absorbs oil all day. Inspired by the latest makeup technologies, associating BB pigments in a breakthrough BLUR texture for optical effects. Effaclar BB Blur Makeup Cream, Oil-Free with SPF 20 Fair/Light provides an instant transformation for skin surface and color.
Imperfections are concealed. Skin tone is naturally corrected thanks to an ultra-light breathable texture containing ultra-powerful oil & sweat absorbing ingredients. Skin stays mattified and even, with a velvet touch.

Sounds great, right?

First of all, there are only two shades. TWO. I chose the Fair Light shade and it was a little too light for me, but the Light Medium was too dark, but not by much. They don’t seem too concerned about things like undertones or attempting to make this product available to a large swath of the population. Not cool La Roche-Posay.

The consistency of this BB is a little odd. I knew that it was a “whipped mousse” texture, but it’s a lot thicker than the other whipped foundations I’ve used like Rimmel London Stay Matte and Maybelline Dream Satin Liquid Mousse. Those are thick but nothing like this.

Being that it’s so thick it’s difficult to blend out. I’ve used a foundation brush, a damp sponge, and my fingers, and none of these methods have produced better results. It just sits on top of my skin, and I don’t love the way it looks.

These photos were taken two-ish hours after application, and it looks dry and cakey even in the intense summer heat. It’s breaking up around my nose and just doesn’t look natural. I’ve tried it with and without primer, with and without powder, with and without setting spray, and nothing seems to make a difference. It looks especially bad over the couple blemishes I’ve had while I’ve worn it, but I couldn’t bring myself to take a photo. At $29.99 it’s also way more expensive than you’d expect a BB cream from a relatively affordable skincare brand to be, and for me, it’s definitely not worth it.

There are some positives here: it definitely blurs pores, as you can see. It’s also extremely matte so it delivers on the oil control claim. I wore this for a total of eight or so hours and didn’t look shiny when I took it off. It also doesn’t transfer much; it’s not totally transfer proof but I did use a napkin to wipe my face and a minimal amount came off. It’s medium coverage and definitely evened my skin tone. It covered a lot of the redness on my cheeks but my freckles still came through.

So I tried to make this work and just couldn’t, so I’m not a fan. If you have extremely oily skin and are a fair to medium skin tone, this might work for you.