We Checked It Out For You
- a75008
- Jan 25, 2015
- 2 min read
We just added Mary Kay's CC Cream at our customers' requests. This product replaced Mary Kay's Tinted Moisturizer (now discontinued).
We appreciate that the company is jumping into the CC cream game and that our customers are asking for it but we wanted to take a closer look at it before adding it to our product line.
Here are the results:
First, a little 101 on CC creams for your information: CC creams should be more like liquid foundations, but that's not always the case. CC creams typically but not always provide sun protection and may or may not include beneficial ingredients like antioxidants or skin-lightening agents.
Mary Kay's take on CC cream is much closer to a tinted moisturizer than an actual foundation, with sheer to light coverage of skin's imperfections. It's great as a lightweight option for evening skin tone, and feels moisturizing while it's on.
CC Cream Broad Spectrum SPF 15 has a soft, dewy finish that doesn't highlight wrinkles or pores, and does contain some beneficial ingredients for skin like niacinamide and vitamin C.
It's also fragrance-free, which is always a plus!
The only downfall? Sun protection. Mary Kay makes claims on its packaging that its CC cream helps prevent sunburn, early skin aging, and lowers the risk of skin cancer with SPF 15. However, the only active sunscreen ingredients are homosalate, octinoxate, and oxybenzone, which protect against the sun's UVB rays, but don't provide enough UVA protection on their own, leaving your skin vulnerable to damage.
For a sunscreen to provide true broad-spectrum protection, it must contain ingredients that provide better UVA screening than what this CC Cream can.
Other than that, WE THINK IT'S A GREAT PRODUCT!
There are four shades of this CC cream available for light to medium skin tones, though the darkest shade looks a little too orange to appear natural from our perspective.
Pros:
Moisturizing, lightweight option for evening out skin tone.
Attractive dewy finish that doesn't emphasize pores or wrinkles.
Contains some skin-beneficial ingredients, like niacinamide.
Fragrance-free.
Cons:
Does not provide good enough UVA protection.
Darkest shade is too orange to appear natural on its intended skin tone.
Technical Info:
Any SPF-rated product should contain one or more of the following UVA-protecting ingredients listed as "active" to ensure you are getting UVA protection: avobenzone, titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, Mexoryl SX (ecamsule), or Tinosorb (Sources: Photochemical and Photobiological Sciences, December 2011, pages 81–90; Cosmetic Dermatology, Second Edition, Baumann, Leslie MD, McGraw Hill, 2009, pages 246–252; American Journal of Clinical Dermatology, Supplement, 2009, pages 19–24; The Encyclopedia of Ultraviolet Filters, Shaath, Nadim A., Allured Publishing, 2007; and Photodermatology, Photoimmunology, and Photomedicine, October 2003, pages 242–253).
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