Best Waterproof BB Creams
Whether you’re a beauty beginner or a glamour guru, having a good waterproof BB cream in your toolkit is a no-brainer. If you are not a fan of a heavy foundation or are looking at ways to simplify your beauty routine, BB cream should be a staple in your beauty arsenal.
Waterproof BB creams allow you to achieve that radiant and glowing finish that stays put, even if you live in the tropics. Few makeup products can promise the same medium coverage, sun protection, and skin-treating benefits that a single tub of BB cream can.
BB cream will not only blur and disguise uneven skin tone, give you a radiant, dewy complexion but will also save you money in the long term because it does the job of several products.
In this article, we’ve rounded up the best of the best waterproof bb creams which include top drugstore and luxury picks - to suit every pocket.
1. E.l.f. Cosmetics BB Cream
Best BB Cream for all skin types
Jam-packed with wholesome ingredients, like cucumber, jojoba, and aloe, think of this BB cream like a spa getaway for your face - in a tube.
Elf’s BB cream is a combination of foundation, tinted moisturizer, and skincare that weightlessly glides onto the skin to provide a natural finish with the added benefit of suncare.
2. Tarte Cosmetics Amazonian Clay BB Tinted Moisturizer
Best BB Cream for dry and flaky skin
Say goodbye to cakey, flaky skin. Complete with skin-harmonizing Amazonian clay, chamomile, vitamins, and sodium hyaluronate, this multifaceted BB cream brightens, treats, hydrates, and protects the skin.
It provides a lightweight cover that’s highly blendable and buildable helping to perfect your complexion.
3. Dr. Jart+ Premium Beauty Balm
Best BB Cream for combination skin
If you battle with dark spots and discoloration, ditch the overly dense concealer and reach for Dr. Jart+ Premium Beauty Balm. A cult-favorite, this product contains several benefits in one tube and has a solid fan base.
This amazing BB cream not only perfects your complexion and protects the skin from harsh UVA and UVB rays, but its Bio-Peptide complex combined with white gold stimulates natural collagen production and provides anti-aging benefits.
4. Burt's Bees BB Cream
Best natural BB cream
Lightweight foundation meets hydrating lotion in this BB cream helping to, conceal and smooth to reveal a radiant dewy glow. With an incredible nine benefits in one, this BB cream is great if you enjoy an ultra-natural finish.
Crafted using 98.9% natural ingredients, the formula contains Noni Extract and antioxidants to instantly improve skin texture, illuminate dull skin, and visibly reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
Burt’s Bees BB Cream not only treats and nourishes your skin but also includes SPF15 to protect you from harmful UVA/UVB rays and free radicals.
5. Maybelline New York Makeup Dream Fresh BB Cream
Best BB cream for oily skin
Eight skincare benefits bundled into one product, this wildly popular drugstore BB cream helps to blur pores and lines, brighten your complexion, and smooths overall skin texture.
Hydrating and lightweight this BB cream provides you with a natural, flawless complexion in one step.
Great for oily skin yet suitable for all skin types, it glides on effortlessly, is non-comedogenic, and won’t clog your pores. What’s more, is that it contains SPF 30 to protect skin from harsh rays.
6. Clinique Acne Solutions BB Cream Broad Spectrum
Best BB cream for problematic, acne-prone skin
A mattifying and long-wearing BB Cream designed specifically for very oily and acne-prone skin types to help disguise imperfections and brighten your complexion.
Cliniques oil-free formula does not clog pores nor will it irritate already broken-out areas in need of disguising.
It offers buildable coverage with shine control properties and also contains a whopping SPF 40 to ensure skin stays protected and nourished from the sun's harmful UVA and UVB rays.7. Urban Decay Naked Skin One & Done
Best BB Cream for full coverage
If you like having your cake and eating it, Urban Decay provides all the benefits of a BB cream but with fuller coverage.
Positioned as a “hybrid”, this BB cream includes all the benefits of a skincare-come-foundation product and also greatly helps to reduce pore size while firming skin over time.
This hybrid foundation has all the brightening and hydrating benefits of one. It's primed to provide fuller coverage than a usual BB cream all while still feeling weightless on the skin.
8. Garnier SkinActive BB Cream Anti-Aging Face Moisturizer
Best BB Cream for mature skin
Garnier SkinActives’ groundbreaker BB cream makes its way onto the list - for good reason. This product has a huge following mostly thanks to its ability to produce great results at an affordable price.
It firms, evens, and brightens skin for a youthful and glowing complexion.
With continued use, fine lines and wrinkles are minimized, skin is visibly smoother and pores are noticeably smaller.
Its multi-benefit formula contains mineral pigments, broad-spectrum SPF sunscreen, and hydrates for 24 hours.
9. BareMinerals Complexion Rescue Tinted Hydrating Gel Cream
Best BB Cream for dry and dehydrated skin
Complexion Rescue Tinted Hydrating Gel Cream Broad Spectrum SPF 30 is a multi-benefit BB cream that quenches dehydrated skin while providing a naturally radiant and sheer coverage that’s buildable and blendable.
The lightweight gel-cream, which is 98% naturally derived also includes Broad Spectrum SPF 30 giving you all the benefits of makeup, SPF, and suncare in one simple step.
Available in 20 shades to cater to a wide range of skin tones, coverage is sheer to medium but buildable allowing you to achieve a perfect, flawless complexion.
10. Bobbi Brown BB Cream
Best BB Cream for dull and sallow skin
What would a top 10 be without a Bobbi Brown product making the list? Bobbi Brown fanatics swear by this iconic BB cream and rave about its ability to brighten up the dullest of complexions.
This multitasking formula perfects skin by covering imperfections, evens skin tone, hydrates, brightens dullness, and reduces wrinkles and fine lines over time.
What is BB cream? Why the hype?
In a nutshell, BB cream or beauty balm is make-up that doubles up as skincare. Initially, it was designed to have three benefits namely, primer, moisturizer, and foundation but has evolved way beyond its initial scope.
Some of the most popular formulas include SPF for sun protection, antioxidants for anti-aging properties, and specialized ingredients, like salicylic acid or hyaluronic acid, for acne-prone or dry skin, respectively.
No matter which BB cream you choose, there's a formula for every skin tone, skin type, and skincare need out there.
Why BB Cream and not CC or Foundation?
A BB cream can help you shed time on your beauty routine. Think of it like a very light coverage foundation, or tinted moisturizer but on steroids.
Unlike CC cream which is used mainly for color correction, and foundation - used to mask imperfections, BB cream is used to achieve a ‘no make-up, make-up look’. Think, fresh, dewy, and radiant.
The benefits of using a BB cream
Besides saving time, you’ll also be saving money as your skin will reap the benefits of several products in one.
They look and feel weightless on the skin providing a natural aesthetic. The coverage you’ll get with a BB cream is natural and dewy, not cakey, and requires minimal skill to apply.
For those who prefer a little more coverage, BB creams are also light enough to apply under a regular foundation and you’re able to apply other products over it.
Cover blemishes and imperfections without irritation
Those with acne-prone skin and those looking to conceal blemishes can greatly benefit from a BB cream.
The soothing minerals found in these formulas are beneficial for treating blemishes and also, acne-prone skin benefits greatly thanks to the lighter, more breathable BB creams.
Is BB cream suitable for all skin types?
Absolutely. BB creams are good for all skin types, including oily, dry, acne-prone, dehydrated, and normal - but there are a few things to consider.
They are more suited to dry skin so if your skin is on the oily side, ensure your BB cream contains humectant which helps oily skin maintain the proper amount of hydration.
Skin tones
BB creams aren’t great in terms of finding a multitude of shades.
The majority of brands only provide three to six shades and those with darker skin tones might struggle to find a good match.
Also, because BB creams contain mineral-based SPF ingredients, finding the right shade is made even more difficult as getting it wrong could leave darker skin tones looking ashy.
What should I look for when purchasing a BB cream?
As a rule of thumb, avoid fragranced formulas and instead, opt for a hypoallergenic formula.
This minimizes the risk of any potential irritation, especially for those who battle with sensitive skin or for those who are prone to breakouts.
Pay close attention to the ingredients. A great BB cream must contain hyaluronic acid and glycerine to hydrate as well as natural ingredients like cucumber and aloe to soothe the skin.
Lastly, try before you buy. Don’t be shy to try and test different brands, both luxury and drugstore alike. Like most things in life, you’re going to have to kiss a few frogs to get your prince so make sure you test a good number of products before settling.
Wrapping Up
Bottom line? If you’re in a rush and only have time to apply one product on your face I’ve made the “best of the best” decision easier for you, whittling it down to two top picks, 1 drugstore, 1 luxury.
In the drugstore category, Garniers’ SkinActive BB cream comes out tops. It was one of the first to hit the market when BB creams started trending and have remained a top, go-to product year after year. (Reviews don’t lie!).
Besides the fact that it is ultra-affordable, it’s a great product because it does what it says it does and leaves your skin nourished, even, and dewy.
If you love the lux life and don’t mind splurging, the Bobbi Brown SPF35 BB cream is worth every penny. Transform dull, sallow, and uneven skin into a bright and glowing complexion that’ll leave you looking 10 years younger.
Regardless of your choice, arming yourself with a waterproof BB cream will go a long way in ensuring your skin not only looks perfect but feels perfect too.
Great article! I was looking for a BB cream – waterproof. After reading this I went on to purchase the Garnier Skin naturals.
Keep up the good work