I am going to start off by saying that I am not a fan of BB creams, not that I have anything against them, it's just for me, it isn't effective as I have a few problems areas around my face and I feel it doesn't give me enough coverage.

BUT if you feel comfortable, then this would be perfect for you. If you are the kind of person that wants that natural looking skin, and doesn't like the usual type of foundation then this would be great! It is very lightweight!

The way I apply it, is random but it works for me! I apply my moisturizer, then I apply this BB cream, and then my foundation! The reason I do this, is because I find the BB cream conceals my redness and blurs out some of my imperfections and then by the name I apply my foundation, I won't need to conceal further.unless if I go out at night and want extreme full coverage!

I bought this cream when BB creams were all the rage as I wanted to see what they were like without paying a fortune.

I have since realised that as I like fuller coverage, BB creams are not the route that I should be going down!

The colour was good on this BB cream, but as the coverage was so light, I hardly wear it.

I cannot give it low stars just because I don't like BB cream as on the whole it is good for a BB cream. It is great for those of you who don't want to look like you are wearing makeup and want a more natural look, or if you are blessed with perfect skin and don't need to cover up!

I was unsure of this BB cream as it was super cheap, but it pleasantly surprised me, it has a lightweight texture and smells delicious! My only gripes are that if you put foundation over the cream it feels quite sticky? On its own it is fine but is not enough coverage for my skin! The colour is also a bit reddish which isn't what i want from a BB cream. Overall it is good for the price but I'm not raving about it.

It is cheap and can cover well, it is such a pity about the terrible smell!

I have to mix it with a fragranced bb cream to cover up the smell.

I would not recommend buying this product before testing the smell in store first. Some people are more sensitive than others to smell.

This BB cream by Essence is what I've been wearing the most on my skin over the last two months. I initially picked it up for a trip where (a) I didn't want to wear a full face of foundation and (b) I didn't want to have a glass bottle of product in my bag. At only R54.95, it's definitely the cheapest BB cream I've seen on the shelves and I figured - I might as well give it a bash to see if it's any good. This cream comes in three shades: Natural, Medium and Universal. My skin is pretty fair, and based on a couple of reviews I'd read, I decided to go with the Universal shade.

As you can see in the swatch I've blended onto the right side of the back of my hand (heavy swatch), the colour is fairly warm toned and I was at first worried I would come out orange! However, once I put it on my face, it magically blended in nicely, giving me a lovely healthy glow, without any hint of orange and no visible border lines! It really does blend beautifully and gives you that "like your skin, only better" look. While it does even out skin tone and hides redness a bit, you'll still have to apply concealer if you have any spots, blemishes or dark circles. I also liked that this cream was fragrance free, moisturizing, non-oily (the problem I had with the original Garnier BB cream) and has an SPF of 30. I typically set my makeup with a mattifying powder and I found that this way, my face seems to last decently throughout the day. I can see this being a product I'll be repurchasing once my tube is empty!

This is the first BB Cream that I have tried, and I was excited to get in on the trend finally! It costs R54.95 and comes in 3 shades: 01 Universal (orangey), 02 Natural (the lightest shade) and 03 Medium (the darkest shade). As I am quite fair, I got 02 Natural to try out.

I was quite shocked at the colour when I first squeezed it out of the tube as it seemed really dark to me (see photo), but once it was on it did blend in quite well. It went on really easily and had good coverage, although I admit I did put two layers on as I thought it looked a little too natural with just one layer.

My skin does have a pinky/reddish hue to it naturally on my cheeks, and this cream did even the colour out to a point, but if you are looking for flawless coverage, then I don't think that this will impress you very much. It definitely does not cover up pimples etc! I would use this more on weekends when I don't feel like looking too "made up".

It feels light on my skin, even with two layers, and I like the moisturising effect.

There was a slight unpleasant fragrance that I noticed, but the tube was sealed when I bought it so I don't think it was because it had been exposed to air/bacteria. Maybe I just got a bad batch, I am not too sure as it is supposed to be fragrance-free! The smell does disappear quite quickly though.

In short, here are my pros and cons:
Pros
Great Price
Blends well
Moisturising effect good for winter
Light on skin
SPF 30

Cons
Not great at covering up
Slight unpleasant odour

I would recommend this to a friend.