Want to streamline your bulging wash bag? Looking for a product that brings joy – or at the very least – better looking skin? South Korea seems to be the epicentre of grooming new-ness and it may have created the answer. Over the past decade it’s given us those creepy but effective sheet masks and, better still, BB creams (blemish balms).

BB creams aim to blur out imperfections, whilst also taking care of pigmentation, oil control and hydrating the skin simultaneously. It’s essentially the Swiss army knife of skincare. With a bathroom shelf that was probably cluttered with individual products promising to do this or that, the BB offers to simplify our regimes with one multifunctional product. Haven’t you tried one yet?

What Is BB Cream?

Those in the know actually put the origins of this grooming product in Europe. Germany became a popular destination for affluent Koreans seeking laser treatments and other cosmetic procedures in the 2000s. Post-treatment, they were prescribed soothing and camouflaging creams that would help speed up the healing process and disguise any ‘work’ that may have been done.

The trend spread. Local companies began adapting these medical skincare products into formulations for the mass market. Trends in beauty often cross over to the men’s grooming market and in 2012, LabSeries brought out one of the first men’s BB creams in the UK.

You get the benefit of sun protection, oil control and an anti-ageing cream in a good BB. Yes it makes things easier, but truthfully we think their real purpose was to introduce more men to the concept of ‘coverage’. Most BB creams aren’t tinted but, like foundation (synonymous with makeup), some come in different shades to match your skin tone and they can enhance the look of your skin.

For those seeking to cover blemishes, spots and pores, scars, pigmentation, soften the look of wrinkles or dull skin the BB is basically an Instagram filter in a tube. Suffering from a hangover? A BB can make you look fresher. Apart from LabSeries’s bestseller, there aren’t many BBs specifically targeted at men, but, if you’re comfortable using a unisex product, there’s a huge choice of BBs.