Erborian CC HD crème – a radiance cream that doubles up as a primer for me

I mentioned Erborian earlier this year, when one of the lovely assistants at Space NK decanted some cream into a pot for me to try. It was, in fact, this cream – the CC crème – a High Definition radiance face cream from the French Korean brand. It’s quite popular, it would seem, because it took me a while to find, as it had been sold out in Selfridges, Space NK and a few other places online (sorry, can’t remember the other stockists).

I’ve used it on its own on my ‘no make up’ days, and felt brave enough to go out and show my naked face to the world. This one has a bit of colour to it with CC pigments, which are colour correcting, so adapt to your skin tone and create a velvety smooth finish that looks like a better version of your skin. You actually can’t see it sitting on skin and it doesn’t change the colour of your skin, like foundations and tinted moisturisers can.

It is a moisturiser too, so could end up being the only thing to use, minimising numbers of steps in getting ready in the morning. I find it doesn’t leave an oily residue and skin remains velvety smooth looking all day, with no need to mop up any oil on the t-zone. My Laura Mercier primer has been stashed in a draw and this has taken its place. It creates such a smooth finish and make up / foundation glides over it and lasts all day. Sometimes, I blend a little bit of it with my NARS tinted moisturiser before applying. And to top it all, it contains a broad spectrum SPF of 25, that is not irritating to my sensitive skin. Win-win.

Centella Asiatica is an active botanical ingredient used by the Koreans to ‘preserve, moisturise and enhance skin’. There doesn’t seem to be much more information on the Erborian website (nothing that I can understand anyway). I figure this key ingredient is important. What I do know is that it is derived from a herbaceous plant native to the wetlands of Asia (found the info on google).

It comes in 2 sizes 15ml and 45ml, so if you are a bit unsure you could opt for the smaller tube. Buy them here for £16 and £36 respectively.