I remember when I first bought my sister a BB cream. I had been a fan of Korean cosmetics for a while then and my sister just did not get it. Then I tried one of my BB creams on her and she seemed to like it. So I offered to buy my sister a Korean BB cream all of her own. She was a difficult customer- she refused to have anything whitening, no matter how much I told her it would not whiten, and my sister is also very pale with extremely dry skin. Eventually I remembered all the good reviews I’d seen for the Skinfood Red Bean BB cream from pale, dry skinned girls and had my “a-ha!” moment. I ordered it and when it came I sat down and applied it for her, laughing helplessly and making a right mess of it because doing other peoples makeup is strange. She loved it though and has worn it nearly every day since. But I will always remember my mother looking on at me and my sister playing around with her new BB cream and remarking that I would not do anything like that for her. I did think about buying my mother a BB cream after that, but she does not like wearing a lot of makeup, heavy foundations especially and a lot of BB creams can be that way so I had to leave it be.

Then HERA released their BB cushion. I was dying to get hold of one for myself and when I realized I was going to Korea that was top of my to buy list. Then I realized it was my mothers birthday coming up, I remembered her disappointment when I bought my sister a BB cream and not her, and I realised how perfect the HERA BB cushion would be for her. It was lightweight, dewy, from a brand whose target audience is women my mother’s age so the packaging and formulation would be suitable, it even came in a very pale shade. It was the perfect BB cream for my mother, even if technically not a BB cream. When I went to Korea I went to the HERA counter and I bought just the one BB cushion, I could only afford one unfortunately, and I bought it for my mother. I sent it back to the UK, nervous as anything. What if she did not like it?! It was an expensive gamble to take. Of course my mother went to Cape Town before she could receive it.

Today I received a phone call from her telling me that she wore it for the first time today. She was gushing about how much she loved it, how it made her skin look very glowy and radiant, how her friend said she looked beautiful. I was elated. It is so wonderful to think that I managed to get her something she loved so much!

And I admit, on a selfish basis I love the fact that I’ve been able to share something I love with my sister and my mother both now, and having them love it too. I’m so used to people giving me weird looks, critiscm or making unnecessary remarks about the things I choose to like, and I am so used to keeping things close to my chest because of that. Even today, I had someone ask me about how I was spending my time and I froze, tried to deflect, and I knew I was rude in that reponse, but I just do not like talking about my hobbies and interests. Nothing makes me quite so uncomfortable as I feel like people will judge me, and find me lacking. Several years in high school and even university taught me that there are certain acceptable things to watch, listen to and read, (etc.) and if you don’t then its best to act like you love those things too, and keep your real interests to yourself. It is nerve wracking to share something you love, when you expect to be met with scorn. The fact that I’ve managed to give my sister and my mother something they cherish as much as I would, and been able to talk to them about Korean cosmetics with them, being able to talk about something I love with the people I love… feels pretty great.

And no, this picture is not the HERA cushion but rather the Laneige BB cushion. As I could only afford the one HERA BB cushion, I had to settle for the Laneige one for myself. At first I loved it- it was lightweight but offered fantastic coverage despite that, and gave my skin a healthy glow without making me look oily. It was strangely cooling when I applied it and did not disappear in this heat even when I was out all day. Alas, it is yellow. Very, very yellow. It goes on a little to dark for me, and generally looks a bit off. And I may be applying it wrong, but it can apply quite patchy. I’m a little disappointed as it has so much potential to be really great. :/