COVERGIRL Clean Matte BB Cream

I used this product in shade 530 - Light/Medium. When I first applied it, it seemed to be slightly too light for me and gave me kind of an unnatural pinkish tone. It applied pretty smoothly with a beauty blender, and it gave a bit more coverage than I expected from a BB cream, which I didn’t mind. However, even with primer I was able to see it accentuating some of the large pores on my cheeks. It’s also a bit heavy, meaning I never got the feeling that I wasn’t wearing anything like some other foundations I’ve tried. And despite the “matte” in the name, my face was shiny all over within about 5 hours and it oxidized. Not as shiny as some other foundations, but not even close to matte. Will be returning.

Clean Matte BB Cream as a product name I think is so strange since all parts of it implies something very different from the rest! from "Clean" I take away that the product likely has salicylic acid for treating acne or silica powder for controlling oil, from "Matte" I take away a heavy coverage formula with a dry flat finish, from "BB Cream" I take away a very light emollient formula that's better as a moisturizer than a coverage product, so having all of those terms combined to feature a product that isn't especially good at any one of them seems like poor foresight almost as if the name was given to the product at random.

I'm genuinely surprised and impressed by the formulation of this foundation, like most people I didn't quite understand what CoverGirl was trying to do with the formula until I tried it out but to clarify this is not a matte foundation or especially heavy coverage (a solid medium), the closest it gets to matte is after initial application but even prior to then it finishes much closer to natural or satin rather than flat matte so adjust your expectations accordingly! I can't adequately comment on how well it controls shine as I do have dry to normal skin but it does tend to get more 'glowy' as the day goes on (after 6 hours there is a definite shine going on from mostly sweat). Speaking of skin types I don't think this is a great foundation for oily skin simply because of how well it works for me, this is one of the few coverage products I can apply without a hydrating primer and not have to worry about my skin looks parched and flaky so if you DO have dry skin then this is a pretty reasonable option!

For reference I have MAC NC44/45, Medium-Deep skintone with neutral-olive undertones and was sent/use the Medium Deep 550 for a decent match though it does lean more orange and yellow typical of most foundations in this skintone range. I rated the foundation highly for performance and price but dropped a star for the poor description and limited shade range which will make several people miss out on an otherwise great product.

Overall; the foundation seems to be mislabeled and marketed incorrectly, it seems to negate the claims it makes in every way (which works out pretty great for me) so you have the skin type they're claiming is best or need the kind of finish and coverage they're offering then think twice before picking this up but if this sounds like a terrible foundation for you then give it shot, no really :)

I was sent this product free for review by CoverGirl but not Influenster ;)

Very happy! I have combination skin, oily in the brow area and normal everywhere else. My skintone is NC25-30. I used light medium. It is a little pale and cool, but nothing that can't be fixed with a little extra bronzer. Medium seemed even cooler which is why I went with light medium. This has great coverage and lasting power. The other tinted moisturizer type products I have used: Mac face and body, NARS TM, and IT CC Cream and they were all too oily, felt heavy because they were so creamy, joke lasting power, and left my face looking blotchy. I can't believe the value I'm getting out of this product. It was $6.99 Canadian and it looks flawless but not heavy (for me the colour contributes to it looking not as natural but the formula is amazingly lightweight) and really holds on. I highly recommend and even more so if you can get a spot on match.

I agree it has good coverage, but do not use if you have any areas of dryness whatsoever- clings to dry patches on my (mostly) oily skin that I didn't even know I had.

This product gives excellent coverage and long wear matte finish. One of the best BB creams out there for oily skinned folks. Covers imperfections very well and blurs pores. Packaging is simple and practical. Love it!!! Alot better than the high end BB creams.

With all the hype surrounding bb cream, I finally purchased one. Cover girl clean matte bb cream for oily skin deep is good but not great. It only comes in four shades and deep is the darkest. That's strike 1. Next,it doesn't contain sunscreen protection so that's strike 2! Plus, it is not long lasting so yup you guessed it that's strike 3. The bright side it is it does act as a primer and was under $10. I don't recommend this product as a light foundation for the three reasons above. As a woman of color, it's often hard to find products that work for my skin. It'd be nice if the cosmetic industry put more effort into providing products for us because woc are consumers. Anyways, I do however highly recommend this bb cream as a primer. After applying it under my pressed powder, there was no shine and looked good. I hope this review helps someone✌

Can't find this locally anymore-hope it's not discontinued. I'm still oily after all these years, and this stuff rocks! My skin looks flawless and it can still breath. My HG is actually ELDW but it is not doing any favors on my aging skin. This is a good alternative.

Have repurchased. Very happy with the shade match (am pale with neutral to pink undertones and lots of redness, 510 is perfect)
Lasts well, doesn't pool in my pores or get patchy on my oily skin.
I set with a magnifying powder, and am happy with its wear. My skin is oily.

Will definitely continue repurchasing. Easy application using my fingers and good coverage. Evens out my blotchy skin tone really well.

this is my go to every day makeup. I have combination oily skin with dry patches due to acne treatment and cold weather. this doesn't leave me greasy like a lot of bb creams and doesn't accent my flakiness around my nose either like some mattifying products do. for the price, it's a good buy. my only complaint is the lack of color options... can't seem to get one exactly my skin color.

ETA: ended up donating this after getting 2 cysts the next day. Not for me.

I had to delete and repost a review for this product now that I've retried it 5 months later. I first tried this in October 2017 and found it as an okay product. In the meantime, I've been wearing Rimmel's Match Perfection and Lasting Finish 25 hour foundations mixed as my go-to this winter. But the other day, I decided to weed out my extra products that have been sitting around - and this was one I decided to retry. GLAD I DID.

I first tried mixing Light and Fair but found that this product does oxidize. Enough so that I am now just using shade Fair and I'm an NC20-NC25 with my melasma. I normally don't have to buy the lightest shade of something. Either way - I apply this with a damp sponge over a primed face and I found that my skin looked so much fresher with this product vs. my Rimmel foundations that I have been using for the past year. I think that it has something to do with this being a BB cream, even though I don't consider it a BB cream (no SPF, no skin benefits etc..) but it seems to lay on my skin better than a foundation. My Rimmel foundations are great, but I think they were aging me and settling into lines perhaps? I noticed the difference in my appearance right away using this BB cream. My skin seemed smoother.

I'm using this right now and am going to test and make sure that it doesn't break me out. It does run a tad cool-toned, I am very warm/yellow undertoned, but I find that with setting it with powder/bronzer/blush etc.. you don't notice the undertone too much. It does give a matte finish, but I do find that it's exactly like most of my other foundations and I still need to blot around the 3-4 hour mark. But I love how it settles on my mid-aged (35 year old) skin. If no breakouts, I would repurchase.