You won’t know IT Cosmetics unless you watch a lot of QVC. (QVC has brilliant beauty brands. It’s hypnotic is the problem. Before you know it, you’ve been watching for two hours.) Now IT has burst free from its TV confines, and I love, love, love it. The idea is that the brand is composed of problem solvers, which is another way of saying that everything is designed to work, in a “problem, meet solution” kind of way. Compare and contrast with “What bonkers thing shall we tell women they can’t live without now?”
The mascara is great, the eyebrow pencil rocks, but, my God, the CC cream. I don’t really believe in CC creams. The idea is that they are complexion enhancers — the CC stands for “colour corrector” — and they go from a very light tinted moisturiser upwards. On top of this, they should also be actively good for your skin, in other words, a serious multitasker.
“The finished effect is of a tinted moisturiser from paradise
This one is the business. It’s called Your Skin but Better CC+ Cream (£30), and it’s like magic. I’ll go as far as saying it’s the best foundation-type product I’ve put on my skin in ages — since Hourglass’s genius stick foundation, to which I am devoted, but which is arguably a bit full-on for summer in the garden.
This is not foundation, though it acts like it is. Here’s what it is. One, it’s full coverage. This means it will hide many more sins than other CC creams if you want it to — it depends on how much you put on (duh). I use the same company’s Complexion Perfection brush (£34.50) — a fat, fluffy number that enables you to cover a lot of face with the least amount of product. Any fat, fluffy brush would do, I suppose, and would do much better, in this instance, than using your fingers. Anyway, the finished effect is of a tinted moisturiser from paradise. One tiny pump makes your skin look absolutely amazing and natural, and it stays that way all day.
That’s not all, though. It contains an SPF50+UVA/UVB broad-spectrum sunscreen, which means that you are absolutely sorted sun-protection wise. The sunscreen element causes no blockage of pores or breakouts, nor does it make the actual product feel (or look) gunky or thick. It also contains an anti-ageing serum, a claim that I would usually take with a pinch of salt, to be honest. In this case, though, this cream actually does give you (or at least me) better skin with use. On top of that, the CC part, the colour corrector, makes your skin tone look zingy and alive as opposed to flat and made up.
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This miracle of a product comes in seven shades, from very pale to very dark, which do, to an extent, adjust themselves to match your skin tone. It glides over pores and dark spots, and minimises both, and works its magic under eyes, though if you have serious dark circles, IT Cosmetics does a fantastic dedicated product called Bye Bye Under Eye (£22.50), which I also recommend very heartily. Such good products! Honestly, I feel like putting out the bunting.
