New

Overall, I enjoy a mostly-even complexion with few skin complaints. One thing I sometimes experience, almost inexplicably, is redness on my cheeks. I don’t have rosacea, and I’m not on any medications that have flushing as a side effect – I just experience occasional blotchy redness on my cheeks. It makes wearing blush a bit of a pain unless I’ve adequately covered the problem areas with a base to cancel them out.

While shopping for my UD Revolution Giveaway on Ulta.com recently, I spotted the new NYX Green CC Cream. I was curious – I’ve seen (but not tried!) green-based primers and concealers. The area on my cheeks where I experience redness are large enough that I don’t think using green concealer to negate them is the answer, and I just haven’t gotten my hands on a green primer yet. I figured it would be nice to try for science (and the blog), so I ordered a tube of the Light/Medium formulation.

The NYX Green CC Cream indicates that it is indeed a color corrector that contains all sorts of things that your skin should like. Skin-friendly ingredients are always good in facial products, after all. Let’s look:

Without Googling every single ingredient, this product doesn’t seem particularly villainous. No parabens or other questionable content with perhaps the exception of the fragrance (I am not a fan of smelly foundation/moisturizer/BB/CC/whatevers). The NYX Green CC Cream does not appear to be vegan (contains beeswax) but is still cruelty free, as are the rest of NYX products.

The tube of NYX Green CC Cream itself says the same things as the box, so there’s nothing else exciting there. The product’s cap screws off revealing a narrow, precise tip from which you can dispense the product for application. I find it curious that they didn’t say, “For best results, apply with fingers/sponge/marshmallows, etc,” but no matter – I winged it.

I popped a tiny pearl of product onto the back of my hand – unfortunately, my camera washed it out a bit, but it is definitely green, albeit pastel. If you look very very closely, you can see little specs in the product; I can only assume those are the green pigment beads mentioned on the side of the box:

Green pigment beads transform into a naturally nude, lightweight foundation upon contact with skin, neutralizing redness and resulting in a fresh, revived complexion.

Application

Dotting the NYX Green CC Cream onto one of my cheeks, I found that it had a relatively thin, light consistency. It spread around well, but I was going to need a lot more than that for my face – I squeezed out more product onto my fingertips, emulsified it, and slapped it onto my face. Never having used a color-changing face product like this, it was kind of neat to see the green fade and blend into my skin. It can be a little difficult to tell, at first, where you have placed the product but I imagine this is an issue with all products of this nature, so I won’t slam this one for it.

Fingers are probably the best way to apply this product, followed by a sponge like the beautyblender; I wouldn’t bust out a brush for this.

Although this product does have fragrance, I did not find it irritating in the slightest – it is light and fresh, and smells of neither foundation nor sunscreen (this product does have titanium dioxide, but does not report any SPF properties). The scent would actually make for a pleasant hand or body lotion, but I won’t be slapping NYX Green CC Cream all over.

Wear

Once applied, I could tell it was a very light coverage – like a tinted moisturizer – and although it diminished the redness a little, it was still visible. I resolved to wait a few minutes before looking back into the mirror in case it needed to oxidize or change further. I did note, however, that it felt barely-there on my skin.

When I did look back, well… it had definitely oxidized! My skin tone is already neutral-to-warm but I felt as though I belonged on the Simpsons when I looked. My workday had already begun, so I suffered through it, and was fortunately equipped to distract from the difference (scarves, you know? they’re awesome). Unfortunately, the NYX CC Cream pulled exceptionally yellow; if I hoped to wear this, I’d need to bring and blend it it all the way down my neck  – and honestly, that’s too much work for something that is essentially a tinted moisturizer.

On top of all that, the redness on my cheeks showed through. Damn!

Verdict

Unfortunately, because I do not relish resembling a Simpsons character, the NYX Green CC Cream ($13.99) will be going back to Ulta – and it is damn rare that I return a product. If it hadn’t been so yellow on me, I’d have kept it for days where I wanted to look a little more evened out but wasn’t terribly concerned about coverage, but this just isn’t working out for me. Surprising, too, because I usually love NYX. I still love NYX, and I’ll probably be buying something else in its stead.

Bear in mind that it may oxidize differently on you – so I won’t say, “this is not a good product, don’t buy it.” It feels nice, it just wasn’t the right color for me. I will say, however, not to buy if you cannot for some reason readily return (or give to a friend) in case it isn’t flattering on you, either.