The Saem aqua glow cushion Review + Demo

Okay so this has to be the ugliest BB cushion case I own.  So why did I buy this?  Well I saw a Korean Youtuber try this on and the glow from this product looked damn amazing.  The coverage was also not half bad so I bought this along with a couple other items I was getting through a buying service.  I actually have had this in my collection for a while, but because the packaging didn’t catch my eye, I didn’t really remember to use it for a long time.  So here we are, reviewing this BB cushion finally.  Let’s do this!

Full name of product:
The saem saemul aqua glow cushion

Limited edition/ Permanent?:
Permanent

Description of product:
“Dual water fitting express pure, volume, glowing skin.
Lotus water 33% deliver moisture & vitality.
Natural cover express naturally and layer moisture as tapped more.
Illusion powder with emollient of high refractive index and light scattering express glowing skin.”

Sunscreen:
SPF50+ PA+++

Price:
13,000 won

Amount of product:
15 g

Refill included?:
No but you can buy the refill separately.

Duration before expiration:
2 years

Country of Manufacture:
Made in Korea

Where to buy:
Jolse
Amazon

Shades available:
There is two shades for this cushion, shade #01 and #02.

Ingredients:
 Nelumbo Nucifera Flower water, Cyclopentasiloxane; Decamethyl Cyclopentasiloxane, Titanium Dioxde (CI77891), Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate; Octinoxate, Glycerin; Glycerol, Ethylhexyl Salicylate; Octisalate, Diphenylsiloxy Phenyl Trimethicone, Trimethylsiloxysilicate, PEG-9 Dimethicone, Butylene Glycol; 1,3-Butylene Glycol, Niacinamide; Nicotinamide; Nicotinic Acid Amide, Butylene Glycol dicaprylate/ Dicaprate, Pentylene Glycol, Methyl Methacrylate Crosspolymer, PEG-10 Dimethicone, Diphenyl Dimethicone, Acrylates/ Stearyl Acrylate/ Dimethicone Methacrylate Copolymer, Magnesium Sulfate, Stearic Acid, Alumina, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Triethoxycaprylylsilane, Aluminum Hdryoxide (CI 77002), Ethylhexylglycerin, Adenosine, Dimethicone, Water, Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Hydrogenated Castor Oil Isostearate, Polyglutamic Acid; Poly-y Glutamic Acid, Disodium EDTA, Phenoxyethanol, Fragrance, CI77492; Hydrated Ferric Oxide; Yellow Oxide of Iron, Mica; Sericite (CI 77019), CI 77491; Ferric Oxide; Red Oxide of Iron, CI77499; Black Oxide of Iron; Ferrous-Ferric, OxideIron Oxide

How to use:
Simply take the air puff included in the compact, pat some of the product onto the puff and pat away on to the skin.

Product packaging:
Packaging for this BB cushion seriously might be the ugliest.  The font is yuck, the shade of pink irritates me.  The compact isn’t like the normal BB cushions since this one has more of a slant to it on the sides. Nothing really special about this compact to be honest.

Inside, you’ll find a nice sized mirror as well as the air puff.  The air puff included in this BB cushion is the beige ones, which is slightly thicker then the regular dark blue ones you’d get.  I personally like the thickness of the beige ones but I like the dark blue ones since it doesn’t stain as easily.

Color/ Pigmentation:
Now just like usual K-beauty style, this cushion only comes in two shades.  I personally always choose shade #23 since I like a more natural look to my skin and it doesn’t make me look as ghostly pale.  So naturally, I choose #02 for this BB cushion which worked just fine in my opinion, until I took a closer look.

If you look closely, you’ll see that this cushion has a slightly pinker undertone then a usual shade #23, which usually has more of a yellow undertone. I personally can’t seem to get this to work since I have more of a yellow undertone, and the pink undertone is super obvious on the face.  I’ll see if I can do something about the colouring but I honestly don’t think I can do much about it.

The only other option now is to do a color correction with the refill bottle I have which I ordered through Jolse.  By the way, I did mention up top that you can get a refill for this cushion.  And no, it is not the usual refill you’ll buy which usually comes in the plastic compact with the product already soaked into the cushion.  This one comes in a plastic clear bottle and it also comes with a brand new sponge which you use to soak up the product.  If you prefer to apply your product as a liquid foundation, which was what I planned to do anyways since I thought this would be faster and easier, you can easily just buy the refill bottle and use it that way.  The bottle isn’t super big (refer to my iPhone 6S picture), so you have been warned.

They also show you instructions on how to refill it on the lid of the box that it comes in.

Texture/ Finish:
The one thing that attracted me to this BB cushion was the finish.  I personally love me some glow and dewy action, so when I saw this demo-ed in a Youtube video, I knew I had to give it a try myself.  After testing it out myself, I can say the “aqua glow” holds true to its name.  This BB cushion gives my skin the most beautiful glow, most moisturizing look and it also glides over my dry patches which is a plus!  I don’t set my base make up with any type of powder since my skin is already dry, but this surprisingly held up just fine.  I just wish the color worked better with my yellow undertoned skin.

On a side note, when I apply this onto my face, there is a slight cooling feeling.  I’m not sure where that is from or what ingredients is causing that, but it sure does feel nice when I apply it to the skin.

Coverage:
I’d say this BB cushion gives a light to medium coverage depending on how many layers you use.  With one layer, you get a nice even skin tone if you don’t have too much texture and redness issues.  Two layers, you get a flawless medium coverage and your face kind of looks like a plastic doll since the glow is so radiate.  Proof?  Here ya go.

I did a super simple make up look here.  Just the saem aqua glow BB cushion, some brow product, blush and lip balm.

Lasting power:
For me, not setting it with any type of powder, didn’t use any primer, this lasted on my dry skin for a good 6 hours.  The wear gradually faded very gracefully around the sides of my nose and a little bit around the sides of my chin since my jacket was rubbing against it.  My skin never looked dry after wear which I’m super grateful for.

Fragrance?:
There is a slight fragrance to this but nothing super strong and it does fade away after application.  The smell is slightly floral, hints of cucumber I think?  Smell-o-scale: 5/10 in terms of the strength of the scent.

Okay!  Let’s try this on together :D.

Here is my bare skin with nothing but moisturizer.  My usual skin concerns is just slight redness around my cheeks, nose and chin and dryness.  I wish to find something that will not accentuate my dry patches and anything that has a dewy/ glowy/ hydrating finish, I’m all for.

Simply take the air puff and pat the product on to the face. Do not drag since BB cushions and air puffs are not designed for you to drag the product.  Application is your choice and I have seen some people use a brush with BB cushions but honestly, fastest and most effective way is just to use the air puff.

Now here is the before (left side) and after (right side).  With just one layer, the redness is reduced significantly but the colouring looks slightly tanner on my skintone.

Here is a before and after with two layers on the right side.  As you can see, there is already a nice natural glow to the skin which I LOVE!  Redness wise, it is pretty much covered for me so I don’t have to go in with any type of concealer. Maybe just to correct the color under my eyes but that would be it.

That glow doe!!

That color mismatch doe HAHA.

Make up magic :D.

Here is my face with everything on. Brow pencil, contour, blush, highlight, lip color, you name it.  Everything seriously looks really good and flawless but the color difference is way too strong from my neck and my face.  What a shame…

Pro:
-gorgeous hydrating finish
-formulation glides over dry patches/ skin
-light to medium finish

Con:
-poor colouring for shades

Repurchase?:
I would if they reformulate the shades.  This could have easily been a holy grail BB cushion but the color just got marks deducted unfortunately.

Stars given out of 5:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Overall thoughts:
This BB cushion, although is one of the ugliest BB compacts I own, it redefines the saying “what’s on the inside is what counts”.  If they were to have revamped their ugly packaging, this BB cushion would definitely sell like hot cakes.  I personally was never a fan of the Saem as a brand since there is no eye appeal. The only thing I know them by is that they have great concealers that costs less then $5.  The finish of this BB cushion is pretty amazing, gives the skin a nice flawless look for those with dry or normal skin types.  I would definitely not recommend this for anyone with oily skin types and it could work with combo skin if you were to either powder your nose or avoid using this on your nose completely if you don’t want a greasy mess.  Overall I give this BB cushion a great big thumbs up and I would recommend this to anyone if the shade matches your skin type.

*BB cushion was bought with my own money, a refill was sent to me by Jolse for reviewing purposes.*