dr. jart+

My skin has never looked so glowy.

I wish I could leave my apartment every day with no makeup on, but this is the next best thing.

Thanks to technology, there’s no shortage of weird things you can put on your face in the quest for clearer, brighter, plumper, blemish-free skin. There’s Nightingale bird poop (Tom Cruise enjoys a facial full of it), bee venom (the Duchess of Cambridge is a fan of this cream by beautician Deborah Mitchell), mud (see: every blemish-clearing mask), and now, there’s snail slime. Call it the slow beauty movement: Snail slime is being touted as a miracle face-fixer. Snail creams have been around for years--they’re very popular in Korea, where beauty brand Missha first introduced a snail cream, snail serum, and sleeping mask--and Dr. Jart, who's claim to fame is introducing BB creams to the US market, just launched a skincare line made with snail mucin.

There’s a (pseudo) new kid on the beauty block here in the US, and from the looks of it, BB creams—otherwise known as Beauty Balm, Beauty Benefit, Blemish Base, Beblesh Balm, or Blemish Balm--are quickly becoming the crème de la crème of the cosmeceuticals (skin care + makeup) industry. BB creams can be traced back to 1950s Germany, when Dr. Christine Schrammek created a salve to aid skin healing in post-peel and laser surgery patients, while also masking splotchy, inflamed redness and shielding sensitive skin from the sun. Fast forward 50+ years, when BB creams exploded in popularity in Asia, Japan, and Europe--thanks to drop-dead gorgeous Korean actresses like Song Hye Kyo singing its praises--and suddenly everyone is clamoring to introduce their own to the US market. Why?