The 13 Best CC Creams for a Flawless Complexion
Wearing foundation every day isn't an option for everyone, especially as the trends of natural makeup and no-makeup makeup show no signs of slowing down. Unlike a skin tint, lightweight foundation, and even tinted moisturizer, CC creams focus more on improving the skin's color and tone so that it appears more even. Today's CC creams are more advanced than the first generation, offering additional benefits like anti-redness, sun protection, and even improvement of discoloration and dark spots. So, if you're looking for a new CC cream or are just getting started using one, consider these the best CC creams money can buy.
Our Top Picks
Best for Mature Skin: Sisley Paris Phyto-Hydra Teint Tinted Moisturizer Best with SPF: Erborian CC Cream Best for Acne-Prone Skin: Dermablend Continuous Correction CC Cream SPF 50 Best for Rosacea: Erborian CC Red Correct Best for Discoloration: By Terry Brightening CC Serum Best for Dark Under-Eye Circles: tarte Colored Clay CC Undereye Corrector Best for Buildable Coverage: By Terry Brightening CC Foundation Best for Dry Skin: Supergoop!® CC Screen 100 Mineral CC Cream SPF 50 Best Korean CC Cream: Erborian CC Water Best for Combination Skin: By Terry Brightening CC Blush Best for Oily Skin: Kjaer Weis The Beautiful Tint Best for Sensitive Skin: Kevyn Aucoin Face Forward Color Corrector
What is CC Cream?
CC (color correcting) creams are lightweight color-based creams that provide coverage to the skin. Lighter than traditional foundations, CC creams work best for evening-out discoloration and uneven skin tone since the main benefit of one is its color-correcting capabilities. But that's not all a CC cream can do. Often used in place of makeup, buildable CC creams also work well for blurring the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, and enlarged pores and easing redness, giving the skin a natural finish and radiant glow.
CC vs BB Cream
While CC and BB creams may sound alike, they're actually quite different. The most significant difference between the two is their level of coverage and intended use. BB creams provide more hydration and give light coverage, whereas CC creams are intended to correct uneven skin tone and neutralize redness and darkness for a more even-looking complexion. BB creams blur the lines between makeup and skincare, whereas CC creams fall more into the makeup category (although many contain skin-friendly ingredients for added benefits).
To decide if a BB cream or CC cream is right for you, consider your skin type, the amount of coverage you need, and your most pressing concerns. While most skin types can benefit from either product, drier skin tends to do well with BB creams, while those with redness or dullness often favor CC creams.
Shop the Best CC Creams
Best CC Cream for Mature Skin: Sisley Paris Phyto-Hydra Teint Tinted Moisturizer
$145.00
Perfect for everyday wear and lighter coverage, this tinted CC cream combines skincare ingredients with a light wash of color for a does-it-all-and-then-some formulation. Whether you wear it alone or under makeup, expect hydrated and smoother-looking skin that's well-protected from the sun and other aggressors.
Key Ingredients: White lily extract, plant-based extracts, buckwheat seed extract
Skin Type: All skin types
Skin Benefit(s): Hydrates, energizes, smoothes the skin, improves skin texture, protects
Beauty Insider Tip: Apply with fingertips or the fluid foundation brush using light strokes all over the face.
Related Article: An Honest Review of Sisley Paris, Tested and Approved By Our Beauty Editor
Best CC Cream with SPF: Erborian CC Cream
This color corrector offers lightweight coverage and ample sun protection with SPF 25. It blurs the appearance of fine lines, blemishes, pores, and other skin imperfections, making the skin look better and brighter. It also helps hydrate the skin and prevent UVA and UVB exposure, limiting the risk of dark spots and wrinkle formation.
Key Ingredients: Centella Asiatica, SPF 25
Skin Type: All skin types
Skin Benefit(s): Blurs the appearance of pores and imperfections, evens out the skin's tone, improves skin texture, improves the appearance of under-eye wrinkles, hydrates
Beauty Insider Tip: Since the cream starts off white, due to skin tone-matching pigments that create a seamless color match, make sure to blend it in well.
Best CC Cream for Acne-Prone Skin: Dermablend Continuous Correction CC Cream SPF 50
8 reviews
$41.00
Perfect for acne-prone skin, this non-comedogenic CC cream protects, corrects, and conceals for radiant skin. Harnessing the skincare benefits of an anti-aging cream with the coverage of makeup, this weightless and breathable formula never clogs the skin or weighs it down, yet it leaves behind an undetectable veil of coverage that lasts for up to 24 hours comfortably.
Key Ingredients: Niacinamide, vitamin E, caffeine, baicalin, homosalate, octisalate, octocrylene
Skin Type: All skin types
Skin Benefit(s): Doesn't clog pores, visibly improves skin's radiance, protects with broad spectrum SPF 50+, formulated with a blend of antioxidants, up to 24-hour color wear
Beauty Insider Tip: Apply the CC cream with a foundation brush or fingertips for a skin-like finish.
Best CC Cream for Rosacea: Erborian CC Red Correct
13 reviews
$46.00
Red patches don't stand a chance against this green-hued color corrector, which evens out a ruddy complexion. Red skin is instantly reduced upon application, while moisture levels are elevated for soothed, hydrated skin. This skincare-meets-color corrector relies on encapsulated pigments to improve the skin's tone, leaving the skin with a weightless feel and a natural glow.
Key Ingredients: Centella Asiatica extract, glycerin, zinc oxide
Skin Type: All, especially sensitive skin and those prone to redness
Skin Benefit(s): Visibly reduces redness and the appearance of blemishes, blurs the appearance of uneven skin texture, improves under-eye wrinkles, hydrates
Beauty Insider Tip: Use the CC cream as a spot treatment to target redness or all over the face, depending on your needs.
Best CC Cream for Discoloration: By Terry Brightening CC Serum
34 reviews
$79.00
Instantly brighten skin with this CC cream, which works to even out an uneven skin tone while concealing signs of discoloration. Like a skincare and makeup product in one and doubling as an illuminating primer, the serum-like formula creates flawless coverage without needing additional makeup. Thanks to its optical glow technology, the buildable product also neutralizes redness, blurs imperfections, and evens the skin for a healthy yet natural glow.
Key Ingredients: Rose stem cells, mica, titanium dioxide, glycerin
Skin Type: All Skin Types
Skin Benefit(s): Provides radiance and protection to the skin, color corrects, evens out skin tone, blurs imperfections, hydrates
Beauty Insider Tip: Each of the eight shades caters to a unique skin tone, and depending on the shade used, there are also highlighter benefits.
Best CC Cream for Dark Under-Eye Circles: tarte Colored Clay CC Undereye Corrector
31 reviews
The under eyes are a common area plagued by discoloration and darkness, which is where a good CC cream comes into play. This cream-based, waterproof concealer helps to even out the skin tone instantly, giving the eyes a fresh appearance and a crease-free finish.
Key Ingredients: Colored clays, caffeine, licorice extract, sodium hyaluronate, vegan squalane, mica, silica
Skin Type: All Skin Types
Skin Benefit(s): Color corrects, smoothes the complexion, soothes skin, diffuses the look of dark circles, instantly brightens, energizes the skin, decreases puffiness, hydrates, reduces the look of fine lines and wrinkles
Beauty Insider Tip: For youthful-looking eyes, use a concealer brush to apply the concealer to the undereye area, working from the inner corner to the outer corner.
Best Buildable CC Cream: By Terry Brightening CC Foundation
$79.00
More than your standard foundation, this buildable formula helps to hydrate the skin, leaving it with a sheer yet absolutely gorgeous glow. Featuring clean and 90% naturally derived ingredients, this skin-brightening CC foundation, which also blurs imperfections and smooths out the skin's texture and tone, feels super light on the skin
Key Ingredients: Japanese rose extract, aloe vera, shea butter, phytosqualane, niacinamide
Skin Type: All skin types
Skin Benefit(s): Brightens, corrects skin tone and texture, hydrates, provides instant skin radiance
Insider beauty Tip: The soothing foundation is safe enough for even the most sensitive and driest skin types since it doesn't irritate them.
Beauty Insider Tip:
Best CC Cream for Dry Skin: Supergoop!® CC Screen 100 Mineral CC Cream SPF 50
43 reviews
$44.00
Dry skin doesn't stand a chance against this glycerin and hyaluronic acid-rich mineral CC cream with SPF 50. The buildable, creamy formulation improves the skin's appearance while leaving it protected from the sun and with a beautiful natural finish. Each of the 15 shades is non-comedogenic, so you never have to worry about clogged pores.
Key Ingredients: Hyaluronic acid, glycerin, apple extract, zinc oxide, titanium dioxide
Skin Type: All skin types
Skin Benefit(s): Provides color correction, sun protection, hydrates, nourishes the skin
Beauty Insider Tip: This medium-coverage CC cream gives a natural finish with luminosity, making it perfect for your everyday sunscreen.
Best Korean CC Cream: Erborian CC Water
One of the original CC creams straight out of Korea, this super lightweight color-correcting gel version helps to hydrate while improving the skin's tone and banishing redness. This sheer, weightless version leaves the skin with a natural glow and zero shine or oil thanks to a unique combination of Centella Asiatica and hyaluronic acid. Consider this your CC cream go-to if you prefer a light gel.
Key Ingredients: Centella Asiatica, hyaluronic acid, glycerin, betaine, encapsulated sheer pigments
Skin Type: All skin types
Skin Benefit(s): Plumps and hydrates the skin, soothes, improves firmness and elasticity, refines the skin's texture, and reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
Beauty Insider Tip: Always go with the lighter option if you are in between shades.
Best CC Cream for Combination Skin: By Terry Brightening CC Blush
$42.00
Today's CC creams come in all types of makeup formats, and blush is one of them. This radiance-boosting liquid blush gives the skin a natural, dewy finish for long-lasting color. The buildable coverage also helps hydrate the skin, making it a perfect option for combination skin types that crave a bit of tint without compromising its integrity.
Key Ingredients: White rose stem cells
Skin Type: Combination and all other skin types
Skin Benefit(s): Neutralizes free radicals, eliminates toxins, leaves the skin with a healthy glow, color corrects, hydrates
Beauty Insider Tip: Choose the Rosy Flash shade for more of a golden glow or Sunny Glow for a warm, bronzed finish.
Best CC Cream for Oily Skin: Kjaer Weis The Beautiful Tint
$45.00
Part makeup and part skincare, this skin-boosting tint provides the perfect amount of dewiness without ever looking greasy or oily. Infused with hydrating ingredients for added moisture, this ultra-light tinted moisturizer soothes the skin while boosting its natural luminosity for a radiant glow.
Key Ingredients: Certified organic root of light, hazelnut extract, cocoa butter, wild rose plant extract, moringa oil
Skin Type: All skin types
Skin Benefits: Hydrates, provides antioxidant benefits
Beauty Insider Tip: Apply a small amount of product in a circular motion for the most luminous finish. Start at the center of your face, blending outwards, and repeat until achieving the desired coverage.
Best CC Cream for Sensitive Skin: Kevyn Aucoin Face Forward Color Corrector
$33.00
This super creamy, ultra-pigmented, full-coverage color corrector leaves the skin looking flawless thanks to a trio of concealers. Whether you want to conceal blemishes or even out the skin, each shade offers a different benefit: peach neutralizes darkness and discoloration, green balances out redness, and orange counteracts the appearance of veins and dark under-eye circles on darker skin tones.
Key Ingredients: Tocopheryl acetate, coconut-based emollients, jojoba seed oil, aloe leaf juice
Skin Type: All skin types
Skin Benefit(s): Hydrates, protects with antioxidants, offers full coverage
Beauty Insider Tip: Don't be put off by the color of each concealer, which is intended to match the skin and mask imperfections.
FAQs
How Do You Apply CC Cream?
To reap a CC cream's benefits and get a long-lasting finish, it's best to cleanse and prep the skin with moisturizer (and primer, if you like) to create the perfect canvas. Next, apply a few pumps of the CC cream using your fingertips or a makeup brush, always starting in the center of your face and working your way out. Concentrate the product on the areas where color correction is most needed. You can blend out the CC cream with a makeup brush, a blending sponge, or your fingers. Use the CC cream like a concealer to target dark spots, under-eye circles, and redness around the nose and chin for more precise coverage. Finally, set it with a finishing spray or a setting powder.
What Should You Look for in a CC Cream?
The best CC creams offer superior color-correcting benefits. While many CC creams can improve the appearance of discoloration and redness, those with a green, peach, lavender, or orange hue or undertone tend to be most effective.
If dryness and aging are also concerns, look for a CC cream with antioxidant properties, anti-aging, and moisturizing ingredients to help hydrate and protect the skin.
The Bottom Line
CC creams are a welcome addition to any beauty routine. Because they are lighter in nature than traditional foundations, concealers, and powders, they have a more natural, skin-like finish. Whether you use a CC cream that's more of a serum, gel, cream, or light lotion, the best CC cream is the one that works for your lifestyle and beauty routine, giving way to noticeable improvement.
Elise Minton Tabin is an award-winning beauty journalist, editor, and beauty expert with more than 16 years of experience. She previously held the title of Executive Beauty Editor at NewBeauty magazine, where she reported on beauty, plastic surgery, anti-aging, health and wellness. She was also instrumental in the launch of the beauty supplement brand Hush & Hush. A self-professed beauty junkie and retinol and sunscreen pusher, Elise knows what’s new, what works and who’s the best to go for every procedure under the sun. Follow Elise on Facebook, Instagram, and on her beauty blog, elisetabin.com
