CULT BUY: The only face cream you'll ever need (that has thousands of five-star reviews).

Disclaimer: I’m not a mum.

But most of my girlfriends are, and because I have written about beauty products as a career for close to 15 years they always ask me what products they can use to look a little more alive.

Before I can sing the praises of regular DIY facial massage, sheet masks you need to leave on for 20 minutes and fancy facials they all tell me the same thing: they’ve got 60 seconds to do their face (usually with a baby on their hip or a toddler pulling at their pants).

That’s when I tell them about I.T Cosmetics Your Skin But Better CC Cream.

Alphabet creams, as they’re nicknamed, originated in Asia and became popular in Western culture about a decade ago. Although there’s subtle differences between BB, CC and even DD creams, essentially they’re all fancy tinted moisturisers with skincare benefits.

CC creams (which stands for Colour Correcting) are meant to correct imperfections and pigmentation. Lots of women have tricky-to-fade melasma from pregnancy which is one of the reasons they’re great for mums.

I’m pretty skeptical about products which make huge claims in the name (has anyone ever tested if Better Than Sex mascara really is?!) but in the case of I.T Cosmetics ‘Your Skin But Better’, it does what it says on the packet.

Love my @itcosmetics Your Skin But Better CC Cream. All in one full coverage Foundation! Love everything about it ❤️ . . . . #cccream #itcosmetics #yourskinbutbetter #muamuamua #makeuptutorial #makeupgeek #makeupjunkie #beautifulskin #flawless #naturalmakeup #naturalskincare #skinregimen #makeupjunkie #makeupartist #undiscovered #undiscoveredmua #undiscoveredmua #brianchampagne #beautyshot #pinaymodel #pinayblogger #bbloggers #beautytips

A post shared by Tina Czarina (@tinaczarina) on Mar 11, 2017 at 11:20am PST

The (pretty massive) claims make it sound too good to be true: it was developed by plastic surgeons, is both full coverage and broad spectrum spf 50+ AND is clinically proven to improve skin texture, brightness and hydration.

It’s priced at $61 in Australia and while that’s not cheap, if it does everything it claims to it’d be worth it.

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Then I tried it. I put it on over my morning serum and was pumped that it blended in really easily and totally covered all my sunspots and scars. It made my skin appear even but not like I was wearing a full face of foundation.

It made me glowy in all the right places, though having really oily skin I was sure it would slide off my face and disappear by lunchtime. I used translucent powder on my t-zone (which I packed in my bag for a 3pm touch up).

Fast forward to that afternoon and my skin still looked fresh which also most never happens.

It’s stocked at Sephora in Australia, but be warned: it sells out pretty much as soon as it’s restocked. If your shade isn’t available you can try in-store or go on the waitlist. There’s also some overseas sites that will ship Australia.

Oh, and I should mention – obviously it’s not just great for mums. Its awesome for busy women, people who love to hit snooze in the morning, and those who don’t want to wear heavy makeup. Anyone with a face, basically.

Got a favourite base product that makes you look fresh? Tell us about it in the comments.