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Are BB creams the secret to model perfect skin? Maybe, just maybe ...

In today's Wall Street Journal, reporter Elizabeth Holmes dove deep into the rise of BB creams in luxury and mass market retailers. The truth is, beauty fanantics (me) have been chasing these multi-use "miracle" creams for years, ordering them compulsively off Asian e-commerce websites while attempting to decipher what exactly we were applying to skin while feeling a little more than just lost in translation. But fear not -- BB creams have arrived in the U.S. with serious gusto.

The list of benefits tends to be jaw-dropping on the labels for most of these creams, with the life-bettering effects stopping just short of walking on water. Okay, maybe we're exaggerating. But as women who apply a moisturizer, a primer, a foundation, a setting powder, and an SPF every morning ... they may be a small miracle. Overall, a one-step product that can protect, conceal, and correct texture and tone in a singular application. Too good to be true? Perhaps. But perhaps not.

We chatted with New York magazine "best doctor" award winning dermatologist, Dr. Neal Schultz, about what exactly is this BB cream and what should we be looking for when we buy one:

Where did BB creams originate from?

The original BB cream stands for blemish balm, a product in the '60s in Germany. It wasn't very popular until about a couple of years ago, a few Korean actresses started using these BB creams that had brighteners and they loved them. They talked them up and since they were trendsetters the popularity spread through Asia and now here.

How have BB creams we'll find in stores now changed from their original conception?