product review
naked skin beauty balm
There are beauty balms and then there are beauty balms. With so many choices in the market, how does Urban Decay’s new offering measure up? Read our review below.
This wonder balm supposedly does it all: minimizes wrinkles, pores and redness instantly. It also has a bit of an anti-aging component to it, giving your skin a lift in eight weeks. That’s a tall order for a balm to accomplish in such a little tube.
Urban Decay’s Naked Skin line is a terrific line: We have loved the weightless liquid makeup ($39) and now the beauty balm ($34) is doing wonders for our skin.
How it measures up
The directions on the box are to wear alone for gorgeous skin or follow up with foundation. The beauty balm looks and feels like a beauty balm, but on application, it goes on much more sheer compared to other balms we’ve used. This is a good thing if you want to follow up with foundation or have a sheer (not full coverage) look.
It has a translucent look to it upon application, and we advise you to not rub it into the skin too much because you don’t want it to be powdery or chalky on your skin (apply a dime size amount and just rub gently, not deeply).
It does not tint the skin but diffuses lightly with high-tech pigments.
Not your average BB cream
We were definitely expecting the Naked Skin Beauty Balm to look and feel like a BB cream but it definitely isn’t one (other BB creams, like the L’Oreal Youth Code BB Cream we reviewed, offer more coverage and concealing options for under the eyes). Naked Skin is a great option if you want something truly light, so for the more humid, sticky summer months, I would reach for this cream over the rest.
It also boasts that it reduces pore size, and we did notice a difference, but nothing that leaped out at us. The best thing that this cream does is improve skin radiance: Your skin will definitely glow, and the clarity is fantastic.
Right out of the tube, the cream looks nice and warm in tone, and it goes on warm on the skin too. The cream is nice and thick but not so thick that it feels like pudding, but just enough so it is easy to apply. To be honest, the texture feels like liquid foundation. It glides evenly on the skin but as we mentioned before, don’t rub it in.
In short, we feel this is definitely a great anti-aging primer but not necessarily a BB cream as you’ve known it. But yes, we recommend that you stock up for the summer months because you’ll be glad to have something that sheer.
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