Urban Decay Naked Skin Beauty Balm, Spf 20, 35ml, £23.00/€29.00
Beauty Balms have been the latest beauty craze the past year with almost every cosmetic brand known to woman producing one, from luxury to budget, whatever your price range, there is one on the market for all of us. 

I was out shopping last month looking for a new primer and as I was drawn to the gorgeous Urban Decay counter I was told about the new Urban Decay Naked Skin Beauty Balm. Being a huge Urban Decay fan (as you probably already know if you regularly read my blog) the moment I was told about this I had to have it. Sounded too good to be true....so was it?
Urban Decay Naked Skin Beauty Balm, 35ml
What it is:
A five-in-one beauty balm/primer that minimizes pores, lines, wrinkles, and redness instantly and gives you significantly firmer, more-lifted skin in 8 weeks. In brief it HYDRATES, PRIMES, PROTECTS, PERFECTS & TREATS!
What it claims to do:
"This lightweight, velvety, oil-free miracle works instantly and long term. Unlike a lot of beauty balms, Naked Skin Beauty Balm delivers serious anti-aging benefits in just 8 weeks aswell as producing an even skintone, softened lines, wrinkles, redness and minimised pores. It blurs flaws in seconds with its optical blurring pigments and with an Spf 20 it shields skin from sun damage, helping to inhibit DNA damage.  Naked Skin Beauty Balm is invisible on your skin, the universal shade glides on and dries down to a translucent, demi-matte finish that works on most skin tones. An extremely blendable formula creates a smooth finish so makeup goes on beautifully and stays put. Many beauty balms are tinted to provide coverage, but Naked Skin diffuses light with high-tech pigments to give you amazing, natural, naked looking skin that keeps getting better every week". 
Sounds impressive, don't you think?

How to wear this: Wear this alone for naked gorgeous skin, or use as your primer under foundation/tinted moisturiser and for extra hydration apply after your moisturiser. 

What do I think?
Firstly, this is one of those products that is just perfect if you want easy to use but multi-tasking products, so if you are one of those people that say "I don't use one because I don't have time" then this was made for you so no excuses!  If you like a "low key" maintenance routine, you'll adore this and especially great for the guys as leaves no make-up trace. 

The texture of this is a thin lotion so not much is needed as it spreads far but you need to work quickly with it because of its fast drying formula, you shall have to add more if you don't. I was a little unsure about the initial shade of this being very warm and peachy but once blended into my skin it just seemed to magically disappear. It blended out very easily with no tackiness and felt very lightweight on the skin. It has a minty scent to it which I actually really like but is rare for a face product to have a minty scent like this! 
Swatch: Urban Decay Naked Skin Beauty Balm
I felt my skin looked instantly smoother and even, like looking through a 'soft focus' lens and how we all want our skin to be naturally. It definitely did help to diminish pores and make them look less visible which is a very common concern whatever your age so top marks for that result. This is not like a normal BB cream as it does not conceal at all and provides no coverage what so ever so using this as my primer is exactly what I wanted from this product so do bear that in mind before buying. The extra skincare benefits especially being an Spf 20 are perfect add ons for me as having a product do more than just being "make-up' is important as it might as well do some work for you whilst you wear it and protection from UVA/UVB is so important. 


Swatch: Urban Decay Naked Skin Beauty Balm
I haven't used this product long enough to know if the 8 wk claims are in fact correct but I would probably expect to see results a little sooner but this certainly has worked well as a primer to prolong make-up wear, an SPF and smoothing the complexion, so if the initial results are anything to go by then there is great hope for its long term benefits. 

I personally didn't find it that hydrating as its dries to a matte powder finish but my make-up did stay in place all day/night so this product does work really well with other foundations brands. I would always recommend to anyone not to sacrifice your skincare routine to any combined product like this as skincare is more targeted to one concern making sure you get the best targeted results so always stick to your skincare routine then continue with say this Naked Skin Beauty Balm. 

 I love the fact that this is just so easy to use and so very versatile and I beleive that you shall either love or hate this product as it shall work differently on each of us that use it but for what I wanted it to do, it has delivered so I love it!

I highly recommend trying this as your primer or skin base especially if they dont contain an SPF and you are looking for one, then you shall see the benefits for yourself and decide just how you like to use it.

Stockists
  • Available from all Urban Decay Counters and online here with FREE worldwide delivery, priced around £23.00/€29.00.
  • Visit Urban Decay UK or Urban Decay for more details on all their products.