Product Sent for Review
Last year when Urban Decay released their Naked Skin Beauty Balm I
really wanted to love it. I truly did. But, the truth was that their single, "works for everyone" shade was just much too dark for my skin. I looked like I had dirt on my face when I used it. I gave it away to a friend that raved about it, which made me a tad bitter about the whole thing.
Luckily, they've just released two new shades of their beauty balm, and now I'm loving it! Naked Light and Naked Dark have been added, and the original shade is now named Naked Medium.
It is a bit surprising that the shade of Beauty Balm makes such a difference with this product, since there really is very little coverage. The consistency is like a light moisturizer, and when applied it does have a little bit of slip. As you spread the product around you'll notice that the coverage disappears, blending completely into your skin.
There are light diffusing particles in this Beauty Balm and when I apply it I do notice a little optical blurring, it does make my skin look better. When I've used other optical blurring products I think its really just looked like I need to blend my makeup more (this is where I admit I still haven't gotten the hang of using L'Oreal's Miracle Blur). That isn't the case here, instead it looks like my skin is a bit more perfect, and the blurring is really natural.
I've been using this Beauty Balm alone under concealer, but if I want a little more coverage I will add a tiny bit of concealer and blend it in to the Beauty Balm before spreading it around on my face. It blends perfectly for natural coverage which I love!
Looking at the ingredient list, I have to admit that I had
no idea what most of this stuff is, and I read a lot of ingredient lists! I thought it was a good idea to look at each of the major ingredients to see what they are. I grabbed the list of ingredients from the UD website so we could look at each ingredient.
Cyclopentasiloxane: You'll find a lot of silicones in formulas for primers and BB creams, and this one is no exception. They provide a little slip and allow anything applied over the product (such as your concealer) to apply flawlessly.
Water: Obvious.
Isododecane: This helps to dissolve the other ingredients but also feels very lightweight.
Adipic Acid/Neopentyl Glycol Crosspolymer: 2 chemicals together. The Adipic Acid is often found in foods, it is basically a thickener. I believe Neopentyl Glycol is a stabilizer from the information I found.
Lauryl Dimethicone: Another silicone
Dimethicone/Vinyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer: More silicones
Lauryl PEG/PPG-18/18 Methicone: Yet more silicones
Glycerin: A humectant moisturizer
Hydrogenated Polyisobutene: This ingredient does a lot of things (read more about it over at
Truth in Aging), but it basically is a moisturizer, and it helps evenly disperse pigments.
Propanediol: A thickener that helps things "gel" together.
Phenoxyethanol: Preservative
Dimethicone Crosspolymer: Silicones
Disteardimonium Hectorite: Derived from vegetables, this is a thickener and stabilizer
Isononyl Isononanoate: Emollient moisturizer
Sodium Chloride: Table salt
PEG/PPG-18/18 Dimethicone: More silicones
Isopropyl Myristate: A lubricant and emollient moisturizer
Xanthan Gum: Thickener
Propylene Carbonate: Solvent and film forming agent
Isoceteth-10: Emulsifier
Silica: A mineral that does a ton of stuff, go read about it at
Truth in Aging
Lysine HCL: An amino acid
The rest: Fragrance, Lecithin, Citrullus Lanatus (Watermelon) Fruit Extract, Triethoxycaprylylsilane, Isopropyl Titanium Triisostearate, Stearalkonium Hectorite, Citrulline, Polyhydroxystearic Acid, Baicalin, Linalool, Limonene, Tripeptide-9 Citrulline, Geraniol, Citral, Eugenol, Coumarin, Citronellol.
Notable in the "rest" of the ingredients are the Watermelon extract, which should be a source of
anti-oxidants. As well, down towards the end of the list you'll recognize a
peptide.
Urban Decay
Product Sent for Review
