Urban Decay Naked Skin Beauty Balm Review

I've had this product for quite awhile and I have to say I really love it, but there are conditions to that love. Let's take a look at the packaging and swatches.

This is the product fresh out of the tube and the blended in:

When it first comes out of the tube as this very orange looking cream it's kind of scary, but it blends in to an almost invisible finish. Also it helps that I have yellow undertones to my skin. I'm thinking maybe paler skin types with pink undertones might have some issues with the color.

Here's what it looks like on the face. My before then after:

I'm not sure if you can tell by my face looks subtly more even and refreshed. ***The camera lighting made me look more orange, not the cream by the way. It doesn't make a huge difference by itself, but enough for me to notice. My pores look more diminished and it just perks up my skin overall.

I firmly believe that this product works best when paired with the Naked Skin foundation. I wouldn't wear it just on it's own because I like a full coverage look. I would say this works as a fantastic primer, one of the best I have tried, but as a BB cream it is a little lacking. Here's what it looks like with the Naked skin foundation:

Together they work beautifully. The cream has a velvet finish to it, not sticky or silicone feeling. In terms of how it acts versus real Asian BB creams, Naked Beauty Balm has all the skin enhancing ingredients like Asian BB creams do, as well as a good SPF 20, but the lack of coverage makes it a truly American version of a BB cream. My oily skin reacts favorably to the formula and I hardly ever set with a powder with the Naked skin foundation anyway. I say if you already have the Naked Skin foundation it's worth getting the Beauty Balm, but otherwise I'm not sure if you need it.