Urban Decay Naked Skin Beauty Balm - Swatch and Review

I snagged the travel version of the Urban Decay BB cream on my last trip to Sephora on a whim cause I wanted to test it out. Urban Decay claims that this BB cream minimize pores, line, wrinkles, redness, as well as firming your skin.
To be honest, I haven't been exposed to that many BB creams but I've tried a few from Missha (Korean brand). I've tried some western samples such as the Boscia BB cream and the Dior Hydra Life BB Creme. I didn't even bother with the drugstore BB creams. I've also purchased the Too Faced Beauty Balm during a sale at Ulta.

BB cream was originally developed in Germany but gained its popularity in Asia. So much so that western countries decided to make a version of their own. There's quite a difference between East and West and at this point there is no clear definition of what is a BB cream anymore. Anything can be called a BB cream, or CC cream, or DD creams. It's whatever-they-wanna-call-it-cream now. Anyways, my point is every brand has their own interpretation of what a BB cream is and if you've started with Asian brands and then tried the western version of it, you'd be like "what were they thinking?"


Packaging

• Convenient squeeze tube. I like the color of the tube. It looks kinda fancy.
• .50 oz or 15 ml

Product

• This BB cream only comes in one shade. It's a peachy medium beige color, leaning on the warm tone. Even looks a bit orangy. On my face, I noticed that it just made me look a shade darker and warmer. It's definitely not a good match for my skin tone and I'm not liking the color on me. I don't have extremely fair skin but I'm still in the lightest medium range with neutral undertone so this was too yellow for me also.
• Secondly, this BB cream is super sheer and comparable to a tinted moisturizer. There's absolutely no coverage. Just a bit of color. At this point, I'm already ready to give up and return the product. 
• I expect a BB cream to offer at least a light and natural coverage. I had no coverage and the color didn't look natural on my skintone. 
• I don't have problems with lines, pores, wrinkles, redness, so I can't tell you whether or not this product actually improves any of that but it sure won't cover them. 
• It's interesting how Urban Decay took a safe approach and never claim that this BB cream would cover anything but "blur" your flaws. Honestly, I haven't noticed any blur either. 
• Lastly, it has a subtle minty scent. Kind of weird for a product that goes on your face. I didn't notice when I was wearing it but when I tried smelling it, I could detect the scent. 

Final Thought

I don't know what this should've been called. It has the lightweight consistency and coverage of a tinted moisturizer yet doesn't feel moisturizing like one, which why I mentioned earlier that brand now just label whatever they want on a product. In order to give this a fair review, all I can say is that it won't work on everyone. It's best suited for those who have medium to medium/dark skintone, for those who don't need much coverage but just a bit of color to even out skintone. I have no comment on the skincare benefit it claims to have as my skin condition doesn't fall in that category. For me personally, it doesn't do anything beside making me look a shade darker and warmer than I really am.
I looked up reviews and what others think of this product and it's like hit or miss depending on the person and for me it's a miss. I would definitely recommend you either try it out in store or ask for a sample.

Rating: 7/10

Price: $14.00 (for travel size)
Availability: Sephora, Urban Decay

Tried it? Did you love it more than I did?