Urban Decay Naked Skin Beauty Balm

Having stripped back my skincare and makeup routine I am trying to do my best to keep my skin in good condition. On the most part it is working, which means that when I do stray from the norm I can tell immediately what has affected me.

The culprit this week Urban Decay Naked Skin Beauty Balm a five-in-one beauty balm that is meant to minimizes the appearance of pores, lines, wrinkles, and redness instantly and result in skin that looks firmer after eight weeks of use (I'm doubtful).

I actually never intended to purchase this, I was actually after Urban Decay's face primer, but after a short chat with the sales assistant she convinced me this would be a better option since I am living in a warm climate and my skin is not dry. The inclusion of SPF a bonus.

I used it daily for a good few months after moving here then stopped for a few reasons. Rather than BB cream this falls into the tinted moisturiser category for me, it provides next to no coverage, and only a little reduction of redness. I also didn't notice much in the way of pore and line reduction.

It is tinted, and meant to be a universally flattering tone, but I am not convinced. When my skin was lighter it certainly didn't work for me and now with a bit of a tan yet its better, but not great. That said I have never used it alone, only as a primer for either my CC cream or Urban Decay's Naked Skin Foundation.

The texture is lightweight, creamy, and thin (but not runny), it doesn't feel immediately tacky on the skin, and it was easy to blend, but I was certainly aware that I had makeup on. Sadly as a primer I don't think it works that well. I didn't notice anything in the way of staying power of my foundation, if anything maybe that slick feeling it gives made it worse?

A product not doing much I can live with, if anything this is now acts as an overpriced sunscreen (£23.50 for 35ml), but having used it again recently I noticed at the end of the day that I had a lot more redness in the evening and small spots brewing, which suggests a few irritating ingredients in there: and I don't consider myself to have sensitive skin.

It's a shame because regular readers will know I am a huge fan of Urban Decay's Naked Collection, I own most of the products, but me and the BB cream just didn't hit it off. If you want to find out more info, or purchase, click the link!

Urban Decay 24/7 Concealer

There were a lot of wedding related beauty purchases, I think when I have got through them all I will have to have a round up post. So don't be surprised to have more posts starting with this line....

Another wedding-induced purchase was the Urban Decay 24/7 concealer, which came to my attention after my makeup artist recommended it to me.

This creamy concealer can be used under the eyes and for blemishes. It is blendable, and has a slightly silky texture, which provides great coverage without looking too thick or feeling greasy. I haven't had a problem with creasing around the eye, but I haven't experience this since switching to using the flawless airbrush concealer brush from Sephora. The wear time is good, I can get through a working day or a night out without needing to reapply.

My only complaint with it is the constant need to sharpen, which probably wastes a lot more product than necessary. You also need the specific sharpener from Urban Decay to do this, which the sales assistant didn't tell me when I bought it, and since I found this out when I was in Oman (where Urban Decay isn't available) I had a bit of a Twitter whinge about it when I realised. I ended up picking up Sephora's sharpener, which also works.

I use the shade NSA, which works well under my eyes and on blemishes, of course you could go a shade lighter for that bright-eyed look.

The 24/7 concealer costs £12 and can be found in department stores with Urban Decay stands or I'm sure their new store in Covent Garden.

Urban Decay Naked Flushed Palette

Naked Flushed was originally an extension to Urban Decay's Naked line, which has since been extended to include a total of four palettes.

I purchased the original after much back and forth about if it was something I really needed. I have plenty of blushes, bronzer and highlighters, but I didn't have them all in one, compact palette, so of course I decided I needed it. 

The colours are beautiful and pigmented, and the texture of the powders are all smooth and of the standard you expect from Urban Decay. The bronzer, which has a semi-matte finish, adds definition and warmth to the face and isn't at all orangy or muddy, and the rosy pink blush adds colour. As for the highlighter, who can't love a shimmery, champagne pink? It compliments the blush perfectly and completes the palette.

Although there are other colours in the flushed range now, I believe this is the most universally flattering and I like that each of the shades can be used individually or layered. There is no divide between each of the shades and, so far, I haven't had a problem with shimmer sneaking into the bronzer or blush when I have wanted to them alone.

At £22 I think this is a real beauty gem, on my recent holiday this was the only cheek product I carried because not only is it beautiful but it is also compact and fits into my makeup bag easily.

Naked Flushed can be purchased from Debenhams and House of Fraser stores, online from lookfantastic, and if you are in the Middle East get yours in Sephora. 

Beauty fix: Dubai haul

I'm back! Apologies for the unplanned break, I actually didn't realise just how long it had been since my last post.

Settling into a new life has been challenging, and one of the more challenging things is living without the British high-street! But, during a recent trip to Dubai, I managed to get a beauty fix with a small haul from Sephora and duty free.

Face of the day: Summer loving

I wish I could remember the ad that inspired this look. I remember seeing it and knowing I wanted to try it because it is wearable compared to a lot of makeup you see in adverts, and it looked simple enough for me to achieve.

In my opinion this look is crying out for summer sun and I suspect I'll be sporting this more than once when the sun does decide to shine. 

I started with the Naked palette on my eyes and a very simple and subtle smokey eye using the shade Sin on the lid and Buck in the crease, finished off with black eyeliner. 

On the lower lash line I used Bourjois Contour Clubbing waterproof eyeliner in the shade blue remix. It is a beautiful bright blue shade and I have loved wearing this recently as an edgy alternative to black eyeliner. The formular is soft and being waterproof I can wear it all day without worrying about it travelling down my face. 

On my lips I used a mix of Diego Dalla Palma’s coral lipstick, which I featured in a sample session a few weeks ago, and the Mirenesse perfect kiss glossy kiss I received in my first Birchbox. I'm still not convinced the DDP lipstick suits my skin tone but by adding the glossy kiss I was able to warm the colour up a bit and I really liked the result.

On the rest of my face I kept it fairly natural, I used Hello Flawless foundation by Benefit and lightly attempted to contour with Sleeks contour and highlight kit and finally added some bronzer. 

Can you tell which ad I was inspired by? If so, please let me know!

Sample session: Urban Decay Naked Foundation

After feeling inspired by Lisa Eldridge’s foundation video series, I decided to get my hands on a sample of Urban Decay’s Naked Skin foundation, which is the product that initially piqued my interest in trying liquid foundation again.

Urban Decay describe the Naked Skin as “weightless ultra definition liquid makeup,” which blurs imperfections to deliver a flawless finish that looks professionally retouched and feels invisible.

There are a total of 18 shades, each catering to different undertones, I was matched to shade 4, which is perfect for me. 

Aqua (Water/Eau), Cyclopentasiloxane, Butylene Glycol, Silica, Cyclohexasiloxane, Dimethicone, PEG/PPG-18/18 Dimethicone, Sodium Chloride, Camellia Oleifera Leaf Extract, Litchi Chinensis Pericarp Extract, Tocopheryl Acetate, Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate, Tribehenin, Palmitoyl Oligopeptide, Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-7, Sodium Hyaluronate, Glycerin, Dimethicone/PEG-10/15 Crosspolymer, Dimethicone/Polyglycerin-3 Crosspolymer, Isopropyl Titanium Triisostearate, Polysorbate 20, Disodium Cocoyl Glutamate, Sodium Cocoyl Glutamate, Propylene Glycol, Carbomer, Cetyl PEG/PPG-10/1 Dimethicone, Hexyl Laurate, Polyglyceryl-4 Isostearate, Caprylyl Glycol, Phenoxyethanol 

As you can probably tell from the picture the formulation is very watery but you only need a small amount of product to get a light to medium coverage and the foundation sets quickly. The foundation does have a very faint scent but it doesn’t linger. I applied using my fingers but have also used a brush to buff in the product.

The foundation gives a demi-matte finish and is very natural looking, so it is great for use on an everyday basis. I was told that the foundation is buildable but I didn’t find this to be the case. Although it was very good at evening out skin tone I needed to use a separate concealer for my scars.

Used alone, without primer or a setting with a powder, the wear time was between 6 to 8 hours, but using a primer I was able to wear it for over 12 hours without noticing any fading (with the exception of my scar).

I found that the foundation did highlight some of my driest patches, but overall on my dry skin I really liked the look and my skin felt smooth and hydrated throughout the day. I think that oily combination skin types will also like the finish and formulation of this and I had no problems with my skin breaking out in the week that I tested this. 

I am very tempted to purchase a full size bottle. At £27 it is expensive, but the formulation is worth it in my opinion.

If you are interested in Naked Skin I would definitely recommend getting a colour match and a sample from Urban Decay, the sample is meant to last over two weeks, which is plenty of time to get a feel for if you like the product.

Naked Skin can be purchased from Urban Decay online, Debenhams, House of Fraser, Beauty Bay and Look Fantastic.

Review: Urban Decay Naked Basics

Urban Decay are the only brand that manage to create products that I NEED to have, without a review or a swatch to help make up my mind. It happened with the original Naked palette and it happened once again with Naked Basics.

I've mentioned my love of nudes before, and my love of matte shades. Although I own a few they are tricky to get right in terms of colour payoff and texture. Some shades, no matter how good they look in the pan, end up looking grey and chalky on my skin tone.

But, Naked Basics has got it all just right. The shadows apply smoothly, are finely milled and the pigmentation is great and, as you can hopefully see from the swatches, the colours are true to what you see it the pan. They last best when applied over a primer, but even without they last around 6 hours before creasing.

The shades complement my skin tone well, with two of the shades (Foxy and W.O.S) almost matching my skin tone perfectly (Foxy has a slightly more yellow tone). The inclusion of the shade Venus, which has a slight shimmer, and is perfect as a highlight, is a good addition to the palette, I don't think that the palette needed to be all matte to be exactly everything the beauty world was waiting for. Naked 2, a taupe colour, is good as a transition shade or in the crease if you wanted something subtle. Faint is a great medium-brown crease colour and can be built up to make it darker and more dramatic. Finally, Crave looks black in the pan but is more like a very dark brown.

I see the combination of W.O.S, Naked 2 and Faint being my go to look, which is what I am wearing in the picture below.

Packaging wise, the palette is completely the opposite of Naked 1 and 2. I was surprised at how small the palette is, it is compact and slick looking and I know I won't be opting to leave this at home when I go away. 

The palette is £20, which I think is great value for 6 full sized shadows. I did miss the inclusion of a primer potion with the palette, but overall I guess that keeps the cost down.

From left to right: Venus, Foxy, W.O.S, Naked 2, Faint and Crave

I don't own all three Naked palettes so it is hard for me to comment on if you need to add this to your collection if you do own the other two. I personally think the original palette and Basics compliment one another well and I'm glad to have both.

So, do you NEED this palette in your collection? If you do, you have the chance to win one in my blog birthday giveaway here.

Blog birthday giveaway!

Today is my blogs second birthday! What started as a new years resolution with no real plan or thought has turned into something that gives me a lot of joy and a lot to be proud of.

I recently hit a few landmark numbers across various sites and as a huge thank you to those who comment, share and support my blog I wanted to give something back. Since the launch of the latest Urban Decay palette, Naked Basics, coincided so well, I knew that this would make the perfect prize.

To try and keep entering as easy as possible, I am using Rafflecopter. I only have one rule and that is that you have to be a follower. But, if you are a fan of my Facebook page, a Twitter follower or happy to leave a comment or Tweet that will get you an extra entry.

I'm going to leave the competition open for a month, which means it will close on 1 February 2013 and the winner will be announced soon after that. The giveaway is open internationally.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The naked look

Urban Decay’s Naked palette has been extensively swatched and reviewed in many blogs so I don’t feel the need to do that. I was lucky enough to pick one up when it first came out and it probably goes without saying that I love this palette. Any type of brown/neutral eye is my go to look

For this look I first used the NYX jumbo eye pencil in milk. Although the eye shadows are very pigmented I wanted the use the white base to really get the depth of the colours. I should have used a primer though because the base creased badly by the end of the evening.

 

I placed the colour ’sin’ on the inner third of the lid, followed by ‘half baked’ in the center and ’smog’ in the outer corner. I used a mixture of ’smog’ and ‘darkhorse’ in the outer corner and into the crease and made sure to blend all the colours well with a clean brush. I applied a thick line of liquid eyeliner on my upper lash line and lined my upper and lower water line with Urban Decay’s 24/7  eye pencil in zero. 

I also had my first attempt at applying false lashes. Having not used them before I cannot talk about the quality of the set I used. I am just glad that they stayed put all day and were much easier to remove than I expected. 

On the rest of the face I used Garnier BB cream, Afterglow cosmetics foundation to set, ELF eyebrow kit, and Sue Moxley shimmer brick. 

Would you like to see more Naked palette looks?