Thursday 11 July 2013

Urban Decay - Naked Skin Foundation





It's been a while since I posted anything. I've been trying out Urban Decay's Naked Skin Foundation, and, as usual with foundations, I like to test things out for a while before committing my review.

What initially attracted me to Naked Skin was its promise of giving the effect of healthy, gorgeous skin without feeling heavy. As much as I absolutely adore my Kat Von D foundation, the idea of something that felt barely there was really appealing, what with warmer weather on the horizon.

Shade matching was a relatively painless task - Shade 1.0 is pale with undertones that lean more towards the yellow side. My first instinct was right - 1.0 is a great match for me. 0.5 would have been far too pink, anything that pink doesn't look at all flattering on me.




The fact that Naked Skin comes in a bottle with a pump is great - less waste, less mess, easier to travel with. Because of the fairly runny texture, which is far more liquid than my KVD, you won't need to pump an awful lot out should you  need to add just a tiny amount in certain areas.



As far as application goes, it does apply quite easily - there's time to play with it before it sets into place on your skin. Having tried the optical blurring brush that's recommended to accompany this foundation, I think I prefer my Illamasqua Highlight brush - I've yet to find a foundation that it doesn't apply well.

Coverage is where I start having issues. I'm very much a medium-to-full coverage kind of girl. Whilst Naked Skin is touted as being buildable, it is also very sheer. I found myself having to apply two or three times to get anywhere near coverage I was vaguely happy with. Even after that, I still need to use concealer in conjunction with it. Yes, I'm probably far too used to my KVD and its full coverage glory, but I would have preferred this to be a little heavier in the coverage department. I suspect that could lead to sacrificing the weightless feel, though.

Appearance-wise - yes, it looks really nice once it's applied. It takes a few minutes to dry down enough to powder my t-zone without smudging or smearing, but once it does, it has a lovely natural skin finish to it.
Basically, it's a semi-matte - not matte enough to be flat or dull, but not dewy enough to scare away those of us with the dreaded oily t-zone problem.
Primer does tend to make a big difference with this foundation. Some primers get along better with it than others.

Wear-time is another issue. I found this to last 6 hours, 7 at a push, if I don't get too warm. Once again, my views are probably slightly skewed by the glorious KVD foundation, which stays on and stays looking great. Naked Skin has a tendency to look a little patchy over time if I get too warm. Spraying a mattifying setting spray prior to application does help a little here, but it doesn't solve this problem completely.
I also found this to transfer a little, not so much that you'll notice bare patches of skin, but you will notice foundation marks on your phone screen, for example.

Would I repurchase this? Despite the shade being a great match for me, no, I probably wouldn't. Although the wear-time does factor into this, it's mainly due to the coverage. Whilst it feels & looks good, having to layer it & still use concealer adds extra time to my make-up routine. Even then, I'm still not 100% happy with the coverage.

I would say that should you require the bare minimum in terms of coverage, Naked Skin is well worth checking out.



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