Review and Swatches: Urban Decay Naked Skin Foundation

Hello!

Here it is! After a week-long trial run, here's my verdict on the Urban Decay Naked Skin Foundation.

My Naked Skin Foundation, in Shade 1.0.

How much I used in doing these swatches.

Swatches. I still had some foundation on my fingertip after the first swipe (R)
so I did another swipe (L)

Here it is, blended out. I put the black lines there to show approximately what area was swatched but I can see now that the left one should be a bit further left. I didn't blend in the edges, so you could better see the area swatched.

This is my bugbear. You could see it on the first photo, but just to emphasise it,
I added this photo from side on showing the foundation level
with some dotted lines to make it clearer.
This is after only ONE WEEK of use.

Review: I've decided to take a bit of a different tack with this one. I've got all my usual categories, but I've split them up into Pros and Cons. Do you like this idea?

Pros:

• Colour: Firstly, this is my perfect match in terms of colour. No doubt about it. The Naked Skin foundation line has a wide range of colours (including deeper shades) so most people should be able to find a colour match. My shade is 1.0, the second lightest. Anything ending in .0 is a warm toned shade, anything ending in .5 is a cool toned shade. It's great that they cater for so many skin tones and undertones.
• Texture: This is very watery and it blends out easily.
• Finish: It gives a nice, natural finish. It's great for a perfect skin day where you want to look radiant and natural.
• Longevity: Lasts 9 hours without degrading on the skin. That's not perfect, but it's not bad, either. It does provide good oil control- I need to blot after 4 hours of wear, but it's not as much oil to blot as there used to be.
• Coverage: Can be mixed with my existing foundation for a better colour and more coverage.

Cons:

• Coverage: This provides very sheer coverage, so I'm using double the product to get the coverage I need. Have a look at my photo- that's how much foundation I managed to use in one week, even with mixing it with my old foundation sometimes and using concealer for my more heavy-duty coverage needs. I have never used so much product (volume-wise) in one week and I have very poor hopes for how long this will last. This would be great for someone with perfect skin who wants a bit of oil control and even more perfect and even skin.
• The other thing that really annoys me is Urban Decay's attitude to the matter. Many people have complained that there is not enough coverage to this foundation and they would like a foundation with better coverage released. Urban Decay's answer? That that's the great thing about this foundation- it's buildable! (Not a direct quote, but check their Facebook page if you care for greater accuracy.) Hello?! That's exactly what people are complaining about! Having to use twice the product and having to layer so much of it on to the skin! Their glib and marketing-oriented response, while typical of what I'd expect of many brands, isn't what I expected from Urban Decay and yes, it really did warrant it's own mini-rant.
• Finish: It sticks to dry patches like crazy. It will emphasise any dry patches on your skin, so exfoliate and moisturise first. This is not the foundation you use to cover breakouts or patchiness. Also, this isn't much of a con for me, as I'm very realistic about what makeup can and can't achieve, but it doesn't look like you're not wearing makeup as it settles to have a bit of a powdery finish. It's a lot more natural than my usual look, but you can see I am wearing foundation.
• Longevity: It does fill in my laugh lines by the end of the day, but pretty much everything does.
• Cost: Also, very similarly to the first point, having to use such a large volume of foundation makes this very expensive. The product is 30mLs but I'm getting, effectively, 15mL for my needs. At USD$38, that's too expensive. Add on shipping to Australia after you've bought it at a marked up price on Ebay and you've got an insanely expensive foundation. I really hope Urban Decay does a second release with greater pigmentation.

Final Verdict:

I'm going to split this so you can have a verdict based on your foundation needs.

For those who only need sheer coverage, this foundation is for you. It gets an A. It's blendable, gives a nice finish and comes in a wide variety of shades.

My personal view, because it's a perfect colour match, is that despite the poor coverage, it gets a B-. I am undertaking a new skin regimen and hope my skin clears up soon, so this high-ish* grade is also based on hope that it will be good for me in the future.
*Don't think a B- is high? Read the next paragraph.

For those who already have a foundation that matches perfectly and need good coverage, the simple message is that you don't need this foundation and it would be a waste of money to buy it.  It gets a F.

xo
Anna