After you apply a tiny little bit (a dime size) of the balm cream to the external vulva, 10-20 minutes later, you may notice moisture secreted inside the vagina. This may be more than enough.
If you do not notice sufficient moisture, your dryness may be very severe, and you may need a longer-term treatment.
You can apply the balm cream daily for several days or several weeks until you notice moisture. But do not overapply. Overapplication can cause intolerance (itching and burning).
This article explains how it works: https://help.neueve.com/kb/how-it-works/to-relieve-vaginal-dryness-how-can-the-cream-applied-on-the-outside-benefit-deep-inside
Once you are on NeuEve routinely (daily with the balm and twice a week with the Silk suppositories), you may not need any lubes.
But if you still have painful sex, you may have severe atrophy that no lubes can help. Only NeuEve can help you reverse atrophy, but it may take a longer time use to achieve a full recovery.
You can speed up the recovery by adding dilation exercise. Click on the links below to read articles:
https://help.neueve.com/kb/how-it-works/how-does-dilation-exercise-help-relieve-vaginal-atrophy
https://help.neueve.com/kb/how-to-use-dilator-with-neueve/how-to-use-dilators-with-neueve
You can use NeuEve balm cream as a lube, but it may not be an effective use of the product, because the NeuEve balm cream is much more than a lube.
https://www.neueve.com/blogs/blog/why-is-neueve-better-than-a-lube-or-jelly