YSL Le Teint Touche Éclat Foundation swatches / reviewlet

***for this review bear in mind I'm currently at my most tanned: just on the lighter side of MAC NC/W15)

Le Teint Touche Éclat is YSL's new flagship foundation, to cash in on match their cult bestselling Touche Éclat brightener/concealer click pen. It comes in 22 shades, divided into three undertones (pink beige rose BR, neutral beige B and yellow beige doré BD), and retails for £28 for a standard 30ml in a glass pump bottle, with yon expected YSL gold blingy cap.

In the UK this is out by now at all the usual places (Boots, Selfridges, Debenhams, John Lewis, House of Fraser etc.) and a week's sample is yours for the asking. I noticed when testing the palest shades that the depths are staggered between the three undertones: Beige Rose (pink) runs palest, Beige Dore (yellow) darkest. I'm not sure if this difference carries on into darker shades [anyone care to weigh in via comments?] but there is a huge gulf between the three 10 shades:

Laura Mercier Silk Creme Soft Ivory as a reference, then YSL Le Teint Touche Éclat BR10, B10 and BD10. In my opinion, B10 is more of a warm yellow than neutral and B10 is very warm yellow (both are much warmer than the yellow in LM Soft Ivory), while BR10 is less cool pink than neutral peach, but still warmer and a hair darker than Soft Ivory.

The top pic (with flash) shows that the YSL finish is a lot dewier than Silk Creme's satin-matte, while the bottom pic (natural light) displays Silk Creme's superiority at evening out skin texture (see how bumpy the three YSL swatches seem next to it?)

As the YSL official blahblah has it,

With no opaque powders, its perfecting texture evens the complexion and helps conceal your imperfections, while enhancing your skin’s natural beauty.

• Illuminating foundation. Dimensional radiance. Weightless perfection. 

....and that's pretty much the case. It's a fairly watery-gel formula which offers sheer (just about buildable to light-medium) coverage and gives a healthy skin-like finish on my very dry skin, so on most it would translate as glowy if not all-out dewy.
In my opinion, Le Teint Touche Éclat is pretty meh. It doesn't feel radically weightless like Estée Lauder Invisible and does absolutely nothing for skin texture. It's true I've been spoilt lately being able to dabble in all the exquisite future-tech Japanese formulations in Hong Kong, but I honestly
don't think this YSL offering even measures up against a really good Western drugstore formula like Bourjois Healthy Mix (which offers more coverage while looking and feeling just as light on the skin).
For me, the strong synthetic 'cucumber' scent (which lingers for a few hours after application) is another point against it.

Ingredients

In practice:

Bare face

'Fortuntely' my post-25hr-flight is somewhat bumpy and spotty, with helpful flaky and ruddy bits:

Wearing YSL Beige B10, applied with a flat paddle foundation brush: it evens out my skin slightly without really doing anything for the actual blemishes (red spots in middle of eyebrows, cheek and chin are still as obvious) or even the more serious patches of uneven pigmentation on my nose. Separate blemish-concealer definitely needed.

A more natural distance shows the mismatch between my face and neck with this shade: I would eyeball it as somewhere between NC15-20.

A better match for me currently (tanned for summer, remember) is Beige Rose BR10, which I would peg as a more neutral shade a little lighter than MAC NW15:

(I added spot concealer as needed here, pic is just to illustrate shade match, not coverage)

As it's functioning as our reference, and also as it's my perfect match right now (I usually have to mix with white/pink): Laura Mercier Silk Creme in Soft Ivory, offering far more coverage than the YSL without looking unnatural.

no spot-concealing needed, redness go bye-bye!

no floating head syndrome, woot!

Red & Blue with Addiction & THREE

The blue in question is THREE Flash Performance Liner 04 Eye Belong (original swatch); here's how it sits against some other blurple liners I own:

GOSH Waterproof Eyeshadow Love that Purple is a creamy, twist-up eyeshadow/liner a la By Terry / Topshop and Laura Mercier. It's the truest purple of the bunch, with a smooth texture and an ultra-fine sparse pink microshimmery sheen that makes is look warmer in the shade (bottom pic). 
Purple Stain is another GOSH shade, from their Velvet Touch eyeliner range. Are you can see, it's rather uneven and tends to separate into orchid base and bluer sheen. (This shade is not representative of the Velvet Touches, which are generally excellent: smoothly pigmented, blendable and long-lasting.)
THREE Eye Belong is a platonic complex blurple satin base with cornflower, pink and cool gold shimmer; it manages to be at once the smoothest/creamiest and most texturally interesting and most uniformly pigmented.
As the shaded (bottom) picture shows, Rouge Bunny Rouge Vera Eye Kohl (earlier swatch) shares a blackened base with Eye Belong, but precious little else. Although it has a definite purple iris tone and subtle metallic sheen, next to Eye Belong Vera looks almost like a flat navy. Oooold readers may remember that this kohl was the one that converted me to all pencil liners late last year; it's always a bit sad when a new favourite supplants a reigning one but I have to say the otherworldly THREE texture makes the RBR kohl feel almost dry in contrast. (However, unlike the shimmery THREE, Vera is waterline safe, and it definitely retains a place in my stash and my heart.)

It turned out the closest thing in my collection to Eye Belong is Fyrinnae Shinigami, except that Eye Belong looks even more complex (those who are familiar with Fyrinnae sparklies will know just how radical that is) because it adds pale gold to the mix of pink and blue glitter, and because the glitter stands out more from the base (again, not in a way you can feel -- no grittiness here):

Although Shinigami isn't one of Fyrinnae's Arcane Magic shades, it still shifts significantly depending on lighting conditions: in the bottom picture (warm afternoon sunlight) its warmth is more apparent in contrast to Eye Belong.


Next, reds, both from Addiction's C (colour) Lipstick range: Last Scene (soft, warm but still somewhat clear) and Monroe Walk (bright, clear, slightly cooler than neutral):

(Despite the bright glossifying lighting in this picture, in reality both are satin-matte.)

Some comparisons, mainly with Lancôme Colour Design Matte lipsticks, my former favourite matte formula:

Addiction Monroe Walk is closest to Lancôme Red Haute but it's brighter and slightly less cool: its pinky undertone is a slightly warmer, more coral version, and has affinities too with Lancôme's Corset, which is warmer still and more rosily muted. Suqqu Creamy Glow Karakurenai is closest to my idea of the perfect neutral red, so swatched for reference, to show up the brightness and pinkness of the other three.

I don't own as many warm reds as I do cool, but hopefully enough to show that Lancôme Red Addiction is warmer and deeper (both in tone and saturation) than Addiction Last Scene. RMS Rapture is darker, warmer and browner still, for those 90s cravings, while Revlon's classic Fire & Ice is warmer (orange) but also lighter and pop-brighter.
(also, red swatches from this Feburary, which included Last Scene)

There are a few minor ways in which the Addiction mattes edge out the Lancôme ones for me: absolutely weightless, the Addictions hug the lips uniquely, adding pure pigment without texture, and also last longer, eventually fading perfectly evenly. They are really more like stain/lipstick hybrids, whereas Lancôme CDM's, while wonderful, are more like conventional lipsticks, with the usual tricks of silicone-suspended pigment which allow a smoother initial application, but which do not set and stain, or feel undetectable.
The single major way in which the Addictions win out for me is their versatility. The Lancômes are so smoothly pigmented they are actually very tricky to sheer out while still looking pretty (i.e. not patchy), but the unique weightless Addiction texture makes it a snap to adjust the opacity.

Monroe Walk applied as a sheer stain, then built up to full

ditto, Last Scene

Even at its most opaque, Last Scene retains a softness that makes it unique to my collection; I tend to wear in combination with softer eyeshadow colours (as in this older look) or hazy placements, e.g. with THREE Eye Belong blended all over the lid and then a second layer smudged along the lashes:

sorry, skin was a bit spotty/dull for a while post-flight

A slightly more vivid take, keeping the THREE pencil closer to the lashline, though still smoked out a little. Also, although I applied Last Scene with a lipbrush, I did use a finger tip to soften the edges just a little.

Also added RBR Sea of Clouds highlighter to bring up the dewy brightness

Conversely, Monroe Walk somehow retains a vivid, optimistic brightness even worn as a matte stain. A retro precise-yet-rounded shape seemed obvious but hey, I like obvious, especially paired with a slightly dropped wing (again with Eye Belong: it's versatile, capiche?)

Shu Pink/Purple Mousse for that glowy-matte finish. Burberry Earthy to fake that classical beauty bone structure :P 

Eye close-up: very naturalistic contouring with the opalescent grey from Shiseido Fire over lid, RBR Bohemian Waxwing in socket, and GOSH white kohl for a very clean lower lashline.

Catchup 2: Back in the jug agayne

Or, home :D I've missed the smell of London grey-greenery so much. Still keep opening the window to take big gulps.

Mishmash of a post today (unlike, uh, every other day) featuring:

1. My long-haul flight skincare routine.

2. Preview of some things that were waiting for me, and for you, once I get round to blogging about 'em.

Airplane Routine

I never fly long-haul wearing makeup, but still need a no-rinse cleanser to remove sunscreen once on board and settled in. This trip it was a decant of Avène's Extremely Gentle Cleanser, but Bioderma Crealine does the trick too. Muji cottons are cheap, soft and separable into 4 plies -- they are smooth enough for my sensitive skin to tolerate and absolutely lint-free (my mother's discovery -- she finds them just as good as Shiseido's/Suqqu's, and my favourite Suqqu SA agrees :P) 

Other essentials: a hair tie for ablutions / general avoidance of Ko-fro upon landing and wet wipes (these are fabulously cheap, daintily-sized Japanese ones, alcohol- and fragrance-free, from Sasa) for clean hands before...

The Routine Proper

This all fits into the designated clear plastic bag, with room to spare. The largest of these is 30ml.

Which consists of: 

• whatever oil will absorb immediately without stickiness for your skin, massaged into face, neck and hands (for me, Desert Essence Jojoba which comes in a travel-sized plastic bottle, is most convenient)
• light-textured eye cream: Korres Materia Herba
• light moisturiser: Biotherm Travel Recharge, which is the kind of overly-specifically-marketed product I usually dismiss as gimmicky, but which actually does exactly what it promises, ameliorating the effects of cabin air. I'm grateful to Beauty Free for introducing me to this and thankfully, its unpleasant stale-airplane-interior scent dissipates quickly.
• Blistex Relief Cream, my emergency lip treatment -- a long-haul flight is an emergency as far as my lips are concerned.
• top-ups as necessary / impulse to fidget dictates: moisturising eye drops (Boots Essentials doesn't promise whitening/brightening etc., so it simply soothes and never stings), a regular light lipbalm (currently Mentholatum Q10), non-sticky light hand cream (Coen Rich Q10 White).
• multi-purpose sunscreen: La Roche Posay Anthelios XL SPF50+ stick for when the shutters get raised. It's tempting to skip this figuring sun exposure will be minimal, but if you're sun-sensitive, being strapped to your window seat while flying above clouds for hours without protection is no fun. Also, planes get delayed, unexpected things happen, Kindles break down while your straightfoward 14-hour flight devolves into a 25-hour kafkaesque odyssey.... just bring the sunscreen, its ingredients list is another something to read.

(Slightly different selection principles apply here than to my usual skincare: apart from dinky-plastic-squeezy-secure-cap packaging considerations, I favour lighter textures applied more frequently for flights, because 1. I actually have the time to reapply and 2. my usual rich creamy things act as unholy airplane lint-magnets and usually require depotting/canting. Which, yeah okay, can be managed, but who needs another fussy thing like that on their pre-departure to-do list?)

Not strictly necessary but nice to have

I keep my nails short so don't usually have any luggage-related mishaps but like to bring a nail file just in case....) this Japanese one is delightfully compact and comma-shaped (regular readers will recognise my favourite punctuation mark, tied with the hyphen :P)

The eyebrow pencil (Shu Hard 9 Stone Grey) is a new addition -- for the first time in my life (thanks, grown-up stress moulting!) filling in brows has become a necessity rather than a case of optional polish. An evergreen necessity, purely motivated by vanity: mini eyelash curler. Curled lashes are my security blanket OKAY? Especially when wearing glasses, they open up my eyes better than any eyeshadow and a slight kink stops my lashes from being smooshed against the lenses when I blink. (This one's a Sephora freebie, I've also ones from Laura Mercier and Muji floating around, all of which work equally well.)

Flying also means slightly different beauty base zero requirements: I wear glasses, which do a fine job of hiding undereye circles, while placing more focus on the lips. So a bit of tinted lipbalm (Fresh Sugar Honey contributes the perfect warmth to liven up my cool pink-mauve lips) completes the pre-disembarkation spiffying.

2. Teasers

Selections from the leviathan mound of birthday parcels awaiting me on my return, and then some

French / Canadian / French-Canadian treats

European drugstore gems I'm eager to explore further

deliciously soft hand-dyed unbrushed Orkney Angora wool/angora DK

 usual catholic mishmash of reading material

I was very fortunate to obtain this discontinued Suqqu single: EX-22

Armed with a birthday gift card, I lucked in on Liberty's Buy 3 Get 1 Free Ellis Faas offer. The lovely SA also threw in an extra concealer in my shade when I told her of my problems with the click mechamism.