Urban Decay Naked Skin Foundation Review: Tried, Tested,Compared with YSL La Teint Touche Eclat

We went mental for the new YSL foundation – read about it here and here – and the new Urban Decay has been drawing some inevitable comparisons. I’ve had both to play with and while there are some obvious similarities around price, packaging and promises, the products are much less similar than I thought on first swatch.

Both come housed in sleek cylinders with a pump applicator; the YSL bottle is heavy glass, while Urban Decay’s is plastic. This makes it more portable, but less expensive feeling – and there’s just one euro in the difference. Naked Skin is €37; La Teint Touche Eclat €38 (and both are out now).

Shade choice is brilliant across both brands with an amazeballs 22 hues from YSL and a still-impressive 17 from Urban Decay, and both brands cater for different undertones. (Wondering if you're warm, cool or neutral? Check out this post).

With Naked Skin, shades ending in .0 are warmer, and those that finish with .5 are for cooler skintypes; I have 3.0 but it's a tad too yellow. I'd say 3.5 is my shade - I'm BD10 in La Teint Touche Eclat and, though it looks too light for me in the bottle, it's perfect on my skin.

I'm not wearing highlighter in the YSL pic but I am in the Urban Decay shot - this Lancome lovely in fact.

Texture wise, they're both very thin liquids, spreading easily on the skin. YSL’s has a slight serum-like consistency – the formula is free of opaque powders, which have been replaced with a soft focus gel. Both feel weightless and very comfortable to wear, and they’re both great for layering and for building up to the coverage level you’d like - though, in the case of the YSL product, this is only true up to a point.

And that's really the main point of difference: the finish. Naked Skin gives a natural-but-polished, real skin finish, with medium coverage that can be built up to full. On my combo-to-oily skin it lasts 8-9 hours, without a primer. It's perfect for the working day.

La Teint Touche Eclat gives a much more radiant, luminous look, with light to medium levels of coverage, and it doesn't last as long on my skin - I get around 5-6 hours wear before it needs another layer to top up. Flattering and luxurious, this is one I'm keeping for nights out on the town.

They're both really very lovely in their own ways. Tried either of 'em? Let's compare and contrast in the comments!