I've been promising a proper review of Yves Saint Laurent Perfect Touch Radiant Touch Foundation, €46, for ages, after using it in several FOTDs recently, so hey ho bitches! Here it is.
This is a product I'd tried when it launched several years ago and was distinctly whelmed by at the time. Fast forward a (fair) few seasons and I'm finding my feelings are radically altered. I'd never have otherwise chosen to buy or go back to this, but I was given a new tube of it at the launch of the seven shades of Touche Eclat in April, and was properly colour matched by a makeup artist at the same time, so decided to give it another whirl. This is part of the brand's radiance essentials collection and as such is designed to work well with Touche Eclat, by the way.
So, not expecting much, I opened, squeezed and applied. And I really, really love it. I think a few years ago the coverage level (I was a firm Mac Studio Fix fluid fan a the time) just didn't cut the mustard, but I've reduced the amount of foundation I wear since then and now coverage is perfect. It's not sheer, but neither is it medium or full. It's somewhere shy of medium (and is very adjustable and buildable) but you while you can see skin through it - so you get a realistic, non mask-looking result, a must in my base-books - it does very effectively cover blemishes and uneven skintone.
Swatches and how it looks on (lipstick is Revlon Pink About It, fact fans)
I was shade matched to number 4 Sand, which is absolutely right for me. What's so nice about this is that it's so bloody natural. It's not dewy, it's not matte, it's not even satin-finished. It just looks like lovely nice skin. I don't have to finish it with powder as I'm finding it sets excellently and so doesn't need any. Because my skin is dry, longevity is honestly not something I can ever assess with most makeup - it just stays there unless I rub it off - and this is in situ until I cleanse it back off in the evening.
Advertised
The brand claims it's suitable for all skintypes and normally I'd scoff at that sort of sweeping statement but this probably will do the business for you if you're anywhere on the dry/normal/combination or lightly sebum-prone spectrum because of the set-factor and because the finish isn't dewy. Very oily types might find it doesn't last on them so well, however.
Ugh ...
Anything bad? Oh god, the brush. I hate the brush. There's absolutely no real point to this brush except to tie it logically to Touche Eclat. The brush actually takes from this product quite considerably because its presence adds two pieces of unnecessary hassle:
- you have to remember to turn the top 'on' and 'off' to dispense the foundation into the brush - which squeezes through just one aperture, so doesn't disperse well through the bristles. If you forget to turn it back off again, it goes everywhere
- the brush gets smelly, and you have to wash it
The brush doesn't bring anything to the party and it doesn't even apply the product nicely. I squeeze it out onto the back of my hand and apply with fingers - I get a far nicer result that way. This would be so much better presented in a bottle or pump, it just mystifies me as to why it's in this format.
Anything else? Yeah, it's hella expensive. Now, you DO get 40ml for your €46, which is 10ml more than a normal foundation, so there's some justification for the cost, and it goes give a great finish. And I do really like it. And it is really nice.
Advertised
So is it worth it? Oh yeah, definitely - if you have the cash.
