YSL Touche Eclat Radiant Touch Highlighter Review!

 

YSL Touche Eclat #1 Radiant Touch

Item Description: Light, luminosity, radiance. The award winning, must-have, take anywhere instant highlighter that banishes shadows, erases signs of fatigue and leaves your skin looking radiant. Touche Éclat is 8 hours of sleep in a pen - the one item no woman can be without.

Touche Éclat is ideal at any time of the day over bare skin, under or over foundation, crème or powder. Use this best-selling pen-brush around the eye area, the hollow of the chin, the contour of the lips and the sides of the nose. Just slip it into your bag to ensure a brilliant glow, anytime, anywhere. Suitable for all skin types.

Touche Eclat comes in four shades to suit your individual skin tone:

1) Luminous Radiance (for fair/ light/ medium complexions with pink undertones)

2) Luminous Ivory (for fair/ light/ medium complexions with yellow or golden undertones)

3) Light Peach (for warm and golden beige complexions)

4) Luminous Toffee (for deep complexions)

Here are swatches of all of the shades, courtesy of Karla Sugar.

This is an item I've been wanting to try for the longest time. While I was waiting in line to check out, the rack with miscellaneous travel items caught my eye. I immediately picked up the touche eclat and swatched it on my hand. The only shade available at that Sephora location was shade #1 Luminous Radiance, which is a universally flattering light, peachy-pink shade.

It has a very creamy, milky consistency. The brush is actually very soft, and isn't exactly useless like most of the brushes of similar applicators. I use 1-2 clicks and dot it under my eyes after I've already applied concealer and foundation, and smooth it out with a small concealer brush or I pat it in my skin lightly with my ring finger until it's blended.

I also like to run it down the bridge of my nose and under the arch of my brows for a subtle highlight.

Some people argue this is not a concealer, but it does conceal a bit. The coverage is very minimal, so if you have severe darkness, it should be used in conjunction with a concealer. It's like a light concealer and highlighter all-in-one. In contrast to Benefit High Beam which is also a pearly pink highlighter, Benefit only highlights, it doesn't conceal, and its also a lot more luminescent than the Touche Eclat. Touch Eclat is a lot more natural.

It really does make me look more awake and it does an awesome job brightening so no darkness shows through. I was looking at a tutorial on the YSL site which was very helpful. You can also apply this around your lips to make them more defined.

Overall, great product. I'd love to try shades 2 and 3 as well.

Price: $40, 0.1 oz.

Make Up For Ever Eyebrow Corrector Review, Photos and Swatches!

Make Up For Ever Waterproof Eyebrow Corrector

Make Up For Ever Waterproof Eyebrow Corrector ($20) is a waterproof eyebrow defining cream in a tube. Fills, defines, and intensifies brows with natural-looking, stay-put color. The result remains flawless throughout the day and holds up under all conditions (water, heat, etc).

The Make Up For Ever Waterproof Eyebrow Corrector is available in (4) shades: No.1 (light taupe brown), No. 2 (medium warm brown), No. 3 (dark ash brown) and No. 4 (dark brown black). No. 3, a deep, milk chocolate brown is a perfect match for my dark brown hair.

I was skeptical about this product because I've never used a cream product on my brows. The last thing I want is for my eyebrows to look fake or painted on. But, when I was at Sephora, one of the sales associates actually told me it's what she uses on her brows and her brows looked very natural and put-together.

The trick with making this product look natural is by only using the tiniest bit. And when I'm saying tiny, I mean the tiniest drop you can get. A little goes a very long way - even the residue left on the tip of the tube goes a long way.

Any brow brush will do, but I like using a small angled, firm brow brush. I usually start by tracing the underside of my brows (the area that should be the most harsh) and with whatever is left on the brush, make small brush strokes in the sparse areas until the brow is completely filled in.

What's great about this cream is that you can control how light or dark you want it to be. The more product you apply, the darker/harsher your brows will be, and the less product you use, the lighter and more natural your brows will appear.

The product dries fairly quickly to a matte finish.

The lasting power is amazing! My brows don't budge all day. I'm sure it'd be great for oily skin types or you live in a hot/humid climate and you have a problem with your brows melting off! haha.

Make Up For Ever Brow Corrector can be found at Sephora for $19.

Various swatches of #3; as you can see, the color differs with the amount of product used. 

Here is my eyebrow before and after using the Eyebrow Corrector in shade #3.

Have you tried this product?

Sephora Platinum #55 Airbrush Review!

Sephora Platinum #55 Airbrush

I'm not sure how I got lured into purchasing this brush.. but I did. It is the much talked about airbrush from Sephora. I LOVE Sephora's platinum pro silver handle brushes.. they are all so soft and of really good quality. They are a little more pricey than the regular black handled Sephora brushes.. but if you're looking to invest hundreds in brushes.. these are just as good, if not better than MAC brushes. This brush is said to work hand in hand with Make Up Forever's HD Foundation. It really does work well. This brush is incredibly soft and applies the foundation wonderfully. Through the application the brush stayed soft and the bristles never clumped together. It is also pretty sturdy.. the bristles didn't get pressed down or bend while applying. For Make Up Forever HD, this works better than the duo-fiber stipple brush (for me at least). I find that with thinner consistency foundations this brush works really well. I like using this for Make up Forever Face and Body Foundation as well. For thicker foundations, I still prefer my stipple brush. It definitely made applying foundation a lot quicker.. and I love how its shaped so you can really get close to your eyes and around your brow area well. Overall, I wasn't blown away with this brush, but it's definitely a really nice synthetic foundation brush to have in your collection in opposition to a regular flat brush or the duo-fibre brush. I'm glad I purchased it. 

Have you tried this brush? What are your thoughts?

Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation Review!

Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation 6.5

As I mentioned in post a few weeks ago, I decided to purchase a long time lust of mine. Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation. At $58.00 for a 1 oz bottle, I was very reluctant to purchase it. But, I finally decided to treat myself to a bottle when the website had a 20% off promotion. I would of done a review sooner, but I had only used it a couple times because I haven't gone out at all since I started my job.. and its too expensive for daily wear. I wore it today though, to really test it out and see how I like it!

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION: As seen in the press, capture the glow of perfect skin with this award-winning foundation. Luminous Silk foundation is an oil-free fluid with exclusive Micro-fil technology. So weightless, it redefines foundation. Its hydrating fluid glides on seamlessly with a silky texture and all-day, buildable coverage. For all skin types.

• weightless and luminous oil-free fluid
• natural finish
• all-day sheer to moderate coverage

Application techniques:

Apply with the unique blender brush for a radiant, air-brushed finish.

Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation 6.5

Swatches of Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation, courtesy of Karlasugar.

First of all, I didn't do much research on this product other than knowing it has a really high rating on Makeupalley. While I was waiting for it in the mail, I started to do some research. I had no idea the coverage was sheer to medium. That made me a little nervous because I never purchase sheer foundations. I always purchase buildable medium coverage foundations. They work better for me for an airbrushed look and seem to have a longer lasting power.

The way I applied this was I first prepped my face with moisturizer and then I put one pump of foundation on a clean palette. I used my MAC 187 brush and stippled it all over my face and then buffed my face in light, circular motions. Because its a light foundation, I needed a few pumps to get the desired coverage I wanted.

Thankfully, it didn't seem at all sheer to me. At the moment, my skin is fairly clear, except for a few pimples that are in the process of healing and a little redness in my cheeks. This foundation covered all of that. No redness from my pimple blemishes showed through. My skin was completely flawless. I would say the coverage is a solid medium.

The beautiful thing about this foundation is, it makes it look like I've applied an iluminating tinted moisturizer on completely perfect skin. It doesn't look like a heavy foundation. It just makes my skin appear like I have naturally good, clear skin. And I love that about this! A very natural flawless.

The color is PERFECT for me. It matches my neck to the point. I got the shade 6.5 (Tawny). For reference, I am a MAC NC37-40. A problem that I always have is finding a foundation with the right amount of yellow. If the foundation is the slightest bit pink or peachy, it will not match me. This has the perfect amount of yellow.

Here's a swatch on my hand of shade # 6.5.

Because this makes my skin look fresh and radiant, I like pairing it with a cream bronzer as opposed to a powder. The bronzer I've been pairing this foundation is my Chanel Bronze Universel, and they go together perfectly.

This foundation also claims to be dewy, but on me, it is more of a satin. I don't need much setting powder, just a little on my nose, around my frown lines and under my eyes. The staying power is wonderful, and it doesn't seem to disappear throughout the day. Only after several hours, I'll notice the tip of my nose needs touching up.

I'm definitely adding this to my list of favorite foundations. I think its perfect for days you want to do heavy eye makeup without looking like you have tons of makeup all over your face. Will definitely repurchase!

Follow up (a year later): I am still loving this foundation. A while after this review, I started using my fingers instead of a brush to apply.. and I really like the outcome. I never used my fingers to apply any foundation since I was in high school.. but one day while I was in a hurry, I put a couple of pumps in my hand and applied it quickly to my face as if I was applying moisturizer. I was surprised to see, my face looked as flawless as when I use my brush. By the end of the night, my forehead and nose get shiny.. so i do find it necessary to use a setting powder. This foundation remains a favorite.