A very radiant face for you, today, using YSL’s relaunched Touche Éclat Le Teint foundation. The new Touche Éclat Le Teint has been reformulated in response to customer feedback to provide the same glowy finish but with a more comprehensive coverage – it’s perfect for me when I have limited time (erm, every day) but want a radiant and flawless finish. I love a very natural look, but looking after the baby and trying to fit in all of my work does leave me looking rather dull and knackered and so I welcome a foundation that manages to lift my complexion as well as hiding any unevenness and darkness around the eyes. An “awake face”, if you will.

I’ve gone in with all guns blazing, here, and not only used the Touche Éclat Le Teint foundation but primed my skin with the Touche Éclat Blur Primer, balanced out my sallowness with the Touche Éclat Neutralizers and added extra brightness beneath the eyes and brows with the original, iconic Touche Éclat pen. Blimey. Here’s a before-and-after, taken in daylight:

You can see that the various Touche Éclats really do bounce back a gorgeous, diffused glow – this isn’t surface shimmer or sheen, but a proper light-reflecting action. I’m pretty sure that when I was on a shoot with YSL a couple of years ago, the slogan for Touche Éclat was something along the lines of “eight hours of sleep with just one click” (or similar!) and it really does work as a cosmetic antidote to tiredness. If only it could work that kind of magic on the inside of my head as well as the outside. I suppose that’s what coffee is for, though I don’t drink it – never even sipped one!

I started off with the Touche Éclat Blur Primer to smooth out my skin and prep it for the rest of the base and then I went in with the Neutralizers in Violet and Apricot. I have to admit to getting a bit silly with the neutralizers and drawing a sort of cat’s whiskers pattern on my face, but I was trying to amuse the baby, so.

I’m well-versed in the wonders of an apricot or peach-toned corrector – brilliant for under the eyes – but was sceptical about the violet. For sallowness? I had never come across that before. Luckily, because I had scribbled it all over my face, it worked really well – the cool tone seems to add a very clean brightness to the skin.

And then to the foundation: I use shade BR20 in the Touche Éclat Le Teint. (In the summer months I’d be a 30, I think, but I’m still in winter mode.) In the photo above I’m buffing the foundation in using the YSL Y-Brush, which is for getting a very full coverage, but for a lighter effect I usually blend with fingertips. No need for a separate concealer with this, but I did dot some Touche Éclat Slogan Pen beneath my eyes and brows to really brighten up any shadows.

Important to note, with the Touche Éclat pen, that you should pat-pat-pat the product into the skin and not swipe. It seems like a long-winded way of doing things, but I promise that proper application pays off. It’s not like a big thick concealer that will sit on the skin even if you wipe it about; it’s a sheer fluid that needs to be delicately settled so that it can reflect the light properly. Think of it as a fine veil that sits over the skin – it can be applied over foundation, over a concealer if you have very dark circles or just onto bare skin for a subtle, non-shimmery highlight.

After my army of Touche Éclats I plumped out my lips with the amazing Rouge Volupté Shine lip colour in shade 44. I’m new to this Oil-in-Stick formula but it’s love at first use, for me; a cushiony-soft formula that feels moisturising and luxurious to apply.

To finish off, I added a bit of a flush to my cheeks with YSL’s Fusion Ink Blush, blending it in with my fingertips for a natural, healthy look.

I’d like to say “and that’s all”, but this look hasn’t exactly been minimalist – I have utilised all of YSL’s magical brighteners in my quest for the ultimate “awake face”. And I shall be utilising all of these again next week when – wait for it! – I will be at the YSL counter in John Lewis, London Oxford Street, waiting to meet any of you who fancy popping by! It’s my first meet-up in over a year so you’ll have to excuse me if I bore you all to death about my baby. I promise to talk about beauty too. Ha.

I will be at the YSL Beauty counter in John Lewis, Oxford Street from 4pm until 8pm on Tuesday 17th May and readers who stop by will be colour matched and then receive a seven day sample of the new foundation to take away. There will also be YSL makeup artists on hand for makeovers and bubbles – I’ll be partaking in both of those things! I can’t wait to see you, old readers and new.

You can find all of the products used above at ylsbeauty.co.uk

*this post has been sponsored by YSL.