YSL Touche Éclat Radiant Touch Highlighting Pen | Review

Hi everyone!

Today I'm going to review this 'Touche Éclat' highlighting pen by Yves Saint Laurent. I think that this is the most famous YSL product and a favorite of many. Yves Saint Laurent reports that one of these elegant golden tubes is sold every 10 seconds. Although I don't think that this is a 'must-have' product but it definitely can upgrade any makeup look. Despite its popularity the Touche Eclat seems to be very misunderstood by many people who purchase this in the first place. Most of the complaints surround the fact that this product doesn't provide coverage and will not camouflage under eye dark circles like a conventional liquid concealer. The discrepancy is that this in fact is not a concealer and therefore doesn't provide heavy-duty coverage nor does it promise it will. The Touche Éclat formula is unique in that it combines some features of a light concealer, color corrector and highlighter and as such is suppose to add light wherever its applied and hide any imperfections you may have. The purpose here is to brighten and draw attention to a specific area and not cover or camouflage it.

This product comes in a beautiful fancy-golden package as expected from high-end product. I have it in the shade 'Luminous Ivory' which is number 2. I have to say that it was very difficult for me to match the right shade because this product should be a little bit lighter then your skin tone and still look natural and not like you have a patch of color on your face. I think it’s one of those products that you need to experiment with to find the best way to suit you. This product has 12 different shades:

1 Luminous Radiance - the original highlighter for fair to light complexions with pink undertones.

1.5 Radiant Silk - for light to medium complexions with yellow or golden undertones.

2 Luminous Ivory (my choice) - for fair to light complexions with golden undertones.

2.5 Luminous Vanilla - for fair to light complexions with warm undertones.

3 Light Peach - for warm and golden-beige complexions.

3.5 Luminous Almond - for medium complexions with warm undertones.

4.5 Luminous Sand - for medium complexions with pink undertones.

5 Luminous Honey - for medium complexions with olive/golden undertones.

5.5 Luminous Praline - for medium complexions with golden undertones.

6 Luminous Amber - for deep complexions with red undertones.

6.5 Luminous Toffee - for deep complexions with neutral undertones.

7 Luminous Mocha - for dark complexions.

This is actually a click-pen with a brush, very easy to use. I really like the packaging. You need to click this 30 times to activate it, but I find that when you invert it with the brush down, the product flows much easier anyway.

It has tiny light particles and mineral extracts to create a healthy, natural glow that is light, luminous and radiant at the click of the button. Basically the key to this is using it very sparingly and blending very fast, since the liquid dries very fast and can in turn become caky if not blended in properly. If you look at the illustration above you can see all the areas recommended for highlighting and contouring, which is in essence what this product essentially does.

The biggest disadvantage of this product that it's very expensive. There are some excellent alternatives like Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch and the L'Oreal Studio Secrets Magic Lumi that are a bit more affordable. Overall I highly recommend this product and I think that it does a great job. Nowadays there are more brands which also have this type of product and maybe you don't need to pay a bunch of money for a highlighter. So, make your decisions...

And how about you? Have you tried this product? What do you think about it?