One of the most hyped products of the last decade has been given a long overdue update, YSL’s Touche Eclat* is finally available to purchase in darker-skinned shades, why this has taken so long? God only knows… it can’t have been due to a lack of interest.
the un-numbered one on the left is #1
I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with this little clicky pen. Many, many years ago I bought shade #1 and marvelled at its pinky paleness… delighted to discover a shade that would suit my skin so wonderfully. Until I wore it and it made me look thoroughly lifeless.
Then a helpful MUA showed me where I was going wrong and drummed it into me that I was using a highlighter and NOT a concealer. Huh? First I’d heard of it… every woman and her cat had been shouting about how this was hiding their dark undereye circles!? Confusion reigned…
the shade range swatched in the same order as above
Well, turns out that for me… I was applying WAY too much, WAY too close to the lashline. Nowadays, I only really use it in the area that extends from the inner corner where my eye meets my nose (kinda), along the socket line to about halfway across the eye. It brightens but it doesn’t really conceal… for me, Touche Eclat is a convenient everyday pick-me-up but no industrial strength fix for mega late nights!
You’ll find so many people telling you where to use it and how to apply it, personally… I think it’s one of those products that you need to experiment with to find the best way to suit you. I really don’t think Touche Eclat is a one-size-fits-all number.
the OCD in me wants to CLEAN these badly
For more information on selecting the right shade from the newly available selection, the YSL website has one of those ‘which shade are you’ thingamajigs that you may find useful.
I thought I’d leave you with this official YSL video, you can find it on their website. I’m just wondering if he could have fit MOAR product on her face? He should have just filled a bucket and let her dunk herself.
YSL Touche Eclat in all its glorious, new shades can be purchased online from Selfridges or instore priced at £24.50
What’s your take on this iconic beauty product from YSL?
* press samples
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I’ve given this product many MANY chances to do something for me, like it seems to for all other women, and I just end up being thoroughly disappointed with it.
I, lukily, don’t get dark circles *touches wood* so I’ve never really needed it for that. But I did try it as a highlighter, a tiny blemish coverer and a few other odd jobs and it just did nothing for me.
I always advise my friends to borrow someone else’s first to see if it works as it is a bit pricey if it does nothing for you!
They didn’t send you #4 or #7? I don’t know why it’s taken them so long to launch the darker ones in the UK. Ridiculous. I bought #4 off Ebay and #6 from Sephora last year.
I still think TE is overhyped.
SMH at them taking so long, they clearly didn’t want my dollar. Buying Sleek’s instead.
I swear they’ve stepped up advertising for these, though? I’ve seen adverts in quite a few magazines recently…perhaps they’re not selling as well?
YSL has introduced only the light East Asian shade, 1.5, and not the medium East Asian Shade, No. 8, which is available in the US. Harumph!
I’ve never understood the purpose of Touche Eclat. It didn’t do anything for me, or anyone that I know – for girls that said it worked for them, one look & all I could see was the ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes Syndrome’ haha.
Maybe I applied it wrong, or more likely it was the shade? Nice to see YSL have realised people come in more shades though ‘:D Looks there there should be a shade between 2 & 3 though?
There is a 2.5 (Luminous Vanilla) its available in the US at Sephora and on their website.
This is a product that I think would work really well for me. I don’t have really dark circles, but would love a slightly reflective highlighter that would make me seem a tad more awake. I have seen this work so well on my friends, but I have one problem:
I’m too pale for it. Don’t get me wrong — I am so happy that they expanded their range to fit darker skin tones. So many “prestige” brands don’t offer much for women who aren’t medium white. However, I am pale. Very pale. I can’t tan, and it seems like many companies expect you to be tan when you purchase their skin makeup. I guess I was hoping that they would come out with a shade that is just a tiny bit lighter than #1 is, because I had to give mine away because I couldn’t get it to work for my skin tone.
I don’t think I’m the only ultra-pale girl out there. I wonder why they won’t make one lighter?
I always feel like this is probably overhyped, but I’ve never tried it so I don’t know for sure.
Hahaha @ 25FLondon! That’s more or less the exact fable that came to mind when I first saw these. Highlighters tend to be that way for me, because i’ve never really had undereye circles (the wonders of being naturally tan I ‘spose.) It’s wonderful that they’ve expanded the colors but it’s still so much more limited than the other brand’s wide skintone ranges (from mega pale to true ebony black.)
I am very fond of Estee Lauder Ideal Light Brush-on Illuminator. It’s in a skin-real shade, and conceals as well as diffuses circles and fine lines. I’m East Asian and NC25-30 and use Medium 3.
I checked this out at Sephora a while back & couldn’t see what the fuss was about. especially since it has a ton of microshimmer. I get that its a highlighter, but I don’t want to sparkle. I decided to get MAC prep & prime in bright forecast, instead. cheaper & more noticeable effects.
With so many mixed reviews on these and so many copy cat type products, I’ve never been convinced that these would be worth 24 and a half of my fine, English pounds. Still, I’ve never used a highlighting liquid around my eyes, I usually avoid them since they give that awful sheen in flash photos.
I don’t use mine any more as the applicator end smells funky. Is it just me?!
I searched high & low for darker shades when I wanted it a few years back and I could never find a shade darker than #2. I finally got #4 and I can say I barely use it.
What happened to #4 though? Is that shade discontinued now?
I love this stuff! I’ve bought it 3 times and will repurchase again!
I probably won’t ever buy Touche Eclat because I’ll probably be one of those people that’s like ‘wtf it does nothing for me’, and I’m lazy when it comes to highlighting anyway XD but holy crap, why does it take some companies so long to cater to WOC? I’m not a WOC but it makes me sad =/
‘First I’d heard of it… every woman and her cat had been shouting about how this was hiding their dark undereye circles!?’ Same. I was a teenager when it came out and a couple of girls I went to school with bought it (or, more likely, nicked it off their mums/big sisters) and used it for exactly that purpose, plus Sugar magazine used to suggest Rimmel’s Hide the Blemish concealer as an alternative so when I got into beauty blogs and read that it was actually a highlighter, I was surprised! I’ve never bought it though, being hard to convince re. highlighters and high-end products.
Totally astounded that it’s taken them this long to come out with darker shades, considering how popular it is, surely they’d have wanted to capitalise on this before now.
Oh, I always thought it was a concealer and have been using it under my eyes for the terrible dark circles. However, I find it very drying and have been using the Clinique one recently -Airbrush Concealer, I think?. I wonder if that’s an illuminator too? What are illuminators for, anyway?
Thank you for writing such a brilliant article and also for illuminating me!
Very cute!! I’m going to have to go check these out right now!
Hahaha (I just got a picture of the model dunking herself in a vat of touche eclat)! I agree, he’s highlighting absolutely everything that nothing will stand out anymore.
[…] (currently available exclusively in Selfridges). The foundation is touted to have built on the Touche Eclat luminising technology which has kept the infamous “clicky-pen” a bestseller for the […]