Yves Saint Laurent offer two lines of blushers - the Variation series, which I tried, are presented in small gold compacts with the "YSL" logo on top. Inside, there's a mirror, a very small square of blusher, and a tiny square sponge applicator. Like most everything in Yves Saint Laurent's world, style rules over substance.

While I do not condone the hefty price tag for such an infinitesimal amount of makeup, I do believe that the "feel good" factor of using an Yves Saint Laurent compact cannot be surpassed. (Well, possibly only by Chanel, but I haven't tried Chanel and doubt I ever will. You've got to draw the line somewhere!)

The small patch of blusher is a work of art in itself: "variation" refers to the four tiles which alternate between shimmery blush and matte blush, which you can then use separately or blend together, using your face as a "canvas". If there were ever an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art on makeup presentation, surely this would be part of the display.

To Simply Try, or To Buy?
I cannot really say I recommend Variation blush, but I do say to women who need to flex their plastic: try it, and if you like it, buy it. Sure, you can go down to the local chemist and get a nice blusher for far, far less money, but - well, if you think like that, you're just missing the whole point of Yves Saint Laurent.

If I had a makeup brush for every time I saw YSL's Touche Eclat concealer as an "Editor's Favorite" in magazines, I'd have no need to buy brushes ever again! Touche Eclat comes as a pen with a brush tip - you simply click on the button and concealer is squirted out of the barrel into the bristles. Quite fun to use, actually!

I tend to have shadows on the sides of my nose (in the hard to reach "dimple" part, if you know what I mean you might have the same problem), so this was the first area I tried Touche Eclat on. Result! It worked well for me in this region, and was very easy to blend using the brush on the pen.

Next, I tried concealing the shadows under my eyes, and I'm sorry to report that Touche Eclat was not such an outstanding performer for this purpose. It just didn't give me the kind of cover I needed.

Touche Eclat is promoted as having "light diffusing particles" to bounce light off of your skin and thus make it appear less shadowy, but I found I wanted something more substantial (more opaque) for under my eyes. As they say, "your mileage may vary", and, depending on your skin tone and what it is you're trying to conceal, you may get better results, but I can't say this is a good all-round concealer.