Share: Tell us what you love and hate about YSL!
my answer: I’ve noticed them repeating in seasonal collections by taking a permanent eyeshadow palette and putting a new cover on it, and I have found it difficult to 100% tell online and only discover it when I open it in person. I like a lot of YSL’s products, but there are some misses–primarily anything that’s powder and supposed to be intensely pigmented.
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Lost cause. The old YSL that I treasured from 30 years ago is gone. Then glamorous as the couture clothing. Now, a step up from Loreal drugstore products.
I’ve only tried their lip products, the touche eclat and the mascara. Lip products are great, although I wish they would do away with the added fragrance, the mascara was simply not for me! I wish they’d introduce more variations in their lip shades though. I find that even the limited edition ones are not that unique!
The lipsticks are still very good indeed. Rouge Pur Couture, especially the Mats line, are really pigmented and comfortable to wear. In fact they might just be my favorite matte formula on the market. Also, the Touche Éclat foundation is pretty good.
The recent perfumes are bad. Just really bad. From the house that gave us Opium, Y and Paris, it’s a complete shame.
Everything else is meh. Agree with your opinion on powder products… so much fallout.
I’m gonna get in trouble for saying this but… I don’t feel that it’s an exciting brand. They tend to be a bit boring. Repetitive. I feel like they could be a little more fun.
I don’t even pay attention any more. I used to love their eyeliners and mascaras, but even those aren’t anything special now. YSL has become glitter and gimmicks–kind of an upscale BeneFit.
they’ve never really wowed me and the very silly thing that puts me off them most is the bright gold packaging; it feels very nouveau riche to me.
I’ve only used their Touche Eclat foundation and a few of the Rouge Volupté lipsticks. Both have made it to my favourite makeup products, as they’re great quality and they do exactly what I was expecting before buying! I haven’t tried anything else from the brand, so I can’t really judge.
I’m a little obsessed with the Glossy Stains, but beyond that the brand doesn’t pique my interest at all.
I’m very mad at YSL for discontinuing their Creme de Blush which was my HG cream blush formula. The Babydoll Kiss & Cheeks is not bad but certainly not as good.
I’m not really into their eyeshadows, every time I tried to swatch them I was disappointed by the pigmentation levels.
On the other hand, I like their lip products a lot. I also recently tested their Touche Eclat foundation and was very impressed.
I don’t have a lot of experience with them.
Rant: Expensive and usually overpriced for what you get. The eyeshadows I’ve used were awful. They don’t see to have very exciting releases.
Rave: Opium perfume; great lipsticks.
The base products work ok, nothing amazing but they’re decent.. The eyeshadows though crease like crazy, and the lipsticks slip and slide all over the place regardless of which formula it is – their Rouge Pur ones even manage to be so so drying at the same time. I have never came across any powder of theirs that laster over 3 hours on me… I TRY so hard to love YSL Beauty, mainly because I love packaging and the fruity scent to their lip products.. but the brand’s makeup line just falls short for me every single time 🙁
I actually love their mascaras. I got a travel size of their baby doll mascara years ago in a gift set and used it on a whim. I was like “Woah!” I use that one and the colored one (forget the name) in burgundy. Both make me look like I’m wearing false lashes with a single swipe. Granted my lashes are my best feature so most mascaras look pretty good on me, but still these are something special. I also like that they don’t melt or transfer. When I lived in HI this was a constant issue. A lot of brands would get hot and melt all over my face. I don’t sweat a lot/enough so I know it wasn’t that, it was just the sun. And if they didn’t melt, they’d rub off all over my browbone from the constant rubbing. But my YSL ones stay on my lashes. Anything that can do that is a winner in my book! I’ve never tried anything else from the range so I can’t really comment there, but my experiences with the mascara have been positive enough I’d be willing to try other things they make.
I can’t rave much just because I have only tried one free sample of their Fusion Ink foundation. That foundation was okay for a first impression, but I still wouldn’t pay for it. It smelled amazing, though, kinda like melon!
Brands with prices like those of YSL are simply out of my budget, unfortunately. Their packaging usually looks pretty.
I have a few things that really appeal to me from this label.
On the Rant side: I despise their base layers. For some reason they have a serious yuck factor with me and never work with my skin.
On the Rave side: I love their Pur Couture lip line, especially the mattes, the Rouge Voluptes are wonderful, oh, and lots of great nail polishes, and -trumpet sound- a very recent happy addition to my stash: Les Sahariennes: cream to powder style bronzer product = phenomenal. Love it!!!
never even heard of that bronzer. is it new? how does les sahariennes compare to the chanel cream bronzer( soleil tan)?
Hi ALE: Sorry I cannot provide you with a comparison since I do not have the Chanel in my stash. Yes, this is a newer product from YSL, they came out with it last year, but revised and have more colour options this year. I purchased this year’s version in colour Fauve (reference point: NC20-25 skin with yellow and light olive undertones. Reasons why I love it (or reasons why some may hate it) 1. I have better success with cream products overall. They look more natural on my skin type. 2. The product is not seriously pigmented like a powder. You would have to work at building enough colour to look like bad fake tan. For me, this is a bonus, I find most bronzers to be too orange and far too pigmented to appear natural. 3. The effect is very super subtle and the product can be applied all over the face neck, decolettage with a large stippling brush for a nice just noticeable glow.
Hope this info helps.
I absolutely hate the fragrance they add to most of their cosmetics. YSL (along with Chanel and Dior) seems to be stuck in this mentality that luxury equals fragrance. Fragranced foundations are a particular bugbear.
Love their Rouge Volupte lipsticks though, especially the Shine ones. Blush Volupte is a favourite too.
I’ve always been a sucker for nice smells (luckily I don’t have sensitive skin). But after following the Beautypedia blog for years, I’ve finally given up the notion that fragrance is a sign of quality skincare.
Rave: Their packaging and lipstick formula is divine.
Rant: Animal testing, that’s a no-no.
I think I’ve honestly loved every beauty item I’ve tried from them, but the prices sort of hit you in the gut. Like their shadow quads are as much as a Naked palette. But I’m a big fan of their lip products in particular. I think they come out with interesting formulas that offer something different.
Rave – love the solo Slate Green – perfect for blending and really easy to use.
Rant – yes they do repeat palettes – which is very annoying and their prices are sky high. Sometimes the quality in some of their quints is very hit and miss. Some of their colour combinations are strange too.
something i dislike about them is that they have products that perform really well but there are other ones that are totally underperformed… i mean, and they’re not cheap! they shouldn’t be like that?!
I’ve only tried one lipstick, some 25 years ago, and had such an adverse reaction that I never touched anything else from the brand since… I’m *guessing* it had something to do with the added fragrance that caused my lips to crack & bleed the way they did, as no other lip product has caused any irritation (and I even use “plumping” products), so there’s no chance I’ll risk any YSL products near my eyes or a large portion of my face!
I remember my delight when I got my first Touche Eclat. At that time, there was nothing like it on the market but nowadays, there are so many similar (or even better) concealer/brighteners. I got a sample of that Skin Ink foundation when it first launched (wanted to try before buying as I saw that reviews of it were widely divergent) and let’s just say I am glad I didn’t purchase it as it was nice on my for about 5 minutes and then showed up dry patches I didn’t even know I had. I was given one of those sample “blister cards” of some lip products but was really unimpressed with those. So I’ve not purchased any YSL in years. My experience is that they’re pretty much just relying on the “name” – there are products far better from other companies (and often far less expensive!).
My only experience is with their lipstick, which is too thick and wet. I can feel it on my lips, which is a sensation I don’t like. I did like their tinted balm things for a while though. If I need designer stuff, I wind up with Chanel or Guerlain. If I want something cheaper and more fun, I’ll get UD or KvD. If I want something cheaper and basic, I’ll get Clinique. The brands I can’t afford, but are on my “one day when I’m rich” list, are Tom Ford, Cle de Peau and La Prairie.
YSL doesn’t fit in anywhere. Doesn’t make anything good enough to bump other things off.
I used to love their old foundation (disc) and I did like the texture of the touche eclat foundation but it oxidized on me.
I bought the mascaras twice..not worth it, they are good only at the beginning.
Love love love their lip products (and have for years), they are very creamy and moisturizing and i love the colors –lip stains too, I own too. And of course…the original touche eclat, I still think it’s the best cream highligther for under the eyes..
But..YSL is not what it used to be, there’s a lot of competition now.
I used to love YSL way back, they had for that time excellent eyeshadows, very pigmented sometimes in unexpected colour combinations and also quite edgy colours. These days I don’t like their quads, I do like the wet and dry eyeshadows I have, I usually use them dry as a wash of colour on the lids. I like the creme blush I got last year and also their lip products.
The foundations I’ve tried haven’t done much for me, OK but nothing to rejoice about. Touch Eclait highlighter/concealer was fantastic when it came, but these days there are lots of others to chose from that are less expensive.
I used to love Opium, but I don’t think it smells remotely like it used to, Paris was a long time favourite that I’ve not tried in years. I do like Black Opium a lot.
Finally the mascaras. I find, as someone else did that they are good in the beginning, for me a week or two, and then they deteriorate quickly.
To conclude this long post,
Rave, lip produts, creme blush, wet and dry eyeshadows and Black Opium
Rant, Eyeshadows, mascaras, foundation and the price.