YSL Corail Rive Gauche Couture Blush Review & Swatches
Corail Rive Gauche
YSL Corail Rive Gauche Couture Blush ($42.00 for 0.11 oz. ) is a soft coral with warm undertones and a golden sheen. The texture was incredibly stiff to the touch, which made it difficult to pick up product on a brush (even with fingertips!) and apply to skin. It was harder to blend and apply the color wet as it seemed not to transfer much from brush to skin. I scraped off layers of product using the end of the brush (the handle part, not the brush head!) to get it to show up on my cheeks. It’s a shame as the finish was luminous with faint micro-sparkle and fine pearl, so it looked nice once I managed to get enough pigment onto my cheeks and worked at it to buff out the edges. It lasted for eight hours on me before fading noticeably.
FURTHER READING: Formula Overview for details on general performance and characteristics (like scent).
Top Dupes
- MAC Sippin' on Stars (LE, $31.00) is more shimmery, darker, cooler (90% similar).
- MAC Oh My, Passion! (LE, $34.00) is more shimmery (90% similar).
- Cover FX Soft Peach (Right) (PiP, ) is more shimmery, darker, cooler (90% similar).
- Estee Lauder Sensuous Rose (P, $34.00) is less shimmery, darker (90% similar).
- Urban Decay Low Key (DC, $26.00) is more shimmery, cooler (90% similar).
- Essence Satin Coral (P, $2.99) is brighter (90% similar).
- Chanel Voyage de Chanel (LE, $70.00) is more shimmery, cooler (90% similar).
- NARS Vu (LE, ) is more shimmery, cooler (90% similar).
- MAC Love & Laughter (LE, $24.00) is darker (90% similar).
- Persona Georgia (P, $22.00) is less shimmery, cooler (90% similar).
Formula Overview
$42.00/0.11 oz. - $381.82 Per Ounce
The formula is supposed to have "sheer, soft color" when used dry and more intense "color impact" when used wet. It is supposed to be "silky-smooth" and "weightless." Unfortunately, the shade I bought to try was stiff and difficult to apply and blend out as very little product picked up on a brush (even denser brushes with a heavier hand). It was actually worse when I tried using it with a dampened brush as this resulted in less product transferring to my skin; what little product transferred wouldn't blend out easily along the edges at all. The pigmentation was sheerer, as described, and it did intensify when used wet, but it wasn't silky-smooth. It lasted for eight hours on me.
Browse all of our YSL Couture Blush swatches.
Ingredients
Yikes! Scraping with the brush handle…not good! But it is a pretty shade, once you actually managed to get some onto your cheeks. What a massive fail for a high end product!
Looks as if the only good thing here is the envelope embossing. Since lower to mid end products can nail things these days, there’s really no excuse for HE brands to miss the mark. I want to say especially if they’re French, without offending. We do have high bars for the French cosmetics companies.
Thank goodness that I have dupes of far superior quality! This blush sounds nightmarish to try and use. Especially for the amount of $’s. Essence Satin Coral is what? $4? And far nicer in application! MAC Oh My, Passion is super easy to use use and buff out. No excuse, YSL!
That is so strange. I wonder if you got a bad one. It is such a pretty color.
A total waste of money on that purchase Christine. It’s a nice shade, but fairly dupable and another HE fail.
That’s sad.