YSL Teint Eclat de Soie Radiant Smoothing Foundation with SPF8

Yves Saint Laurent Teint Eclat de Soie Radiant Smoothing Foundation - A foundation that combines high-performance makeup and state-of-the-art skincare to capture the light on every face.  Exceptionally supple and light, the texture covers the skin with a smoothing and rejuvenating veil leaving a satiny, natural, and luminous finish.

I picked this foundation a long time back, and I kept meaning to review this but never did.  As I was typing this post, though, I discovered (exactly 5 minutes back), that this isn't sold anywhere!  I guess YSL discontinued it, and while I can tell you how fabulous this foundation is, I have no clue where you can buy it :P :P  Sephora does carry the YSL Teint Radiance SPF 20 foundation, but that's a different product (you can check that review over at Eye Heart It).

Packed in a heavy glass bottle, the YSL Teint de Soie Radiant Smoothing Foundation comes with a pump dispenser - the cap and the pump adding the typical YSL gold touch to the bottle.  The foundation itself is lightly fragranced and provides medium-heavier coverage.  When I picked this up, there weren't a lot of shades available, and this was the closest match.  Like the YSL Teint Eclats, these too don't have names for the shades, just numbers.

A fabulous foundation for oily-combination skin types, this gives an almost matte finish without making the skin look too lifeless.  I use a stippling brush (MAC 187) to apply this, and it does an awesome job of covering up the tons of spots and marks that I have on my skin.

Since it's a heavier finish, I prefer(ed) using this foundation for the winters.  While I like almost everything about this foundation, there are a couple of things I don't:

• Despite having a relatively lower SPF, it tends to show up a little ashy in photos and depending on the ambient light, in real life too.
• Sort of similar to the earlier issue, I find the shade selection a little lacking.  I need a shade with a little more of yellow to it, but this was the closest match available at the counter (in India).
• And of course, lastly, it doesn't seem to be sold anywhere anymore :D

Overall, a great formulation for oily-combination skin, especially one that needs a little help with covering up pigmentation.  I keep this for days when I really need a lot of coverage - most days I am happy with a sheer finish.  I was a little disappointed with the limited shades available, but I think I will have better luck with the new YSL Teint Eclat foundations (reviewed by over at Michelle's blog).