#FrenchFriday: Yves Saint Laurent Baby Doll Kiss & Blush in Nude Insolent



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Yves Saint Laurent Baby Doll Kiss & Blush in Nude Insolent - cream blush and lipstick

I briefly mentioned in my recent review of Burberry's new Lip & Cheek Bloom that my all-time favorite cream blush formula, Crème de Blush by Yves Saint Laurent, had been discontinued. The product I'm going to show you today for our French Friday post, the Baby Doll Kiss & Blush, is what took its place in YSL's makeup range. The main difference between the two products is that this new installment is both a cream blush and a lip color. As you can imagine, when the replacement occurred, I was both upset that my HG product was taken away (WHY YSL WHY?) and trembling in fear that the new Baby Doll Kiss & Blush wouldn't be as good. When the range launched in the spring of 2014, I didn't pay much attention, until I started noticing that the Crème de Blush was slowly disappearing from retailers websites... Then in a panic, I decided to try one, and ended up choosing a neutral shade, #10 Nude Insolent


Yves Saint Laurent Baby Doll Kiss & Blush in Nude Insolent - cream blush and lipstick

The Baby Doll Kiss & Blush looks like a nail polish. It comes in a high, square glass bottle with a long cylindrical cap. Classy and elegant packaging is something YSL is really good at. The applicator is one those technical doe-foot thingies: it's firm and barely fuzzy, almond-shaped, and it has a hole and little ball in the middle, acting as a reservoir. Totally useless to apply blush, and not very precise to draw the lips if you ask me! 


Yves Saint Laurent Baby Doll Kiss & Blush in Nude Insolent - cream blush and lipstick, the applicator

The color I picked, #10 Nude Insolent, is a reddish medium beige that turns very rosy on my cheeks but gets even warmer on my lips. I'm not sure I would call that intensely pigmented shade a nude, even an insolent one... at least not on my skin tone (could work really well as an everyday color for deeper skin tones though). On me, this shade has an air of couture sophistication, if that makes any sense! Good news on the fragrance front: you may know that YSL sometimes goes crazy on the synthetic mango scent, like they did with their otherwise gorgeous Gloss Volupté. Luckily, the scent is almost undetectable in this Kiss & Blush. 


Yves Saint Laurent Baby Doll Kiss & Blush in Nude Insolent - cream blush and lipstick, swatch swatches

When applied to my cheeks, the cream texture initially feels dense and even a bit sticky. That doesn't last though, as a powdery feel develops while blending. It's very easy to work with despite being highly pigmented, it blends effortlessly with fingertips and you can build it to full intensity if desired. It dab a couple dots under my cheek bones with the applicator and blend upwards towards the temple with my fingers. Some of my pictures managed to capture non-existent sparkles in the bottle, but I see no sign of them in real life. In fact, it sets to a soft matte, natural finish, without any kind of glow or sheen. I've read that some use the neutral beige shade #12 Mocha Garçonne to contour and I can see that work really well, as it blends seamlessly onto the skin. 


Yves Saint Laurent Baby Doll Kiss & Blush in Nude Insolent - cream blush and lipstick worn on cheek and lips full face picture, fotd motd
Wearing Nude Insolent on cheeks and lips
(and a renegade hair across my cheek...)

I generally feel like cheek+lip products perform better on the cheeks, but I have to say that Baby Doll Kiss & Blush works equally well on both. It glides effortlessly on my lips with a silky, silicone-y sensation and provides even semi-opaque coverage with a non-sticky, semi-matte finish (it tends to get more matte as time goes by). It looks absolutely flawless and it's very forgiving with my dry lips: it never clings to flaky areas, nor does it feel drying throughout the wear. In terms of wear by the way, Kiss & Blush does pretty well. On my lips, it lasts for about 3 hours and resists a few drinks withoug transferring too much, and it lasts through a work day and a little more on my cheeks.

Yves Saint Laurent Baby Doll Kiss & Blush in Nude Insolent - cream blush and lipstick, worn on lips, lip swatch

Overall: Yves Saint Laurent Baby Doll Kiss & Blush is a lovely product that excels both as a blush and as a lip color. The texture is easy to work with and the delicate soft matte finish flatters both the cheeks and the lips. I don't know that it can replace the Crème de Blush in my heart, because it's just different, but I'm extremely satisfied with the quality of the Kiss & Blush. For $40, I couldn't expect less.

Where to buy?

The product featured in this review was purchased by Lulle. I received no compensation to write this post, which only reflects my personal opinion. This post contains affiliate links.


8 comments

  1. I have heard that these are some of the very few products performing well both on lips and cheeks. Usually they are way to drying on the lips.

    LindaLibraLoca: Beauty, Baby and Backpacking

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    1. And I think that's true! This one is not drying at all, very comfortable and looks really good on the lips. I can't think of another lip+cheek product that works as well on lips.

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  2. This is such a gorgeous shade & it looks so good on you!
    Nati xx
    www.simplyartdicted.com

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    1. Thank you! It's not very summery but with the gray weather we've been having in San Diego, I kept using it!

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  3. Aah! I have Nude Insolent but haven't used it much at all! This looks fantastic on you! I totally agree about the scent as well, it is there initially but quickly dissipates.

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    1. I'm curious about how it looks on you cheeks. Does it turn rosy too? Oh and that's the lip color you said looked great on Instagram last week! ;)

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  4. I quite like these and hated the old blush pots (I thought they were too slippy and not pigmented enough). This shade is great and I sort of want the dark prune shade for fall. Hard to justify with my blush collection though, lol.

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    Replies
    1. I didn't have a problem with the Creme de Blush pigmentation, I actually find the bright red shade, my favorite one, to be pretty intense. But I can see why you may prefer this type of texture and yeah, little glass pot are a love or hate thing!
      I don't think you need any justification to buy that gorgeous dark prune shade. If someone asks you, just say "I bought it because Lulle told me to!". Boom, problem solved, haha :D

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