Touching the bulbs does NOT apply to HID bulbs! I know, I've been retrofitting HID projectors and bulbs into Hondas for 2 years now. You can touch the bulbs, get them wet, whatever. I just clean mine well with rubbing alcohol and a cotton cloth and install them without touching them but finger prints won't make HID's fail. HID bulbs can work fine underwater! (so long as the electrode contacts on back aren't wet and the ballasts are dry.

EDIT: it's may be a bad ballast too. You should take the good bulb out of the good side and install it in the bad side and see if it lights. If not then it is the bulb.

Also if you're not real familiar with HID bulbs, they colorshift over time (meaning the bulb gets dimmer and more blue as it ages) so if you install a new bulb it will look noticably brighter and whiter than the old buld and will look stupid. Best idea if the bulb is bad is to get a fresh pair so that they match.

 

Nice, good to know, I was unaware of that as well. So do you really need to drop the front bumper to put a new headlight lamp in?!