Blush, blush galore!
Every brand is releasing a blush or two right now. Let's take a look!
There are a plethora of blushes hitting the market right now. The trend has been up for the past couple of years, but recently it’s new blush releases WEEKLY! And, honestly, I’m here for it. I know, I know. It totally flies in the face of my usual gripes about too many releases and oversaturated markets. But some of this stuff is actually fascinating for once, and well, I love blush!
So, I went to Sephora.
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When it comes to purchasing blush, I really only spend the big bucks on something that I’m actually going to wear every day. For me, that color is something between beige and pink. Even more points if it’s desaturated, and even more points if it leans more cool than warm (overly warm tones tend to go quite orange on me). So I’m mainly drawn to ranges that have some sort of shade in that zone.
On the note of personal preference, I quite dislike glitters or large perceptible shimmer particles in my blush. I like highlighter a lot! But I want my highlighter to be highlighter and my blush to be blush, ya know? Matte is also not my favorite finish, as I think it tends to just look a bit powdery and flat on my dry skin.
All of these reviews are based solely off of swatches so they’re really just a little overview of the feeling of the product and the shades for those curious who may not have the ability to swatch in person!
THE PROMISING
Ciele flush and protect powder blush
This might be controversial but I don’t care about the SPF in this makeup (the gimmick of this whole line). It’s supposed to be innovative, an SPF powder, but I don’t really put my face in the sun much, if ever. Plus, you need a lot of sunscreen to actually get UV protection. You are never going to get that in your makeup products, and what they add on top of your sunscreen is probably negligible.
On that note! This blush was genuinely so incredibly gorgeous. Blaze is supposed to be the deepest shade, but the texture of these makes me think I could probably get them all to work on my skin tone. They have a really soft, natural amount of pigment making them very blendable and smooth. Despite being a powder they have a sort of creaminess when blending the product into the skin. I really haven’t felt much like it, and the result is stunning. A shiny sheen without shimmer. Kind of the perfect finish? No idea how they did it. I just wish there were more shades! There isn’t anything cool toned in the line besides a brighter pink, but generally the colors all seem slightly more subdued. My Sephora didn’t have all the shades to swatch, but I’m interested in seeing more of them before I pull the trigger. Being as pale as I am and buying the deepest shade feels insane, so maybe they need to expand the range.
The packaging is a really beautiful green plastic that reminds me of sea glass and feels decent in the hand. I thought they were quite small at first but the product inside is actually a comparable weight to other blushes, albeit still on the smaller end. At $34 they’re definitely a bit on the pricey side, but it seems that is the standard for prestige pricing these days! Especially as we are about to see…
Ilia Soft Focus Blurring Blush
I have seen some hype around these and I can say, I was not disappointed! The actual feeling swatching it with my finger was strange. It was almost scratchy to the touch and I didn’t feel confident about it. But when it blended on my hand! It reminds me a lot of my favorite RMS blushes, but I actually think these shades are better and more expansive. Glimpse is very possibly the desaturated cool pink of my dreams. The sheen is comparable to the RMS, it is a similar sort of blurring but shimmery type of finish. It is the shiniest of the blushes I swatched on this day, but there still isn’t any sort of visible singular shimmer particles. It creates a smooth sheen of shimmer which becomes a more glowy effect.
The scratchy feeling of the pan makes me think it’s a baked formula, especially looking at how the product rests above the pan itself. That is also the case for the RMS blushes. The packaging left some to be desired, it’s that sort of recycled plastic feel and has no mirror. For $36 it feels a little bit like a stretch, but the brand is priced in that general region for most of their products.
THE CURIOUS
YSL Make Me Blush Powder Blush
The newly released shade “23 hot mauve” caught my attention online. It was supposed to be my shade. It ended up swatching a little warmer than I expected, which sometimes happens to anything called “mauve” unfortunately. I think brands are afraid to actually add that crucial drop of gray and purple necessary to truly create a mauve color.
This is a really lovely matte texture. Matte isn’t my favorite because I think it can just really flatten me out and be, dare I say, a tad boring. But this is the kind of matte formula that I really like. Very smooth, not at all dry. Nicely pigmented to where you could easily and quickly build it up for a lot of color, or just pick up a small amount for a natural flush. They call it silky and it really does feel that way. It basically blended itself on the back of my hand, and definitely lived up to its hype of being blurring.
The packaging was very nice as well. The component reminded me of the Gucci blushes which are some of my favorites. It is a similar size, weight, and experience. But it has the extra YSL touch of that faux leather top with the golden embellishment that is ultra luxe. At $46, it is certainly a luxury option. But it kept my curiosity!
Westman Atelier Baby Cheeks Powder Blush Duo (unpictured)
$75 for a blush duo sounds insane until you think of it like two separate blushes, then the idea of $37.50 per blush helps ease that feeling. Not to mention the packaging is perhaps the most divine little case I have ever felt in my life. That thing is gorgeous, and it makes one want it solely for that. But! It is not solely that! It is blush, and we are talking about the actual product in that gorgeous, weighty, cool case.
The colors. I really think this brand has overhyped shades. The idea that any shade from this brand is in any way unique is a total farce. They’re just normal blush shades. Middle of the road peach and brown and pink. They also pretty much all pull incredibly warm on me. Mimi is described by the brand as a “tawny beige” which I think is just fancy code for “warm brown” - which isn’t exciting to me! Despite it being paired with an incredibly fair peach-pink, Mimi is quite deep and pigmented so it blends out very muddily on my skin tone. This is why I don’t wear bronzer (also because I have no desire to tan)!
The formula. They’re just matte. A nice matte! Kind of a softer, powdery feel with kick up in the pan using my finger to swatch it. It feels smooth but once again, just don’t think there’s anything incredibly special about a matte blush. Also, I just wish they were singles. I would maybe get the shade “suede” (warm rose) if it weren’t paired with “sable” (another, even warmer brown). I’m interested in swatching more shades as my store only had a couple, and I’m curious about the duos that have a bronzer if perhaps those bronzers are less pigmented than the brown blush counterparts.
THE “I removed this from my wish list”
Tower28 Getset matte powder blush
I don’t need to reiterate about how I don’t love matte blushes. Honestly, these seem just okay. I actually really like the shade Samo Spritzer. It’s comparable to Glimpse from Ilia but just a bit brighter with a touch more red. For a matte blush to really win me over, it has to be incredibly smooth and silky. Almost velvet-like. This just isn’t. It’s a little powdery, verging on chalk-like in texture. It’s difficult to tell in pictures, and maybe is only something you would notice if looking closely IRL, but the pigment grabs a little on my pores and fine hairs. For a lower priced brand at Sephora, this isn’t the best option. I have much less expensive matte blushes I prefer the texture of, like Romand and 3CE from the K-beauty universe, and Dandylions from the indie sphere.
Glossier Cloud Paint Plush Blush
I was extremely excited for these. The enticing packaging, the currently beloved and new shades. Alas, the texture of these is nothing short of bizarre. It’s like a slab of silicone mousse all pressed together. I put my finger on the pan to swatch it and it pilled. It PILLED on itself??? I actually don’t know what they were thinking with these. Maybe I’m terribly wrong and everyone will tell me how stupid this is because I just swatched it and didn’t put it on my face. Well, I don’t even know how I would get this on my face because I can’t imagine a tool it would pick up nicely on. They’re decently pigmented, the most pigmented of any of the blushes I tried that day. And they love to stick to themselves. They just wouldn’t blend! The shades also left a lot to be desired. They’re all extremely saturated in tone, even the ones that promised to not be like Gale and Float (which are both described by the brand as MAUVE). Can someone send out the message that “tawny mauve” is an oxymoron? Thanks.
Nars The Multiple (unpictured)
The beloved staple, holy grail makeup brand Nars finally brought back their stick blush which is simply named, The Multiple. Wow. I don’t know why I’m bothered by the pretentiousness of that but I think Nars is allowed to do it. These actually have really great reviews which is why I’m very confused on this one. The texture is straight up paste. Think: glue stick. It was borderline disgusting and I swatched quite a few to make sure it wasn’t shade specific. The shade Trance is absolutely amazing, a true purple orchid that is genuinely wearable and not just vibrant lavender. So they need to put that shade in everything STAT. But these sticks… man they were strange to touch. Can’t say I understand what everyone is talking about.
Welp! That’s it for me and new blushes (for now…). I’m still quite curious about the rhode blushes that have just arrived at Sephora, but my store was still setting up the small gondola in the front. Hopefully they get the full range in eventually and I can swatch them all!
Thank you so much for reading and stopping by!