Blushers have never been top of my priority list when it comes to makeup. Curling my lashes? Well I like to do that most days and the same goes for doing a little something with brows and applying just a smidge of mascara. It makes me feel human, you know? But I’ve never had the same relationship with blush. As I’ve said many times before I’m a girl with a big face and red cheeks and the majority of my base makeup is focused around calming down these rouge little apples, so adding blush after all that hassle seems a little counterintuitive. Though sometimes I do feel like a need a bit of blush to perk things up and with all the love that contouring and highlighting is getting recently, I feel like blush might be getting a bit left out. Nobody puts blush in the corner.
You see my protective side has come out and actually I can see that there are occasions where a touch of blush on the cheeks just brings everything together. It doesn’t need to make me look like I’m getting all hot and fluttered, it can just look healthy. I want to say ‘healthy, like I’ve been for a light jog’, but again you all know with me that a light jog leads to my face looking like Mount Etna about to erupt. It’s all in application and products of course. Colours that add more of a peach tone tend to compliment not clash and brushes that dish out a light dose of powder are what’s called for here.
While we’re on the subject of blushers, I thought I would take you through my favourites; which as expected from my depiction above aren’t the most used item in my makeup stash, but are something like I like to rely on for tired, grey days or moments where I want to apply all of the makeup. If we’re talking most used in the history of my blush collection then it’s probably Tarte’s Amazonian Clay 24hr Blush in Tipsy that wins that category. It might look a little crazy compared to others in my collection, but on the cheeks it just translates to healthy and is the one I get the most compliments on when I wear. On the other end of the scale is NARS Blush in Douceur which is a great parred back tawny pink. If I’m doing a powder base I use that, but if I’m sticking to creams then I switch it up with BECCA’s Beach Tint in Fig. Another one I grab if I’m steering clear of powders is the Clinique Chubby Stick Cheek Colour Balm in Robust Rhubarb. A pinky peach, it adds a nice rosy flush to things while leaving a nice dewy finish behind. Two powders that manage to do the whole blush and highlight thing at the same time, without a speck of glitter in sight are the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush in Dim Infusion and Max Factor’s Creme Puff Blush in Nude Mauve. Both give enough sheen that you can go sans highlighter, but apply the softest hue of colour to your apples. Beginners these are for you – it’s impossible to go wrong with them.
I apply all the above with the NARS Yachiyo Kabuki, but in its old age it’s getting a bit scratchy and I’m starting to think that the grass is greener on the other side of the blusher brush fence and there’s something better out there. Suggestions much appreciated as always. So when do you stand on the blusher debate – an everyday wear or something you can’t bear?
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