my top five blushes

Hey guys!

 

I am a make-up addict. I have admitted this quite frequently throughout my blog. But there is one make-up product in particular that I am not so fond of. And that, my friends, is blush.

 

If I'm completely honest, blush scares me. It's a fine line. If you don't use it you look sickly. If you use too much it looks like you're off to the circus. It is so difficult to get it that in between stage where it just looks flushed, girly and pretty. And that intimidates me! Blush holds way too much power, seriously.
 

As someone who has naturally rosy cheeks, and who blushes too easily as it is, I think I have a right to be intimidated by blush. I can put on a colour and blend it out well so that my cheeks look all glowy and gorgeous in the right way. And later on that day, I will look in the mirror and my redness will have taken over, completely changing the colour of my blush and making me look a right fool. The majority of the time, I won't even put blush on. Who needs blush when you have an inbuilt blushing machine? I should probably be celebrating all the money this could potentially save me, but I'm not. I want to love blush and be all up in its blushy goodness. But right now, its a love-hate relationship. Think Katy Perry Hot n' Cold.

 

But, there are a few blushes that I adore. The exception to the rule. Not everyday, but on the occasions where I just want a teeny tiny pink flush that won't be disrupted by my horrendous red cheeks, these are the ones I go for.

 

top row (l-r): Milani Baked Blush in Luminoso, Benefit Boxed Blush in Rockateur

bottom row (l-r): MAC Mineralize Blush in Warm Soul, ELF Studio Blush in Tickled Pink, Face of Australia Blush in Nutmeg

The reason I love all of these blushes is either because they give a lovely radiant glow or because they aren't too pigmented but still give me a healthy appearance. This post wasn't like choosing my favourite lipsticks, or my favourite foundations. It is actually the easiest top five I have chosen thus far for my blog. Read on to see what I love about these blushes individually :)

Milani Baked Blush in Luminoso: This is super raved about all through Youtube and beauty blogs alike, and let me tell you, they are not wrong. It is this beautiful natural peachy pink with gold shimmer, which doesn't translate to your cheeks. But there is this beautiful sheen, and I don't even bother wearing any highlighter with this. And it is a steal at $8USD. Milani isn't available in Australia, but I brought this from either Cherry Culture or Beauty Joint (can't remember which), and if you are an Australian looking for US drugstore brands not readily available here, I highly recommend going to either of those sites and buying this. You will not be disappointed.

 

MAC Mineralize Blush in Warm Soul: This is another beautiful shade. In pan, I would describe it as a peachy-mauve hybrid, and I literally need to just touch my brush into the colour for it to show up on my skin. It gives this lovely, natural, flushed, healthy glow, and because its a mineralize blush, it goes on and blends so flawlessly. I do find that it can go wrong really quickly though, which is why I only just tap my brush once and then go back in again in the same fashion if its not enough. But I really feel that this is worth the money, especially for me because I barely need any. I did buy this in the US for $27.50USD, but in Australia it retails for $43AU. I would purchase again, if I ran out. That's a big if but, I really don't see that happening in the near future.

 

Benefits Boxed Blush in Rockateur: This is one of Benefit's newer releases, and probably my most coveted blush. It is this beautiful rose-gold colour, and it literally goes with everything! I wouldn't say it was too pigmented straight away, but obviously that's something that I like. It smells heavenly too, sort of like my Nana, but not in a bad way. This is the only Benefit blush I own, but I swear this was the best purchase that I could have made! Maybe one day I'll buy more.. And I would 100% repurchase. Again, I did buy this in the US for $28USD, and it retails in Australia for $51AU.

 

ELF Studio Blush in Tickled Pink: My next most used blush. This is the perfect pink colour. Its not mauve, its not peach and its not Barbie pink either. It is just pink, and that's all there really is to it. Again, it isn't hugely pigmented and I just use a tiny bit on the apples of my cheeks and blend it into my bronzer, which is really enough I feel. I brought this off Beauty Joint for $3.99USD, and ELF has recently been added to Kmart (!) but I'm not sure for how much it retails for

 

Face of Australia Blush in Nutmeg: This is one of the first blushes I ever purchased! It's again a lovely pink, with a little shimmer in the pan, but I don't find it to be noticeable on the skin. I feel that this goes perfectly with a smokey eye. Just like Luminoso and Warm Soul, it just gives a lovely healthy colour, but subtle at the same time. As far as I know, this is only available in Australia for around $9.45AU.

 

Heavy swatches of the blushes in natural light (l-r): Milani Luminoso, MAC Warm Soul, Benefit Rockateur, ELF Tickled Pink, Face of Australia Nutmeg 

Swatches of the blushes with flash, same order as above :)

 

The swatches all look the same on my arm, but in person they do all look different. But you can tell the type of colour I like to wear.

 

As I said, blush is intimidating. It can make or break your make-up look, which is why it scares me. Maybe one day I'll be able to see all the good that blush does, and fall absolutely in need with it. But for right now, I'm happy switching these ones in and out. I do own more, but these are obviously the ones I go to and use the most often.

 

I hope this was helpful! If you are someone like me, who blushes like they've been running a marathon, maybe you'll find one of these blushes will work for you! If you have any others you think I should be trialling, please leave it below in the comments :)

 

xxxx