A Love Letter to Blush

I see the usual suspects on lists of ‘desert island’ beauty products: mascara, always; concealer; a great lipstick. They’re the things most people say they wouldn’t leave the house without; the product they stockpile or worry about what they’ll do if their favorite brand or shade is discontinued.

For me, it’s none of the above. The product that has always captured my heart is blush. Arguably the least modern, least glamorous, least interesting of all the makeup. Try as it might, blush always struggles to throw off its ‘granny’ connotations - but for me, it's my absolute fave, my ride-or-die, my ‘won’t-leave-the-house-without-must-have.’

There are multiple reasons for this, but the principle one is that I like to spend the absolute minimum time doing my makeup, and I’m also - despite years of interviewing makeup artists and watching models and celebrities being made up on shoots - not very good at it. The thing about the right blush is that it’s an instant transformation, and despite popular misconceptions, it’s also pretty easy to apply. 

I’m also someone who easily (always?) looks tired, with permanent dark circles and a distinct lack of natural glow. But one sweep of blush (ok two; one per cheek) and you instantly look so much brighter, so much happier, so much healthier. It’s honestly miraculous.

I get it, though: people are frightened of blush. No-one wants to look like a clown, or an old lady, or just someone from the seventies who hasn’t heard that formulas have got a lot better since then. I get it. But you don’t have to wear a bright blush, or apply it in a big, 80-style stripe down your cheekbones, or wear it with a full face of makeup. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Here are a few things to remember about blush:

1. The bigger the brush, the more subtle the look. Sweep a large blusher brush along your cheekbones (or that general area; honestly, with our Supercheek Vitamin Powder Blush you can’t really get it wrong) and the look you get will be soft, diffuse and blurry. Which is exactly what we want.

2. Don’t be scared of deeper blushes. Essentially what blush is doing is mimicking the appearance of blood rushing to the surface of your skin, so in fact going for a reddish color, or deeper berry shade, can sometimes give the most natural look of all. If you want that really ‘lit from within’ look though, I’d advise going for a cream rather than powder blush, applied with your fingers so you get a really soft look that melts into skin.  The Blushy from the Sam Chapman & Beauty Pie range is the perfect example of this. It's a lip and cheek balm that delivers a sheer, moisturizing, dewy-finish and a complexion-enlivening flush thanks to its gorgeous reddish-brown shade.
   

   

3. Rule of thumb: if it looks pretty in the packaging, it will look pretty on your skin. I mean definitely many makeup artists will take issue with this, and talk about cool tones and warm tones and all of that, and absolutely that’s important too - but for example I’ve used every single one of the Supercheek Vitamin Powder Blush, from the light, natural-looking Parisienne (we named it because it gives that gorgeous, barely-there ‘French girl’ look) to Electric Valentine (a bright, blue-toned pink) and when you apply them with the Regular All-Over Face Powder Brush (see rule 1), they all look soft and pretty on the skin.

4. One thing I’ve found - and this goes back to me looking tired all the time, but I think is something consider no matter how perky your complexion - is that blush looks especially good layered over a very subtle sweep of bronzer. I use a powder bronzer and use the Large All-Over Face Powder Brush to apply it to the high points of my face - forehead, bridge of nose, cheekbones - then add the blush to cheekbones.

5. Give it a minute for your foundation or skin tint to ‘settle’ before you apply your blush. Using a primer first also helps. You don’t want your complexion to be too moist before you sweep the blusher brush over it, or it won’t disperse properly and won’t look natural. 

6. Smile when you apply your blush. It’s one of those age-old bits of beauty advice that definitely does work; the apples of your cheeks are more pronounced, and it’s easier to see exactly where you want the ‘flush.’

I think blush looks best with lovely glowing skin, great brows, great lashes and a lip color that’s in the same ‘family’ - so a berry lip with a berry blush; a more neutral lip with a peachy blush, a rosy pink blush with a dusky pink lip - that kind of thing. Smoky eyes and blush don’t (in my opinion) work so well. But eyeliner and blush, and maybe a glossy lip? Love that. Love blush.