Spring Blush
In a world of contour and highlighter, where does a pop of blusher come in?! Personally, I can take or leave the highlighter, never bother with contouring, but ALWAYS add a pop of colour to my cheeks with blush.
I like peachy/coral shades, popped onto the apples of my cheeks, instantly lifting my complexion, particularly when winter has left it looking a little washed out. So, I’ve rounded up a selection of some lovely new spring blushers.
Clarins Joli Rouge Blush (£27) is one f my favourites. This shade is Cheeky Baby – probably more pink than I like, but still a lovely light blush. Clarins make good blusher. You get just the right hit and if you like powder blush, you can ‘t go wrong with this. It comes in a lovely compact, with a mirror and a small brush.
Kat Von D’s new Everlasting Blush (£22, Debenhams) comes in six rosy shades – this one is Peony. The formula is a micro-milled powder, and the packaging is rose-shaped. It’s a bit plastic/cheap, to be honest for the price, and I’m not a massive fan of Kat Von D, but the blusher itself is nice, and this is a deep, warm, pink shade.
Benefit’s Georgia Golden Peach Blush (£27) is back! It was originally launched in 2004 and has had a makeover. It’ a vibrant, pearly peach shade, with sheer warm gold undertones. It has a sort of soft-sheen glow, and a fresh peach-floral scent. I’m not a huge fan of Benefit blushers. The price is quite steep, they come in a difficult to manage box, in my opinion, and the brush isn’t up to much, but they are SUPER popular.
I’d never heard of makeup artist Jillian Dempsey until this Cheek Tint (£26.50, Cult Beauty) landed on my desk, but I’m intrigued now – because this is a lovely product. She’s made up the faces of Kristen Stewart, Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Winslet and Kirsten Dunst, no less. This new product comes in the most adorable pouch packaging and six shades. This one is Poppy – a lovely soft coral.
And who better to explain the shade, than Jillian herself – “This bright shade is sheer enough to be wearable. I was inspired by a powder blush I discovered in London years ago, which was discontinued,” she said. “I held onto this one little cube because I loved the cheerful colour. I gave it to my lab and they put a new spin on it.”
The vegan formula is made with Shea Butter, Sunflower Seed Wax, Chinese Lacquer Tree Wax, Indian Shala Tree Wax, as well as olive oil, coconut oil and bamboo. The tint gives colour, blends easily and nourishes the skin.
Sleek Makeup Blush in Rose Gold (£4.99) is the brand’s best-seller. It’s sort of a bargain dupe on NARS, in my opinion, and I like it. Gives a dewy, radiant glow, with a hint of a shimmer.
If you like a sheer blush just to add that hint of colour, then perhaps the Iconic London Sheer Blush (£18, Harvey Nichols) is for you. This shade is Fresh Faced, a warm fawn pink, and the easy-squeeze tube holds a gel to watercolour formula that you can build and blend once on the skin.
Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush (£35) is a hybrid of the brand’s Ambient Lighting Powder, and bright, bold colour. This shade shown is Radiant Magenta and is really bold. It will look fantastic on darker skins, and a little would really make a paler complexion pop. But work carefully with this blusher. A little goes a long way, which is probably just as well at £35 a pop!
Dear Dahlia Blooming Edition Paradise Dual Palette Blusher Duo (£26, feelunique.com) is so pretty and perfectly instagrammable! There are three shades in this dual powder – Petal Princess, Candy Castle, and Blossom Palace.
This is Blossom Palace – a pale pale pink powder and a rosy pink shimmer powder. Dear Dahlia’s high-performance products are infused with the patented Dahlia Variabilis Flower Extract, which has proven antioxidant properties and provides anti-ageing and skin conditioning benefits.
The vegan, cruelty-free collection neither tests on animals nor use animal-derived ingredients and boasts gentle eight-free formulations, which exclude eight potentially harmful ingredients. You can use the powders on cheeks and eyes, to create whatever look you want.
* I bought this vintage blusher used as a prop recently – don’t worry I’m not using the product, I just loved the packaging. It’s Bourjois Rouge in Rosette Brune, Made in England, and it came from Boots – the wee price tag is on the base, and it seems to have a 13 under the pennies part of the label, but I have no idea how much that value would be today. Some research seems to date this adorable powder from the 1930s – can’t believe it’s lasted almost 100 years!
