My Favorite Bright Blushes

Continuing in the bright blush theme for the past week (see my post on applying bright blushes here) today I am showing you all of my (not so many) bright blushes. Blushes and lipsticks are my favorite makeup products but though I have fewer blushes overall I tend to love each of them more than I do my lipsticks or the poor, forgotten eyeshadows.

I only own five BRIGHT blushes (and one of them technically isn't even a blush). I swore I had more until it came time to dig through my stash for this post. Obviously pink pinks are overrepresented out of these five. I really need some red or bright coral blushes!

 

Clockwise, top left: R&R All Nighter, Illamasqua Tweak, NYX Hot Pink, Prestige Love, ELF Pink Passion

 Blush Breakdowns (Favorite to least favorite):

• Rock and Republic All Nighter -- This is a strong red-orange with warm golden shimmer. When applied sheerly it becomes a warm orangey glow. R&R blush formulas are by far my favorite among high end blushes and this one lives up to the standard. It blends beautifully, never feels powdery, and lasts all day (or night!). It is the biggest tragedy that these are discontinued! 
• Illamasqua Tweak -- See my review of this shade here. This is a matte warm watermelon pink that blends sooo smoothly for a matte and becomes a beautiful flush once applied.
• NYX Hot Pink cream blush -- This is a bright, hot, cool-toned pink in a cream formula. I don't like cream blushes because I find them a hassle to apply but these are great for an affordable cream blush at an affordable price. You have to be really careful though because literally the tiniest amount is enough!
• Prestige Love eyeshadow -- So this is techinically an eyeshadow that may be discontinued (?). I use it as a blush though and if you have any favorite pink/coral eyeshadows you can use them for blush as well! This is a bright fuschia pink with a slightly blue duochrome which thankfully doesn't really show up when worn as a blush.
• ELF Pink Passion studio blush -- This pale, cool-pink blush is just okay. While it is pigmented, it applies very chalky and powdery compared to refined mattes like Illamasqua, TheBalm, or NARS. In my opinion there are better blushes out there in the drugstore but some people (including me) just couldn't resist the $3 price tag. 

These are one-swipe swatches in natural/direct sunlight and indirect lighting. 

L-R: R&R All Nighter, Illamasqua Tweak, NYX Hot Pink, Prestige Love, ELF Pink Passion

 Click past the jump to see more swatches!

Tips for Wearing Bright Blush Without Looking Like a Clown

So... it's that moment when you fell for that practically neon orange blush and you just brought it home and have no idea how to wear it. We've all been there: one swipe on the cheek and you look like you just time-traveled from the 80's or are getting ready to runaway with the circus. Frustrated, you either have to start your makeup all over again or apply another layer of foundation to cover the offending blush.

 

I absolutely love bright and high-impact blushes, but there definitely was a learning curve to avoiding the above scenario (though sometimes I still end up being a little too heavy handed). Once I figured out how to apply them though, it was just head-over-heels love from there! Today when I was looking through my blush stash though I realized.... I need MORE bright blushes!! Feel free to give me any recs you have!

Tips for Applying Bright Blush: 

• The most important tip  to applying these beauties is to use a stippling brush. Stippling brushes are usually identified by their "skunk"-iness -- they have both white and black bristles. The black bristles are shorter and more dense, with the longer white bristles spread throughout. This means that you are able to pick up less product than a traditional brush but because the white bristles are still spread out, you're able to apply the blush over a larger area. Stippling brushes make it WAY easier to apply blush more subtly.

Sonia Kashuk "Highlighting" Brush (stippling/skunk)

See how the white bristles are spread out less densely?

Illamasqua Tweak Blush Review and Swatches

Illamasqua Tweak is one of my new favorite blushes! It is a bright reddish watermelon pink (or is it? I can never describe colors >.<") that is SO pigmented that I barely dab a stippling brush into the blush with the lightest touch and still have to tap off excess on a tissue. Applied very sparingly it blends with my skin to create a beautiful pink flush.

The formula of Illamasqua blushes is phenomenal and is definitely my favorite along with the sadly discontinued Rock and Republic blushes. This is matte but unlike some mattes (like NARS) I find that this blends really easily into my skin without clumping together where I have dry flakes. It just blends so well with little effort, just the help of my Sonia Kashuk stippling brush.

Tweak is definitely a unique color in my stash and I'm so happy I have it now. I will definitely be trying more Illamasqua blushes next time there's a sale. :) These are currently $24, and exclusively at Sephora (in the US).

Warm lighting: Blended, Swiped once, Built up

Cooler lighting

See how well it swatched? The one swipe swatch is nearly as opaque as the built up swatch. I also blended a teeny tiny bit of the remaining blush on my fingertips on the left so you can see how the color looks blended. Of course if you have a cooler skintone the color will become cooler on you.

 

The color in the pan is STUNNING! It looks different from in my swatch because it becomes warmer on my skintone.

Here it is applied with a Sonia Kashuk stippling brush.

Have you tried Tweak before? What are your favorite Illamasqua blushes?

What's in my travel makeup bag?

Or rather, bags. I've been away from my makeup stash for a month and this is what I brought with me. Amazingly, I've discovered that I can survive on less, but lets be real, I can't wait to be reunited with all my makeup pretties on Saturday!

My Harajuku Lovers and LeSportsac makeup bags

 I like the Harajuku lovers bag more because the opening is much larger and allows me to find things much more easily.

Clockwise, top left: Tarte Exposed, MAC MSFN, Milani Luminoso, MUFE Face & Body, Revlon Age Defying Concealer

These are some of my favorite face products, including MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural (which I use as a natural foundation), MUFE Face & Body foundation, Revlon Age Defying Concealer (in two shades which I mix to match my skintone), Tarte Exposed Amazonian Clay blush (my current favorite everyday blush, I can't stop using this!! My old favorite Rock & Republic Call Me is probably crying as I type this), and Milani Luminoso baked blush.
 

For eye products I brought my favorite Wet n Wild Comfort Zone Palette, a freestyle palette I made containing WnW Vanity, Night Elf, Silent Treatment, and Walking on Eggshells palettes, WnW creme liner (which I use for my brows), Clinique gel liner, UDPP, Revlon Colorstay liquid liner, and CG Lashexact waterproof mascara.

Now that I think about it I didn't really need to bring my homemade WnW eyeshadow palette, Comfort Zone was more than enough.

L-R: WnW Stoplight Red, MAC Jubilee, MAC See Sheer, MAC VG Cyndi, Chanel Dragon, Chanel Mademoiselle, Revlon Coral, Revlon Raspberry Bite, and Revlon Nude Lustre lipgloss.

And of course, where I always go overboard, lipsticks!!

The only ones I didn't use were the two Revlon lipsticks so I'd say I brought just enough lippies. I love the holidays because they're such a great excuse for wearing red lipstick ;) So many pretties!!

Revlon Nude Lustre, MAC Jubilee, Chanel Mademoiselle, MAC See Sheer, MAC VG Cyndi, Revlon Coral, WnW Stoplight Red, Chanel Dragon, Revlon Raspberry lipstick swatches

Thanks for looking!

Did I go overboard? What makeup do you bring when you travel?

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