Blush can be a tricky thing. Most people think it’s eyeshadow that’s tough, but how many times have we spotted a specimen of poorly-applied blush on our daily public transport commute, such as the lady who obviously got the idea of contouring wrong by applying her blush in two harsh lines under the cheekbones; or the one who perhaps didn’t do her makeup in the best lighting and ended up leaving the house bordering on clownish territory.
So we completely understand if trying out red blushes is the last thing you want to do. A colour that already looks so intimidating in the pan has to be worse on the skin, right?
Wrong, actually. For something that comes looking so scarily bright, it’s actually the colour that will look the most natural on the skin. Red mimics a natural flush, more so than pink does (our blood runs red, after all). The key to applying it is really a light hand, and the placement – on the apples of the cheeks to fake the pinched-cheeks effect, and most definitely not in thick stripes to accentuate cheekbones.
For powder blushes, touch your makeup brush very, very lightly to the pan to pick up the product, and go further to swirl it on the back of your hand or on the lid to remove the excess. Red blush, most of the time, is going to be more pigmented than usual, so this is the method to ensure that sheer wash of colour you’re trying to achieve. A cream formula is more newbie-friendly, since using your fingers makes it easier to control the amount of product picked up and how it’s blended into the skin.
Fear no more, and start searching out red blushes to add to your collection. They’re more commonplace than you think, and we’ve got quite a few options to recommend here.
NARS Matte Multiple in Siam, $60 (available from February 2017); Yves Saint Laurent Beauté Baby Doll Kiss & Blush Duo Stick in No. 7 From Mild to Spicy, $50; M.A.C Powder Blush in Frankly Scarlet, $40
CHANEL Coco Code, $103 (available from 6 January 2017); 3CE Duo Color Face Blush in Retro Drive, $34, Sephora; NYX Whipped Lip and Cheek Souffle in Molten Love, $13, NYX stores and Sephora
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