Category Archives: Blush (Cream)

Swatch Spam: Blush, Bronzer, and Highlighter

I realized that I have a ton of products I haven’t ever swatched or reviewed for Project Swatch, so I thought I’d remedy that by doing a couple of posts with lots of swatches! I’m starting off today with several blushes and a few highlighters and bronzers. I’ll say just a few words about each item.

TheBalm How Bout Them Apples

Cider // Pie // Candy // Cobbler // Crisp // Caramel

First, we have TheBalm How ‘Bout Them Apples blush palette ($32 at Nordstrom). I like it, but not as much as I expected to. The texture of these is a bit more slippery than I prefer for the cheeks, and a bit too drying for the lips. Pretty colors though, and definitely wearable on both the cheeks and lips; just not ideal.

Milani Bella Rosa

Next, the new Milani Bella Rosa baked blush (approximately $8 at drugstores or Milanicosmetics.com) is just as wonderful as all the online reviews say. Smooth, pigmented, and blendable.

Milani Hermosa Rose

Milani Illuminating Face Powder (around $9) in Hermosa Rose is absolutely gorgeous in the pan. It’s lightly pigmented and has a very fine, smooth shimmer. I am not sure what I think about the color though – it’s a little too dark for a highlighter for me, but not dark enough to be a true bronzer. I haven’t tried it as blush yet, but hopefully that will work out!

Rose-O-Den-Dron // Elegant Azalea // Pure Petunia // Peach Blossom

I really like Flower Win Some Rouge Some cream blush (around $8 at Walmart). You can read my review of Elegant Azalea here. Note that Rose-O-Den-Dron has a different texture than the rest – I don’t know if it’s a quality control issue or what. But, both textures work well – blendable and smooth.

Ticket to Brazil // Reserve Your Cabana

And finally, two of the three Wet n Wild Color Icon Bronzers – Ticket to Brazil & Reserve Your Cabana (around $4 at drugstores, online at Walgreens.com). Both are lovely – smooth and blendable with the best kind of shimmery finishes – but the highlighter, Reserve Your Cabana is especially silky.

Do you have any of these items, or are any of them are your wishlist?

*I purchased all products featured in this post. This post contains affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.

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Make Up For Ever HD Blush #215 Review & Swatches

Press Sample – Affiliate Links

MUFE HD Blush in shade 215

Make Up For Ever recently released a line of new HD cream blushes, which I believe replace their old HD blushes (review from quite a while back). I was lucky to receive shade 215, which is the one I had my eye on. It’s a lovely pink-coral, and actually quite similar to the shade of the old-style HD blush I used to own (#6 Quickie). The color in the pan below is more accurate than the color in the photo above.

MUFE 215

This blush blends out really beautifully – it’s just as easy to do a sheer application as it is to build the color. The finish is more matte than most cream blushes, but not as matte/powdery as most cream-to-power blushes. I think the finish and texture would be great on most skin types – it definitely works well on my (normal-to-dry) skin.

Unblended // Blended

I only have this one shade, but I’ve swatched several shades at Sephora, and all seem to be easy-to-wear, flattering colors with the same excellent texture.

Recommended!

*I received the MUFE blush courtesy of the brand and The Makeup Show. This post contains one or more affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.

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Canmake Cream Cheek Clear Red Heart & Clear Sunset Review & Swatches

Purchased – No Affiliate Links

Canmake Clear Red Heart

I have some quick swatches for you today. Canmake is a Japanese drugstore brand, and some of their long-time most popular products are the Cream Cheek blushes. I’ve been tempted by them before, but always decided against purchasing due to the colors offered; mostly pastels, with a white base – something I tend to dislike in blush. A few months ago, I heard that Canmake had released a “clear” series with a few additional shades. Clear refers to the fact that these have a clear base instead of a white base, which gives them a translucent, jelly-ish quality. None of the Clear series blushes have any shimmer or sparkle.

I purchased two shades, [CL01] Clear Red Heart, a true red, and [CL03] Clear Sunset – reddish coral; note that this one was limited edition, but is still available on Ebay (and mine has a broken compact, which is why it looks odd).

Canmake Clear Red Heart // Clear Sunset

There are also two pinks – [CL02] Clear Love Song Pink and [CL04] Clear Pink Joy – I’m not sure how they differ. Canmake recently released a fifth shade, [CL05] Clear Happiness, described as a coral orange, but, per this blog post, is sheerer and not as nice as the others.

I think the best thing about these is the texture – pigmented, yet easy to blend, and with a great finish.

Clear Red Heart // Clear Sunset

They also work well on the lips. I bought my blushes on Ebay; they are also available on Ichibankao for a dollar or two more.

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NARS Laos Matte Multiple Review & Swatches

Purchased – Affiliate Links

NARS Laos Matte Multiple

NARS recently released six shades of the matte multiple, which is a new product (the formula is different than the regular multiple, which I’ve never tried). First, let’s talk about the size – the original multiple is .5oz for $39, while the matte multiple is .26oz – about half the size – for the same price. It’s disappointing that they halved the size while keeping the price the same, but the matte multiple is actually a decent size. As a comparison, Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge is .13 oz, Illamasqua cream blush is .14oz, and MAC Cremeblend blush is .19oz. On the budget side, NYX stick blush is .21oz and NYX cream blush is 12oz. So, I think the size of the matte multiple is fair, though I do think the price is a little high for NARS. Continue reading →

Maybelline Make A Mauve Master Glaze Blush Stick Review & Swatches

**Announcement: I created a (8 questions, all are optional) for you to give me feedback on Project Swatch. I would really appreciate it if you took the time to fill it out – it should only take a couple minutes, and it will help me improve the blog.**

Purchased – Affiliate Links

Maybelline Master Glaze Blush Stick in Make A Mauve

I purchased one of the new-for-2014 Maybelline Master Glaze blush sticks about a month ago, and the reason it’s taken me such a long time to review is probably because I feel pretty meh about it.

The Master Glaze blush sticks come in six colors ($8.99/Ulta, $7.49/drugstore.com), and I believe all six shades have some shimmer. Make a Mauve has a great base color – a rosy mauve – but the flecks of silver glitter are a huge downside for me. It’s smooth and blendable, but dries to a powdery finish that I don’t love – it feels oddly drying.

Make A Mauve – unblended // blended

Maybelline, I really want to love this. I love cream blush, and actually rarely wear powder anymore. But, it just doesn’t quite work for me.

Revlon Blush on Clearance – Quick Swatches

Purchased – No Affiliate Links

There are currently clearance sales going on at all three major drugstore chains – CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid. Nouveau Cheap has links to more information about each sale here. I’ve been buying more than I probably should, and I thought I’d share some hits and some misses. Today, I’m going to talk about Revlon’s cream blushes in Rosy Glow & Berry Flirtatious and their Photoready Sculpting Blush Palettes in Neutral & Peach.

Let’s start with the hits – the cream blushes are fantastic. Berry Flirtatious is significantly drier than Rosy Glow, but I like the texture of each of them. I prefer the darker Berry Flirtatious on my skintone, but still enjoy Rosy Glow (and would especially recommend it for those with paler coloring).

Berry Flirtatious // Rosy Glow

The Photoready Sculpting Blush Palettes, on the other hand, may be going into the trash soon. Each one includes a blush, a contour color, and a highlighter. The colors are pretty, but the pigmentation is abysmal – sheer can be good, but barely visible when heavily layered is not.

The following swatches are multiple swipes, and I loaded up as much color as possible onto a fingertip for each swipe.

Peach

Neutral

For comparison purposes, here’s Neutral next to theBalm Mary Lou-Manizer. The Revlon swatches & the Mary Lou-Manizer swatches were done with the same technique but the Revlon ones are about three layers & the theBalm one is one layer.

To summarize:

Cream blushes: Possibly worth it at full price, definitely worth it for 75% off.

Photoready Face Palettes: Not even worth it if they were free.