Tag Archives: pink blush

Milani Spring 2014 Coming Up Roses Blush Swatches & First Impressions

Last summer, Milani released four rose-embossed blushes and I bought & reviewed two of them – I was not impressed. So when I found this year’s set of four blushes, I thought I’d skip them. Luckily I posted a on Instagram and several people commented that this year’s were worth it. I ended up deciding to buy all four. I haven’t had a chance to really play with them yet, so today I have swatches and my first impressions.

First, here are too many photos of the blushes in the pan. They’re just so pretty.
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NYX Hibiscus & Tea Rose Stick Blush Review, Swatches, Photos

Purchased Affiliate Links Since Ulta’s 40% off NYX sale ends in a few days, I wanted to be sure to get this review up today! I purchased these two stick blushes on the first day of the sale, and so far, I really like them.

The packaging is pretty basic; colored plastic that closely matches the shade of the product. They contain a good amount of product – – and the full price around $6 at Ulta or Cherryculture.

I believe that some of the shades contain shimmer, but I chose two shades with creme finishes – no sparkle or shimmer at all. Both are very pigmented.

Hibiscus heavily swatched & blended out // Tea Rose heavily swatched & blended out

I found each of the stick blushes a bit difficult to blend out over dry skin, but they were easy to blend over well-moisturized skin, including over foundation. I would not recommend using these over a powder foundation; they are not emollient enough for that to work. They work best over well-moisturized skin or over liquid foundation.

I’ve only worn them a couple times so far, but wear time seems typical for a cream product, or perhaps a little better than usual. For me, that means that they last 5-6 hours (creams usually last 4-5 hours on me; this is probably partially because I wear blush very lightly).

Overall, I really like these, and I’d definitely recommend them – especially on sale!

*I purchased the product(s) featured in this post. This post contains affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.

Tarina Tarantino Dollskin Cheek Palette Review & Swatches

Tarina Tarantino Dollskin Cheek Palette

Tarina Tarantino Dollskin Cheek Palette was a good deal at $45, and at it’s current price of $27, I would recommend it to any fair-to-medium skinned person looking for an easy to wear blush. The cheek palette contains four blushes – Feather (satin/shimmer peach), Parasol (satin/shimmer coral), Carved Rose (matte pink), and Candy Cameo (sparkling pink).

The packaging is quite nice; the blushes are in a solid feeling (but light) silver metal compact with etched designs. It does show fingerprints, if that bothers you – and it’s very reflective and hard to photograph, which is probably irrelevant for almost everyone. The mirror inside is a nice size and great quality – I can see myself using it when I travel to put on all my makeup.

Each blush is .12oz, which is a nice size; it’s a little over half the size of a MAC blush, and the same size a Rouge Bunny Rouge blush. If you love one of the blushes, three of them are available as full size individuals, but Candy Cameo – which happens to be my least favorite of the four – is not.

All four of the blush shades are very smooth and soft. Each has medium pigmentation. When I swatched them, I was concerned that they might not show up on my face – but I applied Parasol and the color was easy to built up in a swipe or two. These are great shades for pale to medium skintones, and especially great for people who are worried about putting on too much blush. These are sheer enough that you are unlikely to overapply.

Swatches:

Feather, Parasol – flash

Feather, Parasol – natural light

Parasol reminded me of NARS Orgasm, so I swatched them side by side – Parasol is a touch more pink and a touch more opaque, and the shimmer is silvery-neutral. Orgasm has gold shimmer, and the shimmer is more apparent. They are relatively close though

Feather and Parasol both have the same finish – it’s more shimmery than a satin, but less shimmery than what I normally think of as a shimmer. You can see the shimmer in the pan and a built up swatch, but it’ very subtle on the face.

Tarina Tarantino blush swatches - Carved Rose, Candy Cameo - swatches

Carved Rose, Candy Cameo – flash

Carved Rose, Candy Cameo – natural light (this picture is a little too pink)

Carved Rose is a cool pink matte. Candy Camo is a similar pink, but less pigmented and with tiny specks of glitter. Because of the glitter, I don’t see myself using it very often, but $27 is still a great deal for three lovely quality blushes.

I haven’t tested the wear time of these blushes; I’ve worn Tarina Tarantino Neapolitan Lane a couple times now and wear was pretty typical for me – so I would guess that these also have average wear. I’m wearing Parasol right now, and I’ll update if it does anything surprising!

Overall, I love this palette, especially at the reduced price. If you like sheer blushes and have pale skin, I would definitely buy it; if you prefer very pigmented blush or if your skin is more than 2-3 shades darker than mine, I’d skip it though.

Sleek Blush By 3 Review & Swatches – Pumpkin, Sugar, Flame, Pink Sprint, Lace

Last February, I read that Sleek Makeup (a UK drugstore brand) had released five different blush palettes, each with three blushes. Sleek has a fantastic blush formula, so I was immediately intrigued. However, the blushes were not available at the time on Sleek’s website, and though they were on Ebay, they would have cost double the retail price so I decided to wait. Eventually, they showed up on Sleek’s website, but because shipping was so expensive and because I couldn’t decide which ones to get, I didn’t buy any.

Then, a few weeks ago, Sleek relaunched its website with a 20% off discount sitewide (now over, sorry!) and reduced shipping costs to the US (permanent). I thought it was time to finally buy a couple of the Blush by 3 palettes. Since they were on sale, I decided to just go for it and buy all five. Picture heavy post ahead!

A few general comments: All five of the Blush by 3 palettes are smooth and blend nicely. Four of them are quite pigmented; Sugar is less pigmented. There are a mix of shimmery and matte shades, but most of the shimmery shades are fairly subtle and will add dimension rather than obvious shimmer particles. I plan to use the matte shades as my main blush shades, then layer the shimmery shades over the top lightly to add dimension without too much shimmer.

Each shade has a name, listed on the back of the palette – it looks like this:

Here is a size comparison of the Sleek Blush by 3 with a single Sleek blush and a NARS blush – I cleaned the packaging, but they were hopelessly dirty! NARS blushes contain 4.8g; Sleek single blushes contain 8g; the Blush by 3 palette contains 20g (6.7g per blush – more than NARS!).

I really like Sleek’s packaging – it’s very compact and efficient, and I’m always a fan of black packaging. It would be ideal if the lids were clear for these so I could tell them apart more easily, but this works too, and there is a nicely sized mirror in the lid.

On to the swatches! Because there are 15 blushes total, I don’t have full-face swatches (sorry!). I have flash and natural light swatches for each color.

Pumpkin 363 – lantern, squash, pumpkin pie

Pumpkin 363 – flash / natural light

All three shades in the Pumpkin palette are nicely pigmented and smooth. Lantern, on the left, is a red with subtle shimmer; Squash is a cool pink with a slight sheen, and Pumpkin Pie is a bright cool orange.

364 Sugar – Turbinado, Muscovado, Demerara

Sugar – flash / natural light

Each of the three shades in the Sugar palette is less pigmented than the other palettes. I even swatched it twice to make sure I hadn’t done something wrong the first time (how do you swatch incorrectly, though?). However, they have plenty of pigment to work – they’re just not AS pigmented as the others.

Turbinado, on the left, is a matte berry red. Muscovado, in the middle, looks almost brown in the pan, but swatches plum with gold shimmer. Turbinado is is a muted peach/brown.

Flame 365 – Furnace, Bon Fire, Molten

The Flame palette has three lovely red shades. All three are very pigmented. Furnace looks very slightly patchy in the swatch, but gives no trouble when applied. Furnace is a soft red with some shimmer. Bon Fire an orange-based matte red. Molten is very similar to Furance, but slightly more muted.

Pink Sprint 366 – Pink Parfait, Pink Ice, Pinktini

Pink Sprint – flash, natural light

Sleek Pink Sprint – flash / natural light

Pink Sprint is the only palette with three mattes. Pink Parfeit is a soft berry rose; Pink Ice an almost neon pink; and and Pinktini a stunning, very pigmented dark raspberry.

Lace 367 – Crochet, Guipure, Chantilly

Lace – flash, natural light

All three shades in the Lace palette are very smooth and pigmented. Crochet is a matte peach with orange tones, Guipure is a pink with gold shimmer – the strongest shimmer out of all five of the palettes – and Chantilly is a pink-coral.

Overall, I am totally in love with these palettes! I am going to have a lot of fun playing with them. Does anyone need 15 blush shades? Not really – and especially not me – but I am so happy to have them, and they add a lot of variation to my blush stash.

If you are in the US, Sleek Blush by 3 palettes sell for $12.49 each on Sleek’s website. Shipping starts around $5 for one palette, and goes up when you buy more.

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NARS Foreplay Blush Palette Review, Swatches, Photos

When I first saw images of the new NARS Foreplay Blush Palette, a Sephora exclusive, I wasn’t that interested – it contains Orgasm blush, which I’ve never been interested in since I generally prefer matte blushes, and I though the matte pink would be too cool-toned to work well on me. However, while in a Sephora store the other day, I swatched it, and was instantly smitten.

I’d never actually swatched Orgasm blush before, and I liked it more than I though I would – though I was still quite hesitant about the shimmer. However, I loved the other three shades; the matte pink seemed like it would work quite well, the matte coral peach/coral is exactly the type of shade I am drawn to, and the gold highlight shade is quite lovely. So, I bought it, thinking that I could always return if it didn’t work at all for me.

The Foreplay blush palette is packaged in a standard black rubberized NARS compact. Like just about everyone else, I love how sleek the NARS packaging is, but hate how dirty it gets. The Foreplay palette is substantially larger than a normal NARS blush compact, and contains a total of .36 oz of product, while a single NARS blush contains .16 oz; so it’s more than twice as much product for less than twice the cost (single, $28, Foreplay, $49). Of course, each color in the Foreplay palette is smaller than a single NARS blush – but I always prefer to get several smaller-sized colors than one larger color since I don’t finish color products.

Here are the Foreplay palette and a single NARS blush (Amour) side by side, for size comparison purposes:

Size comparison: NARS Foreplay blush palette, NARS single blush compact (Amour)

The textures of all four of the Foreplay blushes were excellent – soft and smooth. The two shimmers are lightly pigmented, and the two mattes are very pigmented. The mattes in particular had a really excellent, even texture that is very impressive. Despite the pigmentation level of the mattes, the texture makes them easy to blend out and get a very natural look. In the swatches below, the natural light photo is a touch overexposed and the flash photo is oversaturated; the actual colors are somewere in the middle.

NARS Foreplay swatches – natural light

NARS Foreplay swatches – flash

And finally, here I am wearing the peach / coral shade on my cheeks, and the gold shade on my cheekbones. I’ve applied the gold shade very heavily, as I find that highlighter usually doesn’t show up well in pictures. I would normally apply less to wear out of the house.

NARS Foreplay – applied

Overall, I’m really pleased with this purchase. I’m sure that the peach / coral shade will become a go-to; I’m actually wearing it right now – and I am pleased to have the variety in my stash from the other shades as well!

La Femme Blush On Rouge Review, Swatches, Photos

La Femme Blush on Rouge

Lately, I’ve been looking for a good red blush (see why in this post!) Since La Femme blushes are pigmented, high quality, and very inexpensive (around $3), I thought I would give La Femme’s “Red” blush a try.

Instead of buying online, I bought in-person at Nigel Beauty Emporium – a beauty supply store located about 20 minutes away from me. I had never been before, and WOW – it is the most fantastic store I have ever been too! They have so many brands, including the full line of Inglot, OCC, Kevyn Aucoin, Ellis Faas, MUFE, Ben Nye, and so many more. I spent about two hours browsing!

Among my other purchases, I bought two La Femme blushes – Red and Coral, to add to the four I already own (swatched & reviewed here).

Here are swatches of all six together:

La Femme Blush on Rouge: Coral, Red, Pink Velvet, Magenta, Misty Plum, Peach

For blended swatches and face swatches of the four I already owned, please refer to my previous post.

La Femme Coral

La Femme Coral – applied

La Femme Coral is a matte red-based coral. I had no trouble getting a sheer application, despite the intensity of the pigment. My technique for a sheer application of a pigmented blush is as follows: first, use powder (I even powdered my arm – this really helps it blend). Then, use a stipple brush to lightly touch the blush. Touch the stipple brush to a tissue to get rid of any excess blush – you want only the smallest amount of blush on your brush. Then, apply to your face. Use a clean brush to blend.

La Femme Red

La Femme Red – Applied

La Femme Red is a vibrant, bright red with some sparkle. The heavier swatch shows the sparkle, but in the blended out swatch, the sparkle disappears – so little of the blush is used that there is virtually no sparkle visible (which I like). At Nigel Beauty, I compared an Inglot red blush, two MUFE red blushes, and this one, and I liked this one best – the color was the most vibrant and seemed the most true red. This one is a touch more difficult to blend out than Coral, because it is SO pigmented, but I was still able to do so using the technique outlined above.

And, here’s a look at my blush/face palette – it’s in a giant MUFE palette (only $11!) that I bought at Nigel Beauty. I prefer to keep most of my blush in single pots, but the La Femmes come as pans, the packaging on one additional blush broke, and I’ve depotted some bronzers and one highlighter because I found the packaging annoying.

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