Tag: My Favorite Blushes!

The beautiful Nea at Fashioned in Finland recently did this tag and I had to do it myself because I looooove blushes and I'll jump at any opportunity to talk about my blush stash.

I own a ton of different drugstore/affordable blushes and I like each one for a specific purpose, but here are my top five that I always seem to reach for over and over again these days:

Let's start clockwise from the left:

My favorite blush/bronzer duo:

Neutrogena Healthy Skin Custom Glow Blush & Bronzer in Berry Glow. I recently reviewed this blush in detail (click here for my review) and I find myself loving it and using it more and more as the days go by. For my NC20 coloring, I just love the pinkish-berry glow this imparts to the apples of my cheeks, I love the versatility of the bronzer, which is a light golden brown and really gives a soft, subtle glow to the skin. This duo has got it all, and the best part is the staying power. It's amazing and I just can't recommend it enough (but it's pricey so definitely wait for a good sale).

My favorite cheek tint:

I keep hoping that if I mention Prestige's 2009 Limited Edition Perfectly Fresh Cheek Tint in Sunny over and over again on my blog, that Prestige might magically bring this back to us. :) This was a limited edition item last year, and it's the most fantastic little Tarte dupe I've ever seen from a drugstore brand. In fact, I've owned several Tarte cheek tints over the years and I love this one more than Tarte. It's just so wearable, so blendable, and the staying power is incredible as well. Which is exactly why I bought two back-ups. Prestige, pleeeeeease bring this back to us someday!


My favorite ridiculously inexpensive blush:

Sally Girl Blush in Flushed retails for just $1.99 ($1.89 with club card) at Sally Beauty but, unlike most uber-cheap powder blushes, this one is packed with pigment, it applies smoothly, it's not chalky, and it's got incredible staying-power. The shade Flushed is kind of a peachy-terracotta shade that works well with tons of my earthtone eyeshadows, so I find myself reaching for this little gem over and over again when I'm in a hurry and don't want to think about what shade to pair with my eye look. It's one of those "you can't go wrong" shades if you're a fellow earthtone gal.

My favorite cream blush:

Admittedly, I haven't reviewed a lot of cream blushes on Nouveau Cheap because, well, I tend to wear powder foundations 90% of the time, and a lot of cream blushes just don't work with powder foundations. But this little gem, Maybelline Dream Mousse Blush in Whipped Strawberries (which I happened to score at Dollar Tree) is the exception. It works fabulously atop powder foundation and it just goes on so smoothly...like an airy mousse (imagine that!). The shade, Fresh Strawberries, describes the color so accurately--it looks like you took a fresh strawberry and rubbed a little bit of it onto your skin. I love the natural pink glow that this colors gives to the apples of my cheeks, and I think it's truly one of those drugstore gems that everyone should own. Plus, just like with all the other blushes I've mentioned, the staying power is INCREDIBLE (can you tell that staying-power is pretty much my number 1 priority with blushes? Well that's because I've got oily skin that literally eats blush within a few hours so I simply refuse to wear a blush that I have to reapply throughout the day. Ain't gonna happen.).

My Holy Grail way-too-expensive-but-some-things-are-worth-splurging-on blush:

I have mentioned time and time again that Bobbi Brown powder blushes are the gold standard for me. Try as I might, I just can't find a blush that even remotely rivals the colors, the texture, the blendability, and the staying power of The Bobbi Brown Powder Blush (yes, it deserves capitalization).

The blush in this photo is Sand Pink, and what sold me on this color FOREVER is a story that goes like this: One day while I was at work at my former job, I was in the mailroom and I caught a glance of myself in horrible florescent lighting and said out loud: "Oh man, I think I put on too much blush today." And the guys in the mailroom (all of whom I had known and worked with for several years and were like family to me) said, "Wait. You wear BLUSH?" Of course I laughed and said, "Uh...yeah. Of course I do." And one guy in particular (whom I will always love and you're about to see why) said, "Seriously, I always thought you just had naturally rosy cheeks. Your face always looks so healthy. It doesn't look like you wear any makeup at all on your cheeks." I'm sorry, but is there a more AWESOME compliment that a woman can hear about her makeup???

After that little exchange, I then proceeded to ask a few of my female co-workers if they had ever noticed or paid attention to my blush, and some of them actually told me, "I've always wanted to know what you wear on your cheeks because it just looks so natural and pretty." There you have it. Sold. Bobbi Brown powder blushes rule the universe.

But sadly, my budget just does not allow for me to own one each of every BB color (ooooh how I can dream), but once in a while I'll find a reputable Ebay seller who has a lot of two blushes for sale (both the same color--which is fine by me) for like 15 bucks and I snap them up quicker than you can say "Bobbi Brown blushes rule". Which is how I got the Sand Pink shade in the picture above. It's the old packaging, but it came from a trusted seller that I've done business with before, and I got two of them for an amazing price a few years ago. Bottom line, however you have to do it (legally, of course), once in your life you should at least try a Bobbi Brown powder blush. Especially if you prefer giving your cheeks a glow that looks natural, and appears to be coming from within. Also, if you're an oily-skinned gal like me, these blushes wear like iron. They just don't budge, even by the end of day. They are perfection. End of story.

So...that's it for my favorite blushes. I am tagging everyone reading this, and I hope that you'll share your favorite blushes on your blog, and if you don't have a blog, leave 'em in the comments!