Review: Sally Hansen Natural Beauty Inspired by Carmindy Sheerest Cream Blushes

Confession: I actually purchased one of the Sally Hansen Carmindy Sheerest Cream Blushes back when CVS was having one of their big beauty clearance sales, but I ended up giving it to a friend who loves cream blushes. So when I was sent two shades from this collection recently for review, I was thrilled to FINALLY be able to try them. I haven't read too many reviews of these blushes so I was anxious to see how they'd work for me. After testing them for a few weeks now, I'd love to share my thoughts with you.

Sally Hansen Natural Beauty Inspired by Carmindy Sheerest Cream Blushes

(retail: around $8.99 each; 0.1 oz)

If you're unfamiliar with Carmindy, she's the makeup artist on the TLC show What Not To Wear. You can read more about her and the Sally Hansen Natural Beauty Inspired by Carmindy collection here.

Originally there were seven shades in this range. If you were shopping the last CVS beauty clearance sale, you might have noticed that some of the shades in this range were on clearance. Well that's because the line has been pared down and now there are three shades available: Beaming, Bloom and Rosy. As you can see, I received Beaming and Bloom for review, so let's take a closer look.

All of the products in the Natural Beauty Inspired by Carmindy collection are paraben-free:

If you like cream blushes that have absolutely NO sheen, shimmer or sparkle, you'll be happy to know that Beaming and Bloom are true mattes. 

Looking at the shades in the pans, I was surprised to see that, once on the skin, they were different than I thought they would be:

On my skin, Beaming is actually a cool, light pink shade that comes across as borderline-chalky when first applied. This chalky look quickly disappeared once I blended the product onto my skin though, so don't let that scare you off. It's just a VERY light pink, which surprised me because it looks like more of a coral in the pan.

Beaming is the cooler shade of the two, and I think it would be best reserved for those of you with skintones in the MAC NC15/NW15 range. I'm a MAC NC20 and this shade provides such a subtle hint of color to my skin that I can barely see it once it's blended. (I know that's hard to believe given these pictures,  but once this shade is blended it really does seem to disappear on me unless I go back and build...and build the color).

Bloom, on the other hand, was ideal for my skintone. It's a warmer mauvey-pink that shows up on my skin with no problems whatsoever. I think it's just right for those in the NC20 range, but I also think it could work on deeper skintones as well.

Texture: the texture of these cream blushes is lovely. They go on like a cream but once blended, take on a powdery, almost silky finish. On my skin, they look extremely natural and dewy without looking greasy or oily. They look and feel great on my oily skin but I also think they'd work quite on dry and/or mature skin. 

Application: I found these blushes very easy to apply and blend using just my fingers--even on top of my powder foundation. If you wear powder foundation, you know that sometimes cream blushes will drag and become spotty when applied over powder. Not these. They really go on smoothly over powder, which is such an added bonus for me.

Staying power: I can get about six hours of wear on my super-oily skin before I start to see fading, but since these are Sheerest Cream Blushes, that means they work well as a base for powder blushes too. I've read so many pro tips about using a cream blush underneath a powder blush to increase staying power, but every time I've tried to do that, I've ended up with just way too much blush on my cheeks. The great thing about these is that, because they're sheer,  you really CAN apply a light layer of powder blush on top of them to make the color pop and increase staying power.

FINAL VERDICT: If you like natural-looking, sheer cream blushes that don't contain any shimmer or sparkle, I think you might enjoy these. The cream-to-powder finish makes them a snap to apply with just your fingers, and the colors are natural-looking and buildable, so even those who are looking for just a tiny flush of color will probably feel quite comfortable working with these. If you have fair or pale skin, I would consider Beaming, while those of you with a skintone of NC20 or above would probably enjoy Bloom. If you're new to the world of cream blushes, these are pretty foolproof and virtually impossible to overdo.

You can find Sally Hansen Natural Beauty Inspired by Carmindy products at CVS, Rite Aid and drugstore.com.

Do you own any Sally Hansen Natural Beauty Inspired by Carmindy products? If so, what do you own and how do you like them?

A sample of this product was given to Nouveau Cheap for editorial purposes, either directly from the manufacturer or from the agency that works on behalf of the manufacturer. All reviews on NouveauCheap.blogspot.com are the honest opinion of its author and editorial samples do not, in any way, affect the outcome of product reviews.