Welcome to the 2nd episode of the mini series of the week, Rudiments of Rouge. I hope you enjoyed my short introduction and a bit of history of blush yesterday. I could have gone on and on about the toxic (and quite gory) methods of how ladies used to apply rouge on their cheeks but I thought, it was Monday; let’s keep it light! 🙂

Today, I’m going to be talking about choosing the right shade of blush for you. I often get these questions from readers: what’s the best shade of blush for my skin? What’s the right colour for me? How can I apply it without looking like a doll? So I thought I’d tackle the first part of those questions today and it’s about selecting the right shade of blush for you.

You may have heard/read a lot about skin tones. Some say that warm-toned colours should stick to warm skin tones. Cool-toned colours go very well with cool skin tones. Neutral skin tone? Well, aren’t you lucky. 🙂

Warm Tones, Cool Tones

Well technically, they aren’t wrong. Warm-toned shades and warm skin tones complement each other well. The same goes for cool skin tones. Then again, I’m not a believer of warm-toned blush suiting only warm skin tones and cool-toned ones will only for cool skin tones. I believe you can cross that warm/cool toned ideal with blush.

Having said that, I won’t deny that a lot of the time, warm-toned colours like coral and peach do look better on warmer skin tones and cool-toned shades like pink, mauve, etc look better on cooler skin tones. The shades and tones work better together. On the other hand, I also believe that if the blush looks good on you, who cares if the colour tones don’t match?

Try it out first!

The best way – in fact, the only way – to know if a particular blush works for you is to TRY IT OUT. If possible, try it out on your cheeks. I don’t recommend determining if the blush will look good on your based on just a swipe of colour on the back of your hand. Your hands have more noticeable veins that your cheeks don’t have. These veins enhance the warmth or cool of the skin. Or you might have some redness on your cheeks that the back of your hand doesn’t have. Either way, it’s not a good place to judge if the colour is good. It may be okay if the blush is a cheapie but what if it’s an expensive brand? You’ll want to know that it looks the best that it can on you before you hand over your hard-earned coin.

For example, let’s talk about NARS. You’ve read the reviews and they aren’t exaggerated. Their blushes are good. Anyway, years ago, I bought the lipstick in Dolce Vita. It’s a beautiful colour of dusky mauve that looked great on me. When I saw the blush, I tried it out on the back of my hand and it looked good. I snapped it up, brought it home and tried it out on my cheeks the next day. Oh dear, it didn’t look as good as I originally thought it did. On the back of my hand, it looked pretty. However, on my cheeks, it just looked dirty. The colour didn’t complement my skin tone at all. In the end, I had to give it away. Moral of the story is, whenever possible and especially when you’re buying an expensive blush, try it out on your cheeks first.

Should I get that super-duper popular blush?

What about cult blushes? Surely they’re a must have. If beauty blogs and magazines say that they’re good, surely I should add them to my collection! One of the cult blushes stated as a must-have would be the very popular NARS Orgasm (when it comes to blush, I do tend to talk a lot about NARS :P). Beauty editors claim that it’s a universal shade that suits all so this must suit me too. Unfortunately, it did not. It didn’t look on me as well as I expected it to. It was too light and shimmery for my liking. In the end, I gave mine away to Beetrice.

Another moral of the story is: only trust your eyes and your face. By all means, please try these popular blushes first before plonking down your money. It may not look as good as you think it would just because you read it in a magazine (or see me recommend it on Beautyholics Anonymous!). If it doesn’t work for you, move on to something else. You don’t have to get it simply because it’s deemed a MUST-HAVE. If it doesn’t work for you, it’s just a waste of money.

Let’s go back to skin tones. If you have warm skin tone like I do, don’t just stick to corals and peaches. I wouldn’t say go for the next bright pink you see but if you’re not sure, start out slow by trying a shade of dusky rose e.g. Chanel Blush Duo Tweed Effect in Tweed Rose. If that works, go for something with more pink in it. Once you’re more comfortable with these cool-toned shades, then go for something more punchy like berry or mauve. Having, for example, Ben Nye’s Fuchsia as your first blush will probably freak you out :P. The same goes for cool-toned skin. Don’t immediately go for bright corals like NARS’ Exhibit A or Sunday Riley’s Rush if you’re unsure. Start slow with a peachy-pink first like Benefit’s Bella Bamba.

Matte vs shimmer

Next, matte or shimmer? This boils down to personal preference. Blushes with some shimmer in them gives the cheeks a lovely glow, especially on the top of the cheeks where it gets the most light. Matte blushes gives the effect of smoothness on the cheeks. I like a mixture of both. I’m not a fan of very shimmery blushes because I cannot control the amount of shimmer I want. I’d rather have something with a lot less shimmer and if I want more glowy goodness on my skin, I’ll do a light sweep of the Guerlain Meteorites all over my face.

So, after rambling on for, hmm, 10 paragraphs, my point is: the best way to decide if a blush shade or style works for you is to try it out first. This may not always be possible when shopping at drugstores so what I like to do is

1. Use a clean tissue to wipe across the tester blush powder and remove the top layer. Always assume testers aren’t clean. The tissue is to remove the remnants of touch from the last person who has touched it.
2. With a clean finger, swatch the product at the back of my hand and pat a little of the blush on my cheek.

This isn’t the best method but it’s one to try if you’d like to try drugstore makeup on yourself. For mid-range to high-end makeup that are more expensive, I have the available makeup artist or sales assistant try it on me.

Don’t be afraid to test out bright blushes because sometimes they may look crazy bright on the palette but when you try it out, they may be quite sheer. I’ll say it again: experiment, experiment, experiment!

Have fun choosing blushes! 😀

Do you select blushes based on your skin tone or just get what looks good on you?

Stay tuned to the next Rudiments of Rouge episode where I talk about powder vs cream blushes!