Sunday, October 12, 2008

Looking for Blush in All the Wrong Places

Specifically, the CVS clearance bin.

That's not an inherently bad place to look for makeup, but it was because of my disappointing find. I was looking for bright pink products for Pink's Kawaii contest not too long ago but CVS had few options. (I imagined in-your-face Barbie pink shadow...but even without it, I'm happy how my look came out, especially in relation to the pink wig I got on a whim.) I saw a L'Oreal blush compact while lightly perusing the sale bin and thought 'Why not? It's pink and 50 percent off. It looks pretty and I could re-purpose it for my lids.'

I think I know why this product is LE. Because it bites.

(I hope it's LE. And I haven't seen any more in this packaging around.)

The matte darker color looks like faded Pepto-Bismol and has the consistency of old chalk. In fact, I think it might work better to rub chalk of my face, because after swiping this several times on my cheeks I could barely see any color. It wasn't just lack of pigmentation, it was a problem of picking up the powder at all.

The lighter shade has a tiny hint of shimmer, and aside from also having to swipe it many times to get it to show up, it is pretty. Nothing amazing, nothing bad, a decent highlighter I'll probably use again. I kind of feel bad for it being in this unfortunate duo...it's really brought down by the other color.

(The label and ingredients. I've read good things about the Blush Delice line but couldn't find any other reviews on this particular blush.)

My real problem in looking for blush is that I just don't know exactly how to start. I have one nice rosy blush - Milani's Luminous, which gives me a very natural looking flush on days when I'm looking especially like a zombie. But it's packed up somewhere because of the move and I haven't seen it in a few weeks. My NYC peachy-mosaic wheel is too dark and sun-kissed for my increasingly pale autumn skin. Plus, it just doesn't feel right. I want to look like an ice princess (it's 70+ degrees, a bit early for that) or someone carving pumpkins and eating cranberry sauce, not like I'm about to head to the beach.

I'm thinking something very light - like Nars' Deepthroat, I thought it looked so pretty at the department store makeup counter - or something dark, burgundy colored for night time. I just don't want to look like a clown because my skin is very fair. Any suggestions?

2 comments:

mayaari said...

NARS DT is a good choice - it showed up on my skin better than Orgasm, but there is a good deal of shimmer. I've read that Angelika is nice for a bright pink, or MAC Dollymix. I use more mineral blushes than regular brands, so DT is the only one I can confirm :)

Neeyuh said...

Hmmm I have a hard time with blushes too because to me nothing ever looks right, it's either too pink or too brown and it matches my skintone. I do have one by NYX that I really like, they are super pigmented so a little goes a long way but other than that I really have no clue. Sorry I couldn't be more help!

Also, I wanted to really thank you for your nice words on my facts post. It made me feel a lot better about posting about that particular insecurity. =)