I am a self proclaimed blush addict and today I’m sharing my top 5 high end blushes with you. Whether you prefer matte or shimmer, buildable or pigmented, I have you covered!
Hiya everyone! I’m so excited about today’s post because I am a complete blush addict! I think at this point I have over 50 blushes. I mostly own high end blushes, but I do have a few drugstore and I’ve now started trying out Korean blushes (post coming on the best Korean blush formulas when I’ve had chance to test them all!).
It’s funny, I used to always think because I got red cheeks, that I didn’t really want to put blush on and look super red/pink. Oh how I was wrong. I now realise that I must have looked almost dead back in the day.
I’m ridiculously pale anyway, with no colour on my cheeks it must have looked awful. I have a lot of my redness under control now and while I still flush red on the cheeks sometimes, it’s not all day every day. If my blush looks good 90% of the time, then I can deal with that!
DISCLAIMER: ALL PRODUCTS PURCHASED BY ME. SPACE NK AND LOOK FANTASTIC LINKS ARE AFFILIATE.
I have gone through all of my high end blushes for you today and picked out the absolute best. Some are matte, some are shimmer. I love both, it just depends on my mood which I choose. I don’t like chunky glitter, but a soft sheen can look gorgeous.
Anyway, lets get into it!
TARTE AMAZONIAN CLAY 12 HOUR BLUSH – £25 from Tarte Cosmetics
These blushes are stunning! Tarte do a great range of matte blushes and a few shimmers. I have so many of these blushes and I love them all. They have nude pinks, nude peaches, mauves… then they have some really vibrant colours that I’m far too chicken to try!
I wore Tarte’s blush in “Celebrated” on my wedding day and it’s still a favourite. It’s so perfect for my fair skin.
This formula really does wear all day, it’s a stiffer pressed powder and the formula is buildable. These are pretty fool proof, they are pigmented, but when you brush over the cheeks you can either go sheer or build it up.
I like a fairly sheer wash of colour and one swish of these blushes is fine. If you like a stronger blush, just build up a few more layers. These blushes always look beautiful on the skin and don’t emphasise any texture.
HOURGLASS AMBIENT LIGHTING BLUSH – £35 from Space NK
Oh Hourglass, how I love you and your blushes. Don’t be put off by the fact some of these blushes look quite bright. This is the most stunning formula. Totally fool proof. These were the first high end blushes I bought and I now own most of the colours they do.
They are shimmery, but not chunky in the slightest. They give a gorgeous healthy glow to your cheeks and every colour I’ve tried has looked great on me. Even Euphoric Fusion which I thought would be way too dark, looks gorgeous.
These are very buildable, the powder is super smooth, silky and refined. I have never once over done it with these blushes and I want to be buried with them. Expensive, but totally worth the money.
MAC MINERALIZE BLUSH – £23 from Look Fantastic
I think these are the cheapest high end blushes in this post, MAC is sort of one of those that isn’t super luxury in price range, but it’s definitely not drugstore. So I think I’m right putting these in the high end blush category!??
This is the newest to me formula in this post. It’s been a good few months, but honestly, as soon as I tried one for the first time I knew it was love.
These are gorgeous blushes. Most of them have a sheen, but a couple are matte. They do some deep colours, some bright, some for fair tones. I wish they would do more as I love this formula so much. It wears all day.
These blushes are quite soft and there’s a bit of kick up if you go swirling your brush around. I find it best to gently tap my brush to cover the top and then tap it off. You can go a bit hard with these blushes, so a light hand is a must.
CHARLOTTE TILBURY CHEEK TO CHIC BLUSH – £30 from Space NK
When Charlotte Tilbury first launched these (I don’t even know how long ago that was?!) I bought one. I’ve been in love ever since. I know you are meant to swish around the edge and then pop the centre colour on the apples, but I just swirl my brush around to blend the two and put all over the cheek.
It’s totally up to you and how you wear your blush, sometimes I just use the outside colour. These blushes are very pigmented, but super easy to work with. There’s almost no kick up, they give a healthy glow and are not overly shimmery. There’s a slight shimmer, but mostly I can’t even see the shimmer unless I get really close.
Another long wearing, gorgeous formula!
MARC JACOBS AIR BLUSH SOFT GLOW DUO – £28 from Net-a-Porter
I love these blushes, it’s basically two blushes for the price of one. You can stick to the lighter end or the darker end or blend the two together. I tend to blend the two and it gives a gorgeous sheen to the cheeks and makes your skin luminous and healthy looking.
These are easy to use and last all day. The highlight end can emphasise texture slightly, but nothing crazy. Mixed together it’s not noticeable and it just looks seamless and beautiful.
Air Blush really is the right name for these because they look air brushed on the skin, I’ve never once had a harsh line when using these blushes, they blend so beautifully and I’m after more colours!
