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Rant & Rave: Shimmery Blush

Tell us what you love and hate about...

Shimmery Blush

I like satin to shimmer in my blushes — matte is my least favorite, so I love when a shimmery blush is luminous but not metallic and doesn’t emphasize my skin’s texture.

— Christine

25 Comments

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Marla Rae Avatar

Not a ‘blush’ girl at all – if I do wear it I’m all satin or matte…

My face is already shaped like a pie I don’t need shimmer to emphasize it lol

AB Avatar

I like matte or satin. At my age, shimmer doesn’t do well — doesn’t look right, doesn’t make my skin look better, doesn’t help in general.

Ziwei Avatar

I’m all about mattes. My skin is super oily so I hate shimmery blushes that can make my skin look like a disco ball from the get go.

Nyxx Avatar

I like satin, shimmer and matte blushes. For me it’s all about the colour and how smoothly it applies. A plus of a shimmer blush is that I don’t feel I need to bother with highlighter when wearing.

Mariella Avatar

I love it, so long as it’s not huge glitter chunks. The MAC Extra Dimension blushes are bliss to me and are some of the Sheertone Shimmer ones and a few more shimmery ones from Tarte. I find it lights up my face and looks so much fresher than a flat matte shadow – those can look so dull and dry. I find that if a blush does happen to be a bit too shimmery, I can tone it down with a bit of translucent or skin matching face powder.

Deborah S. Avatar

I like a shimmer blush even on my 63 year old skin. I have dry skin and so a shimmer blush just seems to give my face better dimension. If I use a matte blush I will usually use a shimmery powder over it or a blush topper. I blend my whole face at the end with Guerlain Meteorites and that kind of brings it all together and tones down the really super shimmery colors. For many years I did not wear any really shimmery highlighters but about a year ago I decided to just enjoy them and I have used several pretty shimmery highlights. I am just enjoying using them so as long as I don’t look horrid, I will continue to use them and enjoy the glow!!
I never use anything that is too chunky with glitter because I don’t love migrating glitter all over my face.

ShariP Avatar

Deborah, good for you. My philosophy is that it’s all good. As long as you are enjoying yourself and you like the way you look, that’s all that matters. Who are we to judge one another. I’m happy to give my bestie and sister a “critical” eye when they ask, otherwise I like to cheer my fellow makeup lovers on, not criticize them.

Rachel R. Avatar

Rave: Shimmery blushes have more dimension, and can make the face look more “alive.” They’re pretty to layer over other blushes. The more shimmery ones mean you can skip highlighter on your cheeks.

Rant: I hate when they are chunky or have glitter in them. Some of the really frosty blushes can emphasize the size of large pores.

Genevieve Avatar

I have found that too shimmery blushes just don’t suit me. I don’t have visible pores on my skin, yet these kinds of blushes bring them out. That’s why I had to return the Becca Jacklyn Hill palette – too much shimmer.
I prefer a more satin blush myself.

kjh Avatar

An odd thing I’ve found recently is that if you wear a ‘luminous’ bb, looking at you, Jouer, you have to have some shimmer in the blush. Mattes and satins look odd, as if the high points of your cheeks are actually receding! Personally, like all finishes, as long as they have a degree of refinement. You can’t go all frosty at my age.

MacKenzie G. Avatar

I like either a pretty pigmented matte blush, or a luminous, satiny, very sheer blush. I’m not a big fan of shimmer necessarily, but I like my face to look dewy, almost wet. Anyway, I think shimmery blushes often run the risk of being too shimmery to the point of metallic-ness, but when done right they bring more life to the face than a matte blush, which tends to bring a lot of structure.

Natalia Avatar

I’m pretty much with you on the subject, Christine! My skin is desert dry and matte blushes look flat on me, so satin to shimmery blushes are OK in my book. Case in point – I own “Please Yourself” by MAC and it seems sooo shimmery, that you’d think you’ll look like a Disco ball. But no! It looks gorgeous and gives your cheeks nice glow in addition to great color 🙂

bibi Avatar

Satins & shimmers for me. Mattes tend to emphasize my pores more than satins or shimmers on my skin for some reason. Some shimmers cause this problem too but not all. I’m rediscovering my Milani Baked blushes in Dolce Pink, Corallina, and Mauve Fantastico -what amazing blushes that apply & wear much better than many high end blushes I’ve tried.

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