I love a good orange blush! I love how brightening orange can be, especially lighter, yellower oranges (but not too yellow). I also like rusty undertones, so orange-coral kind of blushes are lovely. The only downside is that sometimes they can be easy to go heavy-handed with!
— Christine
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Orange is very tricky for me to wear as a blush–it can’t be too yellow based or it looks sick on me. I do like the Fenty duo blush/highlight that has orange in it because I can add some of the pink to it to make the blush go with my skin tone more. Corals have the same issue but if they lean a bit more pink or red then can work.
I’ve got blue undertones on my skin too (a sign of aging that I’ve experienced (so far) instead of wrinkles like many people my age) so have to keep that in mind too, yet that blue aspect is a reason I’ve never given up on trying orange-based blushes now and then.
I only got into orange this year. It was always a scary color for me and I assumed would wash me out.
Then I bought PMG Electra lipstick which is a strong orange-red with sparkle. It brightened up my face! So I started playing with more orange tones of blush. Like bronzer, it can’t be too yellow but if it has strong red or pink tones in it, it’s so flattering.
There’s a beautiful orange shade in the warm-toned Dior backstage face quad that’s a beautiful summer shade. The Marc Jacobs highlighter in the shade Jet Girl that Christine just reviewed is a beautiful coppery coral orange shade that I use almost daily as a blush topper. I love it so.
So I guess it depends on the orange!
I laughed at your scary comment. Agree!
I can’t wear orange-based lipsticks of any sort (or corals either) because they make my teeth look even yellower than they already are.
The MJ Jet Girl looks lovely. It reminds me of an older bronzer I have that’s similarly a bit red or copper toned.
Hey Kitty,
I know what you mean about orange making teeth more yellow-looking. They do say a blue-based red brightens up the look of teeth. It’s the downside.
I can’t use many bronzers, as they tend to be too warm. Do you remember the red-based bronzer you used? I tend to use red-based contour in lieu of bronzer.
Wonderful if I want to look sickly and sallow, but generally speaking, I’m trying to avoid that look.
Well said!
Same here!
Orange blushes look fantastic on me. They give me such a nice sun kissed glow. One of my favorites is nars taj mahal.
Oh, that’s a pretty one.
Oldie, but goodie. It must look fab on you. I don’t use it nearly enough. Maybe it’s a tad too sparkly at my advanced age. No rules, wearing it this week.
Same here! Makes my skin look really healthy and like I have a light sun-kissed look.
My favourite too, must be the yellowish tones in our skin because this shade just looks so beautiful on my summertime skin when I lean more towards yellow undertones. I especially like to use the Real Techniques Blush Brush to lightly sweep this colour onto my cheers, occasionally I will use it as an lid eyeshadow colour with my bronzer in the crease – one of my favourite everyday summer looks.
I LOVE Taj Mahal. I recently broke it out again and I forgot how pretty it is. We have similar skins tones and it does wonders for deep complexions!
Love’em. On my golden olive NC30 skintone, it works well and just lifts my complexion. My faves are MAC Modern Madarin, Chanel Malice, Dior Stand Out.
To be honest, I only have loved a select few on myself. Nars Fetishised (orange-red), Essence Satin Coral (it’s definitely a coral hued orange, not coral!), MAC Burnt Pepper (a rusty dark red-orange), just those few look right on my olive undertoned complexion.
Usually, orange blush is a little bit tricky due to those aforementioned olive toned, because they can turn an orange blush a funky, ugly shade on me. YET; I can easily wear orange eyeshadow, nail polish and clothing!
There isn’t a single thing I like about orange blush – “orange” is totally unlike the way I blush naturally and orange generally looks ghastly on me (in lipstick, blush, eyemake and clothing). Once a year, our board of education has a “wear orange” day and I am hard-pressed ever to find anything at all (I did manage to find an orange t-shirt my son got at one of his co-op jobs a few years ago!) I don’t think I even know anyone who flushes or blushes “orange”.
Not a fan of orange anything. I can pull off peach and lighter corals but straight up orange, I just can’t do so nothing to like and a lot to dislike. I think this is likely a personal preference as opposed to not looking good. My daughter says I can wear orange but I just don’t like how it looks on me.
I love a nice coral blush. For some reason it goes better with my skin tone than pink blushes. MAC Just a Pinch and Fairly Precious look really natural on me. I use a fan brush to apply blush so I don’t end up overdoing it.
There is nothing I like about orange blush! It really turns too yellowy on me and it looks so unnatural on my porcelain complexion.
As someone with darker olive skin tone (Nars Macao foundation is a perfect match), orange shades of blush look great on me. My go-to shades are all by Becca (Blushed Copper, Tigerlily & Snapdragon). I also love Nars Taj Mahal, but am holding off on getting it until I run out of one the aforementioned shades.
Orange just brings out sallow tones in my skin, I can pul of coral if it leans more neutral .
They certainly stand out.
Orange blush isn’t really my thing… it doesn’t jive with my skin tone and just looks weird on me. When I think of blush, I think of the way my skin looks when I’m actually flushed, so for me, it has to have an element of rosy-ness to it, or it just doesn’t work.
I love a true orange blush! My favorite is Nars intensely from the man ray collection. I have a medium olive skin tone.
I love orange blush (and lipstick) for the same reason you mentioned, Christine; it just livens up my face. But I have to be careful about oranges that lean too yellow; pinky and red oranges work best for me. Today I’m wearing Chanel Red Coral blush with Tom Ford Lavish lipstick, and I look like I spent the day at the beach yesterday 😉
I think orange blush is fun, but I don’t wear it very often. I’m more likely to go coral or peach. If I do wear orange, I use a light hand and a bright shade, or else it looks weird on my very fair skin. If I wear orange, it’s usually MUFE Pressed Artist Shadow in ME734 (Tangerine) or P Pie from the Sleek Blush by 3 Pumpkin Palette, but I will occasionally go for less yellow, darker oranges such as theBalm Instain in Swiss Dot or Urban Decay Afterglow Blush in Bang.
I like orange blush as well, especially during summer! It goes better when I have a slight tan on, plus it is nice to pair with more red and orange lipsticks.
I love orange blush with a warm toned makeup look. I’m on the warmer side so they are easy to wear for me (although I love my pink and purply blushes too), and they really add to the look if I’m using orangey tones on my eyes.
I love it, no complaints about difficult, even with a yellow orange like the Ofra. I always get compliments, even on Taj Mahal or that yellow orange one…Mai Tai? My fave last summer was CP Tick. I suspect some of my love comes from the change of undertones from pink to red, as I age. Pink and pink coral are so wrong, now, but I wore them easily 20 years ago. Being my age, matchy-matchy, what else would I wear w/ Orange You Glad or Yes, Please? Yes to many CP, old MUFE, NARS, and even MAC oranges. I do like to mute it a bit now, though
I have both pink and yellow undertones, so in warmer weather, I love me a good orange blush. It makes me look sunkissed, because bronzer typically does not work on my skintone (it looks super obvious on me, even with a light hand).
I love a good orange blush but it seems like I’m in the minority here! I really like how they do it in K-beauty where the sickly-cute/fresh look is more popular. There are some really yellow-toned orange blushes in Korean brands that look really cute on the cheeks but it’s definitely not for everyone. Placement also matters a lot with shades like orange or lavender I think, if it’s more angular/on the cheekbones it can look very harsh and unnatural.
Big thumbs up from me! I am very fair and fairly yellow-toned, so orange works pretty well on me. Orange cheeks and shimmery brown shadow are a really fun and unexpected combo that I like a lot.
I love orange blush! Finding the right shade is key, though. I use Kevyn Aucoin’s Pure Powder Glow in Fira (with a very light hand) when I have mid-late summer tan and have Cantaloupe from Surratt Beauty on my wish list for a spring orange. I can see layering orange over more neutral shades to create depth. I admire Faceonomics on IG for her skilled layering of powder blush in case anyone is interested.