Do you find cheek palettes useful?

I like a lot of variety in finish and color, and I don’t mind wearing something that’s not as “flattering” of a color if I just enjoy the shade, so I can get a lot of use out of cheek palettes myself. I very rarely keep a cheek palette out for long, though, and definitely gravitate toward singles for “go-to” use.

— Christine

31 Comments

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Carol Avatar

I don’t buy cheek pallettes. My light skin tone considerably narrows down the shades that I think look good on me. I prefer to buy a few singles that I think are excellent quality per Christine’s reviews. Right now I have five shades in total ranging from nude to plum. I still need a good pink.

Mariella Avatar

No. Most often they contain a variety of warm and cool toned blushes and most warm toned blushes do not look natural or flattering on my pale, cool-toned skin. Also, they are large and since I like to carry a blush in my purse with me, they are simply too big to be practical.

Susan Avatar

Very few. I can’t wear orange-y tones or glitter or a lot of shimmer, but pink or mauve palettes can work. My current fave is the 4-pan Lorac one from their Beauty & the Beast collection. Lovely.

Jujubes Avatar

I love cheek palettes! I wish there were more of them. I don’t care much for lip palettes but I always enjoy the eye and cheek palettes, especially the two-in-ones like at the duty free shops in small compacts.

Zoe Avatar

I love them in the sense I love hoarding them, but realistically I could make do with single blushes. My favourites that I own are mostly becca: becca x chrissy teigen, becca apres ski, becca sunchaser, becca blushed with light; as well as the tarte blush bliss palette.

Most of the time I don’t think I end up getting my money’s worth, but I love all the options and variety and the appeal of having a highlighter, blush, and bronzer in one palette for travel. For shades that don’t work on me I try to make use of them as eyeshadows which sometimes works as I tend to like a more natural eye look for everyday.

Sherri Avatar

I made my own cheek palettes from MAC singles, which I use a fair amount because I personalized the colors. I would consider getting one of the Tarte cheek palettes because I like their formula.. but again, the personalization is what is nice considering a person’s color and tone. However, I got a highlight palette from CoverFX based on your recommendation, and I freaking love it.

LauraR Avatar

Absolutely! If they’re done well and the colors are ones you’ll use they’re great. I got the Tarte one from late last year and it’s fantastic! So versatile and not bulky. I like the Make Up For Ever ones that you make yourself as well. They’re nice and compact for travel.

kjh Avatar

Definitely, though I don’t have many other than Nars or self-made old mufe. ‘No go’ colors for lips can be wearable, when blended out. Not sure, but I think red undertones make for a wider range of wearability, than when younger, much pinker, and slightly lighter due to (?) loss of translucency/aging. Yellow toned brown, warm pink, and coral aren’t flattering, but are nowhere cringeworthy as those shades in l/s. Up to ~40ish, pinks and corals were fine. Those are the palettes avoided, as in yes to Unfiltered 1/new palette 2, and no to Unfiltered 2/new palette 1. I doubt I would have expected this change, as a 20-30 something.

joy Avatar

i generally don’t gravitate towards cheek palettes so the ones that make it into my stash definitely get used quite a bit. currently loving my hourglass ambient blush palette, ambient metallic strobe palette, lorac pro contour, & rediscovered a benefit palette that came in a super cute gingerbread house tin one xmas season.

Zee Avatar

I love variety in my cheek products so having options is always nice. However, I never buy highlighting palettes because I’m way too pale and most highlighters are coppery or too dark.

Alison Avatar

I have to add my voice to the “nay” chorus for all the reasons mentioned. The one exception I can think of is an old Tarantino palette and all the colors work. (It’s a 4-pan.) And I find it’s useful to take on a summer vacation because it covers all of the bases and I don’t have to schlepp pricier palettes into a casual setting.

Amy E Henry Avatar

I love pretty palettes but they end up just sitting with one or two shades hitting pan and the rest like new. Like the Tarte Kiss N Blush palette: I just love how it looks but only use one shade. I’m shallow, I like pretty things even if they aren’t “me”.

I bought a bunch of Kevyn Aucoin singles and they just have this weird consistency, like too thick, and they never look right on me.

For now, I have a Bobbi Brown Double that is perfect, but I only use one shade.

Same with lip palettes: they are so so messy, and I don’t have time to blend any, so they never work, despite being pretty.

Eileen Avatar

I think getting the right shade for a cheek color is just as important as getting the right shade in a foundation so i’m not a fan of cheek palettes that are designed to appeal to masses of people, the vast majority of whom will have coloring and needs different from mine. I like blusher and always have a few shades in my stash, but each one was selected individually because it enhanced my complexion.

Alisha Avatar

I only own the UD Basquiat Cheek Palette. I never use it. I don’t find them at all useful. I think if I ever get another one it will be a Mac one I can pick all the colors.

Alecto Avatar

I only have one cheek palette, and I do like it. I’ve considered getting others, esp. the Viseart ones, as I’m fond of “glazing” or layering blushes, and I really like the way those bridge the cool and warm sides of the color spectrum. Problem is, I have so many blush singles that I can’t justify palettes; but if I run out of singles in my 90’s, I’ll definitely get a Viseart. 🙂

Alecto Avatar

I just realized that I translated the question as “blush palettes” in my head. Cheek palettes I find less useful, as I have no real use for contour, and don’t need highlighter. If a cheek palette consists entirely of blushes, sure, but if it’s a mix of products, no.

Rachel R. Avatar

Some. Because I’m very fair with neutral undertones, I can get away with most colors. I love having variety, and blush palettes are a good value. I really like them for traveling so I don’t have to corral and keep track of multiple singles. It’s nice when blush palettes include a highlighter. Tarte Pin-Up Girl and Blush Bazaar are my favorites.

I don’t find them useful when too many shades are unflattering, way too bright, or way too dark. If I can’t wear all the shades in a 3-5 pan palette, there’s no point in getting it.

The same pretty much goes for highlighter palettes, though I can use some darker highlighters for blush, so it really depends on the palette.

Kathy Avatar

I have quite a few cheek palettes but only really use two or three on a regular basis. I have many lovely singles I enjoy using for now.

Lean Avatar

No, I don’t need that much product or variety for my needs. I much prefer singles, or at most duos. I also dislike the idea of traveling with a large palette for blush. I have no problem traveling with multiple shadow options, but I have never needed to travel with more than 2 blush options – even then, it’s usually just one to go with everything.

Grace Avatar

I seem to be in the minority but I love a good cheek palette! “Good” to me means a bronzer, highlighter, and two or so blush choices. Favorites have included benefit Cheekathon, hourglass Ambient edit, and UD x Gwen Stefani. They all make great travel options for my coloring, and I esp like that hourglass includes a finishing powder. I’m not a fan of palettes that are all blushes or all highlighters or all contour shades, but I can see the value they would have for an artist instead of the average personal consumer.

Silvia Avatar

This hoarder loves them all. I love how the colors compete with each other in the box making each other pop! I have the Profussion blush palette and love the nave color it has and a pink, need to play with the other shades yet but all look suitable to my skin tone some are brighter than others but I find them so pretty! Another I got before Christmas Smasbox contains three colors I got two of the sets, there’s another more neutral couldn’t find (good for me!) but found the ones I prefer. I actually like blush palettes more than lipsticks since they are bigger samples. Lipsticks tend to be narrow and don’t like getting them pastctgeir lines and getting a bit messy. Stay in your corrals guys! Like runners are assigned a corral. Lol!

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