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How do you know what blush to pair with your eyes/lips?


How do you know what blush to pair with your eyes/lips? Share your methodology!

For me, it’s a lot of trial and error.  I love coral and peach blushes with blues, greens, and teals–as well as pinks and golds, depending on the overall look.  Browns and neutrals go well with most blushes, and if you have a very light eye and lip, a heavier, darker cheek works nicely.  I love beige, brown, and nude shades to pair with neutral and smoky looks.  Cooler-toned blushes like plums and cotton candy pinks work better for me when I pair them with a cooler-toned lip (and tend to coordinate with gray, pink, and plum eyeshadows).

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Leah Avatar

I strive for a balanced look, with focus on one feature. For example; heavy eyes, lighter lips. Also, I’ll usually experiment with a cooler or warmer-toned look, rather than the two competing for attention.

Tammie Avatar

I haven’t really figured it out yet, I just kind of do what I feel like…but I do try to be aware of the brightness of the blush and do a neutral eye and a not so bright lip with it.

Becca Avatar

haha, that’s pretty much exactly what I do… I’m a huge blush junkie, so sometimes if I really feel like wearing a bright blush, nothing will stop me!!! mwahahahaha

Katherine Avatar

Since every body’s skin tone is different, I guess there is really not a rule to how to match blush and eyes/lips. When I have some natural eyeshadows on I will use some crazy lip color. When I have a smokey eye look I will use some light pink for my lips, also not too much blush for my cheek

Pawsha Avatar

It depends on what I am doing and if it’s for day or night. For the most part I like the focus on the eyes but I have those got to have red lips days as well.

Carrie Ann Avatar

I usually just pair cool eye/lip shades with cool blush shades and warm with warm. It also depends on the color of my outfit. I often wear neutral eye shadows, but I find that certain colors, like green and teal look best with peach or coral blushes, while blues and purples often look best with a pink or plum blush.

Krista Avatar

It all depends on my eye makeup. When I have neutral eyes, I tend to go a little more daring when it comes to my blush and use brighter colors to brighten up my face. But when I already have more dramatic looks, I lay low on the blush and just use a bronzer to contour my face.

Jessica Allison Avatar

Coral goes with just about everything! Though I have probably 20-30 shades of blush, I really only have 3 or 4 in my regular rotation. A good blush applied with a good brush will allow you to alter intensity, so in my opinion it’s not really necessary to have tons of shades if you don’t want to. Find a warm and a cool shade (or a neutral like coral or dusty plum)that flatters your skin, then stay in the same shade family as your eye & lip makeup 🙂

Joyce Avatar

I think I tend to contrast moreso. If I’m wearing eyeshadows in the pink family, I’ll rarely wear a pink blush. I also like to mix up finishes. I won’t wear frosty eyes with a frosty cheek.

It’s really how I feel. Sometimes I do toned down everything, balanced everything, or bold everything!

I typically pair neutrals and most Naked palette looks like peachy pinks that lean more pink 🙂

Jenny Avatar

Sometimes I build a look around blush.  It’s nice to tone in with what’s on my lips, but I’m just as likely to contrast.  I love the look of a warm cheek with a cool lip or a bright pink cheek with nude lips, especially since it helps keep me from looking washed out. If I’m doing very cool toned eyes, I’ll usually pair that with neutral to warm cheeks.  I often use blush to make a look more interesting because I think blush is underrated.  A lot of people just use  the same color that’s on their lips, but they’re two different features, and as long as the face looks balanced in the end, it’s nice to break the rules.

Mariella Avatar

I don’t feel I look especially good in coral, peach or brown blushes or lip colours – all my cheek and lip products (with the exception of some “freebies”) are more blue-based – pink, rose, wine, plum. So, for the most part, they all work together in any case and they seem to work with whatever eye colours I’m wearing so pairing lips and cheeks isn’t really much of a problem.

Kathy Avatar

I use an art concept. The face breaks down into three regions: the forehead from hairline to brow, the eyes to the bottom of the nose and the lips to the chin. Different artists’ break this down differently – the brows are a part of the eye section, for example. As the cheek is a part of the eye section, I match it to the eye and coordinate with the rest of the face. Aside from that, I use the technique that Christine uses. I do go a little warmer on the cheek if the eye is cooler, though, but that’s only because I can’t do a completely cool face :-).

trayceeee Avatar

I will be honest, I still don’t understand this warmer-toned and cool-toned color thing! I somewhat understand with skin and undertones (I think) but not when it comes to actual colors *sigh*.

Jessica Allison Avatar

It’s actually really easy. First, forget about MAC’s warm/cool cause they’re backwards. Google “color wheel” and find a basic example. With Red at the top & Green at the bottom, imagine dividing the wheel in two straight through the red & green. Colors on the right side are yellow based (red, orange, yellow, to green), thus, warm. Think fire. Colors on the left side of red (red, purple, blue, to green) are blue based, ie. cool- think blue ice. Since the dividing line goes through red and green, those can be warm or cool depending on the shade. Greens w/ yellow in them would be warm. Greens w/ blue are cool. Same for red. Make sense?

Christine B. Avatar

If my eyes and lights are neutral I wear whatever blush I want. But I do match really cool eyes/lips with a light pink and warm eyes/lips with a peach or coral.

CarrieG Avatar

Well my go to blush for almost every single day is Gilly Hicks (check their cosmetics out- the eyeshadows are okay, I only recommend sand storm but their blushes and lip products are amazing!!) Hydrangea- it is a gorgeous rosy color that is so! natural with gold shimmer. For parties and events Mac Sakura because the pop of purple is so pretty1

Gillian (AKA Munchy) Avatar

I keep the eye color in mind but mostly i go off of what season it is. I know that I am more tan in the summer and fall so I go for more corals and warm gold toned colors. In the winter and early spring I switch to pinks because my skin goes super snow white pale.

L Avatar

As I only have one blush (MAC Melba), I just vary the intensity, i.e. bolder if I wear neutral eye make-up and sheerer if I wear bright colors on my eye. So far it works :p

Kristine Avatar

I just use one blush for everything…a light corally-pink (Nars Deep Throat) paired with a bronzer (MAC). It works for almost every look I do!

April Avatar

I wear the same blush every day – MAC Springsheen. It’s a peachy pink that goes really good with my skintone and gives me a natural flush. To me, blush should look totally 100% natural, so I don’t concern myself with matching it to anything else.. no issue!

Lorena Avatar

I don’t go by my eyeshadow but by how tanned or pale my skin is according to the seasson and also i go by day makeup and night makeup

meme Avatar

I don’t pair my cheeks/blush to my eyes/lips as much as I do to my over all look that includes my garments I am going to wear that day. I really do tend to stick to 2 ranges only of cheek shades for this reason…a peachy pink and a pink/mauve. I also have a clear red jell I will use. Being neutral (but not brown) with my cheeks lets me pull in whatever shades I want to them in eyes/lips. There are more cheek shades I CANNOT wear then I can wear out there. So a # of years ago, I made it easier for myself to stick to just what shades of cheek work on me and not vary off to the bright purples and shades I know I cannot carry well or will use more than a few times.

Luiza Avatar

I wear soft plums for most of the looks I wear. Or light pink. When I don’t know what blush would pair with the look I’m wearing, I always go with soft peach, bronze-y blushes. And they always work!

studiodummies Avatar

I tend to be careful with my blush. As I’ve said in my other post, there’s alot of ppl running around with way too heavy blush/bronzer on. I remember reading this article about what men don’t like. This one guy said that he thinks blush is for old ladies and that women should try to keep it more subtle. Then it got me thinking about those old ladies that do in fact wear an obnoxious amount of blush and yeah, it does look pretty funny. And then you see others wearing it too heavy and yeah, that does look pretty funny too. So I use a light hand and use it to simply compliment the rest of my look usually along with some type of highlighter. I have a thing for orange/coral/peach blushes – like R&R’s “Immoral” and Nars “Super Orgasm,” for example. I’m also starting to grow an affinity towards fuschias, hot pinks, purples – like R&R’s “X-Rated” and Tarte’s “Cloud 9.”

Christopher Avatar

My biggest focus is always the finish. I like to keep everything balanced, so glittery eyes or glossy lips usually work best with matte blushes, and vice versa. I’m not too picky when it comes to color or undertone, because I tend to only buy shades I know work with my skin. Although I prefer more dusty rose or plum colors!

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