How many cheek products do you have? How many do you use regularly?
It might as well be infinite. Every time I see an influencer post their “collection,” I live and hope for someone who makes ME feel better about how much I have… and still, I wait. I have at least two dozen “go-tos” in my vanity drawer alone, which I would say are the ones used “regularly” (as much as “regularly” is for me, obviously). Fun fact: there over 7,600 photos of products swatched on my cheeks in the database.
— Christine
I have zero cheek products. Instead, I use lipstick as cream blush.
I’ve been frank about my former tendency to hoard products and so most know I stash purged a couple of years ago and donated/tossed most of my products. In that purge, there were many high end products line Chanel Joues, Tom Ford blushes along with a whole wack of Nars. It was an unsightly, dreadful, and sobering moment. I had collected my way to holding so many shades of blush I never used. It still makes me nauseous to think of it.
Presently, I have a decent sized cheek collection (over a dozen blushes, but under two) especially when including highlighters and bronzer. The difference being, I rotate and use all my products or have cheek products I pair with specific temperatures of looks. It’s weird this post came up today as yesterday when I was applying my skincare, I made the mental note of needing to add cheek products to my vanity. I know this tool is invaluable for me and on many occasion a needed dose and reminder of what I already have. Truth is, I have more than enough.
It would be so handy to be able to sort through Vanity by product type. Does this already exist in some form? I need to declutter here as well as there are probably products there I no longer own.
Yes, you can refine your vanity by Color, Type, Finish, Brand, Availability, Price, Details.
Awesome! ??I haven’t drilled down using the feature yet and had been pulling dupes of new products predominantly.
I have upwards of forty cheek products (that includes bronzer, blush and highlighter). I use about 75% of them fairly regularly at the moment, but I do need to reevaluate what I have and possibly pass some on to friends and family.
How many do I have? About 30 (mostly blushes, plus several highlighters and a couple of bronzer/contours).
How many do I use regularly? There are 8 blushes that are in regular rotation, 2 highlighters that I use once in a while, and one bronzer that I use only for going out in the evenings.
Wow, this is making me rethink the new Clinique Lunar Pop highlighter that was tempting me so much yesterday.
Luckily, not too much of an overwhelming mass – and I’d like it to stay that way. Somehow when I began getting into makeup last summer, I really didn’t think about cheek products as anything of particular interest.
My biggest category is highlighter, since I already owned one trio that I had been gifted earlier, and then my Makeup Revolution order happened to occur at the same time you could get a highlighter palette of 4 shades for free. My latest cheek product, the Kosas Color & Light: Creme has also a highlighter in it, so that puts me at 8. Don’t really use most of them – I have 3 go-to shades out of those and the rest don’t get wear. Highlighter isn’t in my “daily” routine either.
I own 3 blushes as of right now, but should be getting a fourth in the mail soon-ish. Hourglass Mood Exposure and the Kosas cream get the most wear, while my first blush from Makeup Revolution, drugstore on purpose as I didn’t know if I was into cheek products at all, gets less wear but is not forgotten. I’m less worried about increasing my powder blushes, but want to keep creams to the absolute minimum. The expiration of creamier textures is not something I want to take risks with.
I have a single bronzer, MR again, but it sits unused for the most part. Could be that I don’t really have a good brush to use it with or that it’s a really shimmery one, but that one could just as well be nonexistent.
For the future I’d probably try to stay in the 5-ish range for blushes – 3-4 powder blushes that I really love and want to keep in my routine for a long time, and then one or two creams to finish up on quicker pace to avoid moldy surprises. Highlighters seem appropriate to have one or two of. Bronzers I’m avoiding, for now at least.
I have no idea how many and it’s probably an embarrassing (except with this crowd of like-minded souls) number and even worse if I include those in palettes. I love them all, with the possible exception of a very few of the ones that came in pre-made eye and cheek palettes or were GWPs. On a daily basis, though, I have about 5 that I use daily/frequently – Dior’s Rosy Glow Awakening Blush, MAC Sweet Sentiment, Becca Foxglow Luminous Blush along with Too Faced Radiant Matte Bronzer (I don’t find it matte at all and it’s a nice “one and done”, “no makeup/healthy glow” product for me) and any one of the lovely highlighters I have from Dior or UD (though I don’t use those daily).
…And of those 7,600 I think I’ve seen all of them lol. Blush is my weakness so I know I’ve poured through every one of your swatches to see what was Temptalia Approved and what I could pass up without feeling like I was missing out. You’ve saved me a lot of money through the years, my credit score thanks you!!
As for me, I’ve got roughly 4 dozen cheek products (including bronzer and highlighter) and that number used to be about triple as much. My favorites and most used are NARS ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ (LE and very intimidating at first but with a light hand it gives the most natural pink grapefruit flush and makes me look awake and healthy), Givenchy Croisiere Bronzer (another LE product I need in my life forever, it’s gorgeous applied and the design in the powder is a work of art), and Kevyn Aucoin’s Neo Highlighters, all the shades, including the “setting powder” that does a poor job at its stated purpose but is an excellent natural glow highlighter; although the ‘Limelight’ shade is probably my favorite because I can’t pass up a violet/lavender highlight.
If I could get my hands on one I’m sure my answer would just be Givenchy’s ‘It Girl Purple’ quad blush compact. It was my HG for years and then it got discontinued and replaced by their current rather lackluster blush range. They’re still nice blushes but the quad compacts were so much better, both in quality and in layout. Those four colors came together and gave me the only natural-looking lilac blush I’ve ever worn, and I’ve worn plenty; and since ‘It Girl’ disappeared I haven’t found anything that comes close. I used the darker color to do a color contour, the lightest shade to highlight and set undereye concealer, and all four mixed together for an ethereal (but natural looking) lilac-pink pop that made me look as good as I felt when I wore it. The individual “cubes” in the quad were small but a tapered highlighting brush fit perfectly. It’s been impossible to replace or replicate.
Boys Don’t Cry looks like a beautiful shade! And a great movie.
A great song, as well!
It Girl Purple sounds so lovely, I must google to find photos of it. Such a pity you’ve not been able to find anything like it.
I have probably about 10 powders in varying sizes (many travel sized since they take forever to go through, some mini samples, some full, some in palettes) and my one cream blush stick. I have a variety of matte and pearl/shimmer in mauve, pink, nude, and coral shades. I don’t have any that can dupe each other and only have any repeat brands other than my three beloved Tarte Amazonian Clay Blushes (one peach, one bright pink, and one neutral mauvey).
I do love blushes, but since they tend to last a long time I don’t like to have more than one choice in the same color family/formula pairing. Any blushes I don’t immediately love get returned or donated to a friend.
I have 5 blushes, only 2 used regularly
1 bronzer
1 contour
1 highlight palette that I never use and should throw away
If I could used just two beauty products, it would be blush and mascara. For me, blush is the one product that gives my face some life and brightens me up. As a result, I’ve to way too many blushes and frankly I’m not certain how many I have! I could probably use a different blush every week…
I have 18 powder blushes and 6 cream blushes, so 24 in total. However, my university didn’t let us move out before they announced the entirety of the semester would be online/before my state shut things down. So, I only have 8 powder blushes and 2 creams at home (10 total) since the rest of them are still in my dorm. I’m probably using around 4 or 5 on a “regular” basis, but I’m using one specific blush almost every day since it’s in my project pan.
I have too many, especially if I count the individual colors in cheek palettes. (So maybe 50 blushes and 20 highlighters?) That said, I look sickly without blush, so I like having options! Laura Geller Pink Buttercream, Becca Flowerchild, and UD Hush (from the Gwen Stefani palette) probably end up on my cheeks the most, while Natasha Denona’s Highlighter 1 and one of the Hourglass strobe powders are my go-to highlighters. I’ve been playing around with liquids/creams lately and have really enjoyed the Glossier cloud paints and CoverFX liquid highlights, though I’m so used to setting my face with powder right after foundation that I keep forgetting to use them first!
Dozens.. I’ve decluttered some blushes I wasn’t using using, and am continuing to declutter cheek products. I rotate through the blushes pretty regularly. I’m working on rotating highlighters better, and not just going straight to my ABH Glow Kit in Moonchild or my Looxi highlighters.
I don’t use bronzers much, so I have four I rotate amongst. I have a few more that came in face palettes (like NARS Laguna) that I don’t wear at all, or maybe use an eyeshadow.
I’m actually in the process of decluttering my cheek products, and have already given away a Morphe blush palette (great quality, but the shades were too dark) and some blush and highlighter singles, and a GWP mini of Too Faced Chocolate Soleil. A few more singles are in my giveaway box. I’ve thrown out some expired cream products, too.
I have fourteen. That’s ten more than what I had before the quarantine. With so many sales and the lack of human contact, I guess I just wanted something pretty and vibrant, and figured, “I don’t have that many.” And then I did.
The worst part is that it makes me like makeup less. Buying a lot just made me realize that most blushes look pretty much the same (or at least give the same effect) once applied, and the hyped up products rarely work for everyone. I still have a few blushes from theBalm and NARS in particular that I love and that make a real difference to my appearance. But the rest, by the standards of my stash, are pretty much equivalent.
I’ve been realizing this, too. It’s been hard to not buy colors that look different in the pan when I know they’ll look like what I’ve already got when I apply them. Same with eye shadow really, I was buying variations of the same 4 colors but you can hardly tell when I’m wearing one vs the other on the lid. Now I’m trying to focus solely on the formulation that I enjoy wearing the most, it helps a little. The temptation is still there, though!
I have a custom made MAC double sided palette, half eyeshadows, half cheek products. So I own 6 cheek products (I just sometimes re-purchase different shades as replacement): a contouring neutral-cool shade, a bronzing warm toned slightly shimmered shade, an illuminator which tends to be MAC Emphasize (I’m not a fan of highlighters), three blushes (varying shades, but usually it’s at least 2 mattes, a mauve/plum, a slightly coral/peach and a neutral pink).
I usually end up using regularly just the contour shade and the mauve/plum. But I also use cheek products as eyeshadows.
Far too many to count. It’s a category I’m not longer allowed to shop. Far too many and they will never be used up in my lifetime and they are the hardest to depart with. I’ve began rotating my collection so I get more use but even then I stick to one or two products so why keep buying right?
Honestly, I have no idea! Don’t exactly feel like going and counting them either. My guesstimate is between 40 and 50. As for how often I use everything, I’m pretty good at keeping most of my cheap products in rotation. Some don’t get used as often as I would like though. But that’s because I have favorites that I use far more often.
I have 5 blushes, 1 bronzer and a palette of 4 highlighters. I try to alternate them, but I consider also paring with lipstick and eyelooks. It’s not an huge collection (comparing with the 25+ lipsticks and 13 eye palettes) but I think it’s more than I need and I can finish, since check product are so big! Moreover I noticed that most of the shades look almost the same on the face, no matter that they are quite different on the pan… It seems me that my undertone tends to change all the shades in the same way
I have around 60. More if you include cheek palettes. Blush is my favorite!!
I think 41, if you include blush, highlighter, bronzer, and sculpting colors. Christine, I don’t think you’ll ever find an influencer with near your collection hahaha! I bet you have a similar amount of makeup as Pat McGrath. You might even have more!
Right now i have 4 blushes (2 from Mac, 1 Nars, 1 Lancome) and that is all i really need right now.
Entirely way more than I care to admit, or even count… I’m currently working on about 5 that I do like enough to not declutter, but don’t absolutely love. I figure as long as I’m stuck at home, but still want to apply makeup on occasion, I may as well try to make a bit of progress in the products that aren’t typically in rotation. I’m also pulling in the occasional product (mainly bronzer) to see if I do like it enough to keep.
I have decluttered so much over the last year that I now have a very small and well loved collection. For cheek products I have:
1 powder contour
3 powder bronzers (but I’m looking to add a cream one!)
4 powder + 4 cream blushes
4 powder + 3 cream highlights
1 combo product – anyone that has TF Sweetie Pie Radiant Matte Bronzer will know what I mean… it’s got bronzer, blush, and highlight all woven in this one powder. It’s my “go to” summer “one and done” cheek product
I don’t quite know. Not all that many, around 20 blushes, not counting those in combined eye shadow palettes. I have one or two bronzers, I don’t really use any of them. I probably have about 20 highlighters and some in aforementioned combi palettes.
I could do with a bit of purging, some of the blushes are old and I doubt usable anymore.
I have about four blushes in rotation at a time and do use about half of what I got with some regularity.
I’m proud to say that my entire cheek product collection was assembled using Temptalia (aka Christine’s 7600+ cheek swatches) as a resource so I’ve kept my investment to a minimum! 6 powder blushes; 1 liquid blush; 1 powder blush/contour; 1 gossamer highlighter; 2 cream stick highlighters. Thanks to KJH, I get more mileage out of my lipsticks by using them as blush (which also saves me money as I see no reason to plop down cash on cream blush that will just expire before I‘d be able use it up). TOTAL: 11
Thank you for Temptalia – it has formed the foundation of my makeup knowledge. You’re amazing, Christine! 🙂
I went through my blushes a couple of years ago and donated at least 20 brand new ones. I have about 10 now which is still way too many. I only use one at a time, I can’t jump from blush to blush, I don’t know why but that’s just the way I am.
I tend to use just one or two cheek products at a time. I have my nearly finished Covergirl Clean Air blush in peach shades and my Elizabeth Arden’s Sweet Peach as well (half finished, hit pan). So before I purchase any more I am going to use these up.
I wear blush, highlight and bronzer on a daily basis and always buff with Guerlain Meteorites Perles as a final step to meld it all together.
Blush, bronzer and highlight combined = over 80 but under a 100. I’ve been rotating my products daily since I don’t need to get a glam tray ready for the week these days. It’s been fun to rediscover past favorites. I’ll pick one thing I want to try (eye/cheek/lip product) and build a whole look around that. Anything goes!
5 cream and liquid blushes
1 stick bronzer
1 cream contour
1 cream highlight
Ideally I’d like to have 2 or 3 blushes since any more than that tends to look repetitive on my skin so I’m trying to use up a few. But for the most part I love what I have, it’s hard to pick what would stay because I’ve been really focusing on what formulas I purchase and they all work very well for me.
I like my bronzer but the contour I’m using is great for my skin tone and so easy to use that I all but stopped using the bronzer as soon as I bought the contour, so the bronzer is probably on the chopping block.
I’ll preface by saying, blush is my favorite makeup item – ever. Drum roll:
270. Counting with individual pans in face palettes, between blush, highlighter and bronzer (had to bust out my inventory excel sheet for this). More than half is blush. I don’t believe in declutter, the money is already spent.
And zero regrets. My coin, my hobby.
Christine, have you watched Tarababyz collection? Maybe that one might make you feel better? 😀
I have! She’s the closest I’ve seen ?
6 Tarte blushes, 2 Revlon blushes, 2 NARS blushes, 1 NARS highlighting blush (the discontinued and much-loved Satellite of Love), 1 ColourPop blush, 1 Sydney Grace blush, 1 Pur Cosmetics blush (Heart of a Who from the Grinch Good Enough to Steal palette), 1 Tarte highlighter (NYE from the 9 Ways to Shine Gunmetal stack), 1 ColourPop highlighter, 3 Becca Light Chaser highlighters, 1 BH Cosmetics highlighter (in the Zodiac palette), 1 Pur Cosmetics highlighter (Feeling Frosty from the Grinch palette), 2 Tarte bronzers (Mistletoe from the Gunmetal stack and Park Ave Princess), 1 Amber Fenty Match Stick that I use as my daily cheek contour, and 2 dried-up and unusable Stila Convertible Colors (in Road to Radiance palettes-Across the USA and Fabulous in Fiji). Total of 26, 24 if you exclude the unusable Stilas. I’d say the Pur x Grinch shades are the only ones that don’t get used on at least a semi-regular basis.
I have 1 bronzer + 1 highlighter + 2 blushes