Rave: Sometimes they can have a dewier finish and have a more natural look to them as they tend to look like stains. Rant: They tend to take more effort to apply and blend out than a powder blush for me (on average), especially more pigmented formulas as they often pump/disperse way more product than needed (and can be hard to manage getting less out).
— Christine
We're here to help you make better beauty purchases that you'll enjoy and love! We recommend signing up to take advantage of personalized features like tracking products you own, viewing dupes that you already have, and more!
Here are some useful resources for you:
Curious how two shades compare to each other? Type in the shades below to get instant side-by-side swatches!
Comments that do not adhere to our comment policy may be removed. Discussion and debate are highly encouraged but we expect community members to participate respectfully. Please keep discussion on-topic, and if you have general feedback, a product review request, an off-topic question, or need technical support, please contact us!
Please help us streamline the comments' section and be more efficient: double-check the post above for more basic information like pricing, availability, and so on to make sure your question wasn't answered already. Comments alerting us to typos or small errors in the post are appreciated (!) but will typically be removed after errors are fixed (unless a response is needed).
We appreciate enthusiasm for new releases but ask readers to please hold questions regarding if/when a review will be posted as we can't commit to or guarantee product reviews. We don't want to set expectations and then disappoint readers as even products that are swatched don't always end up being reviewed due to time constraints and changes in priorities! Thank you for understanding!
We try to approve comments within 24 hours (and reply to them within 72 hours) but can sometimes get behind and appreciate your patience! 🙂 If you have general feedback, product review requests, off-topic questions, or need technical support, please contact us directly. Thank you for your patience!
I have dry skin and liquid/cream is the only blush I use anymore. I used to feel like blush always looked “off” on me, no matter what the colour, and made my complexion look worse (I never used shimmery blushes, only matte) until I tried cream formulas.
Rave: Once applied and applied well, they look more like a natural flush than powder blushes do. When layered with a powder they keep your blush going strong for many, many hours.
Rant: They can be difficult to apply. Many times my other products won’t go on smoothly over them, even if I set with a finishing powder. When applied after foundation but before powders, they can lift the coverage over my hyper-pigmentation which isn’t necessarily a deal breaker because the concealer will only cover the pigmentation for a couple of hours anyway. The tend to highlight my texture.
Rave: Stays on longer than a powder blush does.
Rant: most come in an oily formula so I break out easier.
Rave: They usually have a gorgeous stained glass appearance that just seems like to be eminating from within! It’s an effect that I truly love the looks of! Which is why I went hunting for Flower Beauty Blush Bomb Drops at Tempe Marketplace yesterday…to no avail. Neither Ulta or Target had any Flower Beauty at all. Which made no sense, since Flower Beauty’s Store Locater showed BOTH as having this product.
Rant: I have a legit fear of them lifting or disturbing my base products. This is probably a bit of irrational fear in retrospect. Also, they sound like more trouble to apply, really.
I’ve never used a liquid blush. I do intend to try some without base products at some point, and the item in the image (Cloud Paint) is on my list. I suspect that these types of products are best over bare skin (though I’m certain that the companies who put them out try to make them as diversely useful as possible). Curious to read other people’s experiences here.
No raves, I’ve never met one I liked. I have tried numerous cream blushes as well, but I generally find them too slippy and emollient and prefer a slightly drier, more pigmented texture. My favourite is actually a Mehron lip creme pan in Petal Pink and I’ve been known to use lipstick as a cheek colour before as well. Liquid blushers are too finicky to blend, hard to dispense the right amount and seem to be either super duper pigmented or just a bare wash of subtle colour with a fast dry down or they never quite set and remain slightly tacky, so they’re not for me.
I don’t, and wouldn’t ever, use a liquid blush because I would find that too much squirts out of the tube and it could easily end in tears. I don’t like the dewy finishes either, so no raves for me.
I don’t think I’ve ever used a liquid blush. I’m curious about them, though.
because i am so fair and have no natural cheek color, i use a cream blush first to look like i have a natural blush and then powder blush over. i’ve learned to have a light touch, so i think it looks good. i’ve tried liquid blush but didn’t like it for all the same reason listed here.
I love them. Great for my dry skin. No rants here.
Try Cloud Paint all you curious types! I first use serum, moisturizer, non-silicone illuminating primer, Armani Luminous Silk Foundation. Then dot Cloud paint with middle finger on high cheek areas, blending well and and a touch to nose bridge and the area between and slightly above the brows. Delivers healthy glow indeed! My skin is dry and mature.
Took 3 tries to find perfect color (Storm), but you can mix up shades that aren’t quite right. Inexpensive product. Powder blush/bronzer works beautifully on top
I’m a broken record on this but the Glossier liquid formula is technically flawless IMO. Comes out of the tube in a nice, thick liquid consistency, is sheer enough to apply effortlessly but totally buildable, lasts all day. I find it totally foolproof for natural and more saturated looks and I wear it every day.
Other liquids tend to be trickier with either excessive or wimpy pigmentation and a tendency to apply patchily or cling to dry skin. Glossier doesn’t do any of that, it’s perfect.
The biggest issues for me with cream or liquid blushes are 1. the time they take to blend out to get a nice and natural look and 2. how the blending process can “lift” or “shift” whatever base product (foundation, CC cream, etc.), I am wearing. When I have time and when I think of it, I do like wearing them but don’t like the extra time and care (and how, even with time and care, I can still end up removing my foundation in the process of blending a cream blush)
I am curious about these kinds of blushes – they seem to be the Product of the Moment lately. But I hate applying makeup with my fingers. I already wash my hands so many times during my routine (after skincare, after foundation, after tapping on a shimmer eyeshadow), that I can’t see adding another. Not to mention the possibility of forgetting I have pink on my fingertips and messing up the rest of my makeup seems pretty high.
Rant: Can rarely be put over foundation. Some come in creamy tack texture that doesn’t set
Rave: Water bases (and some cream) Works GREAT under foundation to give you a natural blush look or give an extra oomph to your regular powder. Plus it will stay ALL DAY under the foundation.
Rave: Pigment intensity is far better with less product!
Rant: It’s so messy! I have a terrible time applying it to my face. My fingers always end up covered in liquid blush even when I use a brush to apply it. It’s also hard for me to apply even amounts to both sides of my face and then diffuse them, but that’s probably a me problem than a product problem.
I apply gel Chantecaille with a stippling brush and Glossier, Cloud Paint, with a patting motion using my fingertips. They both dry down so there’s no tacky or stickiness. I always test out creams to make sure I don’t get that dreaded stickiness. I do like to use them as on my skin they see to be lasting and more skin like.