Rare Beauty Nearly Mauve Stay Vulnerable Melting Cream Blush Review & Swatches
Nearly Mauve
Rare Beauty Nearly Mauve Stay Vulnerable Melting Cream Blush ($21.00 for 0.17 oz.) is a muted, medium-dark pink-coral with subtle, warm undertones and a satin finish. It had a more emollient, thin, and traditional cream-like texture initially, but it was quick to turn to a more powder-like feel when it came into contact with skin. The formula was also quick to dry down, so you had to work fast to place and diffuse color; brushes gave more time to work than fingertips (which turned the product to powder-like faster).
It had semi-sheer color coverage that could be diffused to sheerer coverage or built up to more medium coverage. The coverage was intentionally sheer, though they do market it as something that can be built up in layers, which I’d disagree with. The formula didn’t react as well to being built up and doing so often resulted in color shifting or lifting away, regardless of whether it was applied over bare skin or over foundation.
Once it was drier, it was best left alone, so for that reason, I didn’t find it quite as effortless as it seemed to be marketed as–you had to get the application pretty right quickly and from the first go. I wouldn’t call it a difficult formula to use, generally, as the sheerness and slip often worked to give a good application from the get-go. It stayed on well for eight hours before fading noticeably on me.
FURTHER READING: Formula Overview for details on general performance and characteristics (like scent).
Top Dupes
- Pat McGrath Aphrodisia (LE, ) is more shimmery (95% similar).
- Sephora Free Spirit (P, $14.00) is lighter, warmer (90% similar).
- Becca Winter Berry (LE, $32.00) is less shimmery, lighter, warmer (90% similar).
- Makeup by Mario Earthy Pink (P, $28.00) is lighter, glossier (90% similar).
- MAC Cheer Up (LE, $30.00) is lighter, warmer (90% similar).
- Victoria Beckham Beauty Major (P, $42.00) is less shimmery, lighter, warmer (90% similar).
- Makeup by Mario Soft Coral (P, $28.00) is lighter, warmer, glossier (90% similar).
- Rare Beauty Nearly Neutral (P, $21.00) is less shimmery, lighter, warmer (90% similar).
- ColourPop Shell Out (LE, $8.00) is less shimmery (90% similar).
- ColourPop Picnic Time (LE, $8.00) is less shimmery, lighter, warmer (90% similar).
Formula Overview
$21.00/0.17 oz. - $123.53 Per Ounce
The formula is supposed to be a "liquid-like cream" that "melts" on skin for a "second skin" look with a "wash of soft-focus color" that is "water-resistant" and has a "satin finish." It did seem water-resistant when I tested it on the back of my hand and certainly didn't move readily after it had been blended out and dried down.
The texture was thin, emollient, and more like a traditional cream in the pan and when initially picked up on a fingertip or a brush, but it was quick to dry down and turn to a more powder-like finish that was satin-like--not totally matte but not dewy at all--when it came into contact with skin. For this reason, a stippling brush was a little easier to work with and more forgiving than a fingertip.
The pigmentation was as marketed; it was sheer to semi-sheer with some ability to build up coverage, but the more silicone-heavy formula was better with one or two layers than more heavily built up as it had a tendency to pill and lift when fussed with too much. I don't know that I'd consider it to be an effortless formula, but once you figure out the best technique, the results themselves, as the coverage is sheerer, are more foolproof.
The formula worked better on bare skin and lighter coverage foundations that were more matte to natural but not overly dewy/luminous. The formula was blendable, but if I didn't get a decent blend quickly, it was harder to correct on its own; it was easier to blend out the edges using my foundation brush (and whatever was leftover on it) to soften any unblended edges. They lasted between seven and eight hours on me before fading visibly.
Browse all of our Rare Beauty Stay Vulnerable Melting Cream Blush swatches.
Ingredients
Isodecyl Isononanoate, Silica, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Isodecyl Neopentanoate, Octyldodecyl Stearoyl Stearate, Methyl Methacrylate Crosspolymer, Limnanthes Alba (Meadowfoam) Seed Oil, Polyethylene, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Dicalcium Phosphate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Pentaerythrityl Tetra-di-t-butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate, Talc, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Gardenia Florida Fruit Extract, Nelumbo Nucifera Flower Extract, Nymphaea Odorata Root Extract, Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492), Blue 1 Lake (CI 42090), Red 7 Lake (CI 15850).
Disclaimer: Ingredient lists are as available by the brand (or retailer) at the time of publishing. Please always check product packaging, if it exists, for the ingredient list applicable to the product you're purchasing, or the brand or retailer's website for the most up-to-date ingredient list.
Such a lovely shade, but such fussy application, too! Working quickly, I’m bound to make an unintended smudge here and there. Not sure those would be easily correctable. Even with that probable caveat, this one is calling to me color wise.
As Nancy has said above, it is a lovely shade – but you would have to know what you were doing to get it right. As every person’s skin chemistry is a bit different, it may take a couple of ‘goes’. If the product starts off as a cream and then turns to a powedery finish, the brand may as well made a powder blush.
I really like this information.
Looks patchy and has straight up polyethylene (PE) microplastic in it! When will cosmetics companies take responsibility? We customers really need to step up and take a good look on what we buy and use! Is it worth contributing to the plastic pollution by using this product and others like it?
Christine, is there any reason there are no dupes for this blush? I see the other shades in this formula seem to have plenty of dupes to choose from but this one – the colour of which I really like, but not the formula – has no dupes listed.
I just forgot to enter them because I wrote a few of these beforehand, and with last week’s events, I forgot to enter the dupes (which I do a day before, usually).
Totally understandable, Christine. And thanks for entering them!