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Top 5: Plum Blushes for Fall 2015
Plum is one of my favorite cheek colors to wear (right after coral!), because they can run cool or warm in tone, so they work with a lot of looks. It’s also a great shade to pair with the deeper lip colors that we often see in fall and winter. What are your favorites?
- Urban Decay Rapture — a purply-plum with subtle pearl
- theBalm Cabana Boy — a cooler-toned plum with sheen
- IT Cosmetics Radiant in Rose — a rosy plum with a luminous finish
- Sleek Pomegranate — a brightened, berry-plum with a frosted sheen
- NARS Oasis — a warm plum with gold pearl
I had Sleek Pomegranate, but when I applied it to my face it looked like redness, so I passed it on to my sister. Then again, that was a long time ago. Maybe I should try it again… Your swatches of it do look beautiful!
It is a brighter and warmer shade, so I could see it pulling redder possibly, though it’s a pretty shade!
Cabana Boy and Sleek Flushed (matte version of Pomegranate) are my fave plums. Flushed especially, one of my top five and my number one for winter.
Is Flushed super pigmented, Ginny?
It is, but when you buff it in it diffuses really nicely. So if you accidentally over apply at first, it’s fixable.
I vote Hourglass Mood Exposure!
That is a pretty one! Especially for fairer complexions.
Rapture is for sure one of my faves! I really like the sleek one too. May have to look into that. 🙂 I like Charolotte Tilbury’s “Sex on Fire” too.
Charlotte..sorry
The Sleek one has a pretty finish!
CT “Sex on Fire” is really nice mauvey plum!
I think Oasis is my absolute favorite blush ever. I just love it beyond comprehension. I have Rapture as well, and Sin, but Oasis is just so very beautiful and flattering and pigmented and….sigh… I love it. Have given it to my sisters, mother, sister in law… Cause I feel it looks stunning on anybody, regardless your skin tone. Love it.
Oasis is one of NARS’ best blushes!
I have Oasis, but I have to be super careful, or I end up looking like I trekked through the desert for 3 days… Sin is far more flattering on my fair-light, neutral skintone.
Great list! I just got MAC Plum Foolery yesterday and was it would make the list. But I did justfind it on your 2014 Fave Plums list, so whew :-)!
It’s a good one, too 🙂
I love theBalm’s Pinstripe instain blush. It is so beautiful!
I was thisclose to putting that one on the list 😉
That’s such a great list and I’d have been thisclose to adding pinstripe too 🙂 love it even tho I have to be soooo careful with it. I HIT PAN on Cabana boy!!! Considering my blush stash I’m kinda impressed with myself lol altho last year was all Rockatuer all the time and this year has been my mood exposure period it ups my amazement factor.
I like to rotate NARS Love Joy and Dolce Vita, Surratt’s La Vie En Rose, and Hourglass’s Mood Exposure!
Also YSL babydoll kiss and blush #12 mocha g-something seems like a nice warm plum to me!
Great picks, Gilbert! I was debating between Love Joy, Dolce VIta, and Oasis!
Pomegranate looks beautifull <3
It is!
Yep, I love plummy shades too! I already have UD Rapture and just love it, although on me, the purple is not *too* evident. But that’s actually a good thing! I also really love my Maybelline Dream Bouncy in Plum Wine. And I like that IT Radiant In Rose blush above looks, too!
So much love for Rapture 😀
My favourite plum blushes – UD Rapture is for sure #1 but I also still really like MAC Plum Foolery and MAC Conjure Up, which was a limited edition mineralize blush from ages ago. It is SO heart-achingly beautiful both in the pan and applied.
Plum Foolery is a good one! I’m glad they still have that one around.
Rapture is def one of my fav plum blushes. I’m also a big fan of Lancome Blush Subtil Shimmer Plum Affaire. Pics I’ve seen (including on Lancome’s own site) make the blush appear significantly darker and redder than it actually applies. On me, it pulls slightly “plumer” than the UD with a hint of shimmer.
I’ll have to check out the Lancome blush!
Rapture has to be my absolute favourite now! It has the perfect brown-pink-purple balance for me, and I find it really gives great shape to my face! (: x
It’s such a nice one 🙂
They look lovely but I think they would be too red and warm for me though. The swatches were beautiful.
Do you have a plum favorite that pulls cooler?
I have Rapture and haven’t even opened it yet lol. I need to crack open some of my new blushes because I’m already spotting more. That Sleek blush is really pretty and I have a ton of lipsticks that’ll complement it well
You gotta try it, Fancie!
I tend to think of “plum” blushes as “mauvey” blushes, because once they get sheered out halfway to oblivion on my face you lose a good deal of nuance, IMO. They are by far the most flattering kind of blush in my opinion! I have an ELF single in Mellow Mauve that is my Holy Grail blush shade- it’s a reddish plum that’s pale with depth, somehow- it has to be seen to be understood. It looks similar to NARS Oasis but with an iridescent/satiny finish rather than gold shimmer, and less pigmentation.
Most blushes lose a little somethin’ when you sheer them out, I think!
I really like MAC Animal Instincts (I think that’s the name, the one from the Novel Romance collection), but that was LE. I don’t *need* any more blush for a while, but I do “need” to find a good everyday blush, since NARS Douceur was DCd, so I think I’ll check out UD Rapture (it’s also talc-free, an added bonus!).
Animal Instincts was a great color! I’m curious what you’ll end up replacing Douceur with.
Wonderful list! I have Rapture (I’m wearing it today, actually), Pomegranate and Cabana Boy. The Balm’s In-Stain in Pinstripe, Sleek Flushed, and Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge in Blushed Rose other plummy favorites of mine.
How timely 😀
I love Sleek blushes. Pomegranate is prob bly my favorite although Flushed is a great blush too. But my absolute favorite last autumn-winter was Elf Merry Berry. I gravitated to it over my NARS and MAC blushes. It’s very easy to apply, it blends beautifully and last very well on me. And it cost a few bucks.
Sleek has some INTENSE blushes!
I have cabana boy amazing color,,dusty rose neutral color. I use it for natural and smoky look..
I have also the balm instain blush in pinstripe its cool plum it mentioned for fall, so pigmented and long wearing.
I love the finish on Cabana Boy, too!
I like Benefit Dallas, it pulls nice and plummy on my skin! I also find the Becca shimmering cheek souffle in raspberry/opal is a nice shimmery option too. Tarte cheek stain in Flush is a lovely shade too, perfect on “no makeup” days! Although these options are probably more berry than plum….hhhmmm, maybe I need to go buy some true plum shades! 😉
Berry is close to plum 😉
NARS Dolce Vita for sure.
Great pick, Chris!
I’m feeling a need for Oasis 🙂
It is gorgeous!
Mellow Wine by Wet n Wild has been my favorite for 5+ years.
Ooh, must be a good one then 😀
Rapture and Oasis are perfect!
They are very nice!
Do you prefer Urban Decay Rapture or Nars Sin?
You post the best swatches by the way! I always refer to your reviews before buying a new product.
Rapture is easier for me to use, since it isn’t as intense as Sin!
Thank you!
Which blush works well for medium to dark tones?
All of these would work, I think!