Marc Jacobs Flesh & Fantasy Airblush, Natasha Denona Darya Palette, Dior Hologlam Rouge Blush, Natasha Denona Light-Medium Super Glow Highlighter, MAC Fairly Precious Extra Dimension Blush.
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!
Flower Beauty Blush Bombs in Pinched and Melon
Natasha Denona Bloom Blush & Glow palette
Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood Lightwand
Beauty Bakerie Cotton Candy Champagne Blush palette
Technically that’s 11 products, but it’s 5 items! 🙂
1. NARS Orgasm
2. Dior Nude Luminizer in Pink Glow
3. MAC Mineralize Blush in Sweet Enough
4. Clinique Blushing Blush in Cupid
5. Colourpop Blush Stix in Mini Me
(I’d also need a Sephora #54 angled brush and an e.l.f. small stipple brush.)
1) ABH Moonchild Glow Kit: I use this so freaking much, on my cheeks, face and eyes. It’s pretty much the perfect HL palette for me.
2) Physician’s Formula Butter Blush in Plum Rose: It’s a super-flattering, cool-toned neutral blush that I get a ton of use out of.
3) Tarte Exposed: The perfect nude blush; goes with everything; I use it a lot.
4) Milani Rose Powder Blush in Coral Cove: My favorite, HG coral blush. It suits me like no other.
5) Urban Decay Afterglow Blush in Bittersweet: The best purple blush ever, and I use it all the time. There’s nothing else like it.
*The NARS Hot Tryst Palette and Tarte Pin-up Girl Blush Palette. They were LE, but I love them both so much, I’d do everything I could to find them on GlamBot, Posh Mark, eBay, whatever. The only reason they aren’t on my list is I don’t know how easily I’d be able to find them.
Rachel, I came soooo close to putting Nars Hot Tryst as one of mine, but then went into overthinking mode, as I do often do, and figured that it would need to be something I could still easily buy. Idky my brain always trips me up this way. But, yeah, if I could, I would change out one of the blushes for this total GEM of a cheek palette!
I approach these questions as the items would still be reasonably available to buy. Otherwise, Hot Tryst would have been #1 or 2. I would trade any of the blushes on my list for it.
Same here — I take the questions literally and assume that I can only choose things that I can currently get.
I like to leave ’em open-ended so people can respond as they wish since they are for fun, but I was thinking more in the vein of what you’d buy based on what’s currently available (since that’s more challenging!).
Chanel Sheer Colour Balm in 20, Hourglass Incandescent Electra, Shiseido Whipped Blush in Chiyoko, Hourglass LE metallic strobe palette, Marc Jacobs spotlight cream highlight
Lancome Miel Glace
NARS Orgasm
MAC Margin
Clinique Cheek Pop Heather Pop
MAC Warm Soul
If highlighters are included I’d include Becca Moonstone and NARS Albatross. Could also add Becca Flowerchild and Laura Geller Pink Grapefruit.
This is trickier than the previous versions of this question, for me, because in trying to think about my cheek products, for whatever reason I appear to have a lot of limited edition or discontinued products in my most-used lineup (which obviously if I had to start from scratch, I couldn’t buy). Well…
1. Marc Jacobs – Flesh and Fantasy (even though our coloring is quite different, I totally agree on this one! I wear it all the time).
2. Physician’s Formula Butter Highlighter – Pearl.
3. Cover FX Monochromatic Blush Duo – Soft Peach.
4. Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush – Mood Exposure.
5. Canmake Cream Cheek – CL01 Clear Red.
How do you like the Canmake Cream Cheek in Red // would you recommend it? Have had it in my cart for a while now 🙂
It’s a great little cream blush! The packaging is TINY and very cheap-feeling plastic, but it was a very affordable price, so no complaints there. I’m extremely pale, and I find this color is blendable and forgiving enough to apply evenly and not make me look like a clown. It does apply better if I’m wearing a silkier sunscreen underneath, like Shiseido Urban Environment or Clarins UV Plus (or best of all: Coola Daydream Mineral Primer). When I’m wearing a “stickier” sunscreen (Peter Thomas Roth Max Sheer, Aveeno, etc), the application of the cream blush is noticeably more uneven.
Five cheek products!!! That is some advanced beauty right there. I am jealous of people who can use different blushes to match the rest of the look, or to create different looks all by themselves. I can’t imagine… Do highlighters count as a cheek product?
Yes. As do bronzers.
Nars Orgasm. MAC Tenderling, Pearl CCB, and Lightscapade. Can’t think of a fifth I would rush to repurchase.
Marc Jacobs Air Blushes (all 5 but counting this as one choice ha-ha) and Cover FX Blush Duos (all 6 and also counting this as one choice), Cover FX Bronzer Duos (both of them of course) and Urban Decay’s Bittersweet. I presently have all of these in my collection and had I begun with these, I wouldn’t have purchased any other cheek products.
I love these questions!
Natasha Denona Duo Glow in Alba
Benefit Hoola Lite
Glossier Cloud Paint in Beam (or Dusk! I can’t decide)
Natasha Denona Mini Diamond and Glow
Girlactik Bronzer in Cabo
If permanent only:
MAC Mineralize Blush, in Gentle
MAC Powder Blush, in Harmony
MAC Powder Blush, in Blushbaby
Hourglass Ambient Lighting Power, in Mood Light
Chanel Joues Contraste Blush, in Jersey (80)
If limited edition:
MAC Blush, in Cheek Pollen
NARS Unfiltered I Spring 2017 Cheek Palette
NARS Powder Blush, in Loves Me Not
Clinique Cheek Pop Palette, Get Cheeky
Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush Palette, 2014
If I was starting over, I’d want to try new products. Also my skin is quite tan right now. This was as hard as the lipstick one, and I’d want to buy a lot more colors soon after! Cheek and lip products – my weakness!
?Hourglass Mood Exposure – the illuminator, not the blush
?ABH Daiquiri loose pigment
?Charlotte Tilbury Lightgasm glowgasm face palette
?Kevyn Aucoin Sculpting Contour Powder – Light (looks totally nodescript like light babypookaka in pan, but it actually is an amazing natural and subtle looking contour)
?NYX Ombre blush – Mauve Me
You may have convinced me to try the Kevyn Aucoin Sculpting Contour Powder in Light. I have, and do really like, the Medium, but the Light looks a bit off in the pan & swatched. However, since it seems your skintone is similar to mine (I’m probably a wee bit paler), it may be worth actually trying it on my face.
I also forgot about that NYX Ombre blush… I may have to dig it out tomorrow.
Hey Amy: It’s the weirdest thing. It looks nothing like pan on my face and seems to go almost rosy. It’s a chameleon product for sure and I think it you are a shade or half shade lighter than me, you will probably really enjoy it. It doesn’t look like dirt or mud on your face and has a very soft subtle finish… no hard stripes. I marvel every time I use it because it is one ugly mofo in pan.
Clé de Peau Blush Crème in Pale Fig (luminous soft pink—my HG color and formula)
YSL Touch Éclat in 01 (looks beautiful on the high point of my cheeks)
Chanel Joues Contraste in Rose Initial (satin)
Chanel Joues Contraste in Quintessence (matte)
Tom Ford Glow Bronzer in Terra (only used during the summer when I want the proverbial sun-kissed look)
In truth, I could be perfectly happy with just the CdP and YSL listed above. Everything else is just for variety’s sake.
So difficult for me. I love cheek products.
1) Hourglass Holiday Ambient Lighting Edit palette
2) Nars Unfiltered Cheek palette
3) Laura Gellar Pink Buttercream
4) MAC Gingerly
5) TF Ravish (old formula) or Clinique Heather Pop
I actually only have five cheek products in my curated minimal make-up collection. 🙂 But if I would start over, I would choose specifically the shades that worked best for me in time.
Side note: Yes, I have a MAC custom made face powder 6-pan insert with 5 blushes… I know… my OCD is killing me.
1. A contour shade (cool/neutral matte): MAC Sculpt (bonus, works great as a transition eye shadow)
2. A bronzing blush (warm slight shimmer): MAC Trace Gold
3. A pink-plum blush (matte): MAC Breath of Plum
4. A coral blush (slight shimmer): MAC Springsteen (but Peach Twist, Peachykeen or Style would work as well)
5. A highlighter (minimal shimmer, very subtle): MAC Emphasize (although I can personally skip highlighter)
1.) Natasha Denona Tan & Glow Palette
2.) Nars Fetishised Blush
3.) UD Rapture Afterglow Blush or MAC Blushbaby
4.) Ofra Glazed Donut highlighter
5.) Nyx Taupe contour, oddly labeled as an HD Blush
If it was still available, MAC’s Sweet Sentiment, and then my beloved Dior Rosy Glow Awakening Blush. Maybe MAC’s Rosy Cheeks Extra Dimension blush and if highlighters are included here (and, again, dc’d stuff can be included), Dior Glowing Pink Nude Air Glowing Gardens highlighter or the still available Nude Air Liminizer in 002 or UD’s Aura highlighter (any of those could be my 4th) and for #5, hmm – maybe Guerlain’s Cruel Gardenia (though I think that’s more an all over product than strictly a cheek product).
Obviously, if I had to start from scratch, I could only choose products that are currently available, so that leaves out many of my absolute favorites…
1. Lunatick Cosmetics Lab Sculpting Palette; this gem has all basics covered, and does actually contain blush shades I actually use.
2. Kat von D Beauty Shade + Light Contour Palette, but customized (on the brands site, they can be filled with individual shades, but sold as one product); Vanilla, Lavender, Lucid, Taupe, Suede, & Sombre.
3. Same as above, but creme formula; White Out, Ivory, Parchment, Grayscale, Spice, & Woodland.
4. Illamasqua Beyond Powder Highlighter in Deity.
5. Ofra Highlighter in Glazed Donut.
However, I would trade all the above for a lifetime supply of NARS Douceur blush…
1. Marc Jacobs Air Blush in Lush and Libido
2. UD Afterglow Blush in Rapture
3. Sydney Grace Blush in Pure Joy (I haven’t tried it but would really like to)
4. Guerlain Meteorites Highlighter (the pink and cool lavender colour combo)
5. Fenty Kilowatt in Sand Castle & Mint’d Mojito (the two colours combined can lean overly green on me if I don’t use a super light hand, but for some reason I just really enjoy the ‘at the beach’ feel I get when putting this on)
1.) Jouer Blush Bouquet Duo in Adore
2.) UD Video blush
3.) UD Rapture blush
4.) Becca Berlin Girl Glow highlighter
5.) I’d probably try the OFRA 3-pan highlighter palette that has Blissful, Rodeo Drive, and Pillow Talk in it, or Anastasia Moonchild
I only have 5 cheek products in my collection currently, so this question was easy! I downsized everything else I hadn’t been using or didn’t suit me.
Charlotte Tilbury Cheek to Chic in Love Glow
NARS Albatross Highlighter
Bare Minerals Gen Nude Blush in That Peach Tho
TheBalm Balm Desert Blush/Bronzer
Flower Beauty Blush in Sweet Pea
1. Kjaer Weis Blossoming
2. Kjaer Weis Sun Touched
3. Kjaer Weis Precious
4. NARS Liquid Orgasm
5. Rituel de Fille Lovesick
I cheated with highlighter since I can use CT HFF as one and to me it falls more as a base product. The same with bronzer since I only use one to subtly contour and I also count it as a base product. 😀
Have to start with what Nars palettes are currently available to maximize the choices. I like virtually everything but Orgasm. Oldest first: the summer ?17 Dual intensity palette that wouldn’t start and I brought back only to keep and love. Wanted 2 (the loud one) and Exposed…though I prefer Hot Tryst. That would cover most colors. Since I’m on a Nars train, the HL palette Coucher de Soleil, and probably the oldest, square Nyx Taupe, the most gray of them, …or alternates, Tarte Exposed/HG Mood Exposure Illuminator/Surratt La Rosee du Soir..
Another really hard question!! I have a feeling I’m ultimately going to be dissatisfied with only having 5, lol.
1) Ofra Pillow Talk Highlighter
2) Colourpop Flexitarian Super Shock Highlight
3) ABH Moonchild Highlight Pallete (to get all my purples/blues)
4) Colourpop Rain Super Shock Blush
5) Ofra Crazy Pink Blush
Trying to cover the color I love to have (purple) and texture (glitter) with needing some more natural colors (slight gold highlight, soft pink blush). These aren’t necessariy my favorite products (some are), but they cover all my bases for the looks I typically pull together. These questions are so rough! lol
Overall, cheek products are not something I live or die over and as stated in the weekly quiz question, I struggle with bronzer and contour so my choices would be strictly blush or blush/highlighter’s.
1. Ciate Glow to Illuminate blush in Summer Love. Probably my most used blush ever!
2. Dior Backstage Glow Palette (It was tough to choose here because I have several of the Diorskin Nude Luminizer’s but this gives me more options. If I went with the Luminizer it would be 02 Pink Glow)
3. Hourglass Ethereal Glow
4. Surratt Artistique Blush in Classique. I don’t wear this much but it is a stunning blush for me. I need to wear it more but you know, you don’t want to use it up. I should probably just buy a back up and then use it!!
5. Marc Jacobs Air Blush in Kinks and Kisses
Runner Up:
Chantecaille Bliss which is a newer obsession (within the last year) and really almost any blush from this line would be great. I love them all.
And the Clinique Cheek Pop in Black Honey
1. Colourpop Cheerio
2. ABH Pink Passion trio
3. ABH Moonchild
4. Fenty Starstruck
5. Fenty Wattabrat
…I like sparkles.
I would probably go for Becca’s Afterglow palette, or if palettes don’t count, Becca’s Opal; theBalm Bahama Mama bronzer (so versatile!), NARS Luster blush, bareMinerals Invisible Glow in Medium and Natasha Denona’s mini Diamond & Glow duo!
Of course palettes count! A true enthusiast would choose a palette of highlighters, palette of bronzers, palette of cream blushes, palette of powder blushes … and that’s only four things! 😉
Personally, I don’t have 5 cheek products (now that is amazing!)
So my favourite is EA’s Sweet Peach, it is probably a peachy coral shade, no orange undertones and is quite matte with a hint of glow.
I have more cheek products than anything else in my collection, so this is tricky.
– The Balm “Balm Desert”
– RMS Lip2Cheek in “Spell”
– RMS Buruti Bronzer
– MAC Mineralize Blush in “Humour Me”
– Bite Beauty Multistick in “Blondie”
I have a ton of cheek products, but a full set of boring browns work for me in all seasons and situations, so that is where I would begin again.
Sorry, that should be Buriti Bronzer.
1. Ofra Pro Blush palette
2. Ofra On the Glow palette
3. The Balm Hot Mama
4. Guerlain Rouge G blush
5. Jouer Bouquet D’Amour palette
I put 6!
MAC Give Me Sun!
Estee Lauder x Victoria Beckham Modern Mercury
Laura Mercier Matte Radiance Highlighter 01
MAC Warm Soul
MAC Blushbaby
Tom Ford Flush
I love the question related to the makeup you ask. It help me to choose the best product for my makeup.
And your blog is awesome.
1. Anastasia Highlighter • Amrezy (if it were available)
2. Tom Ford Cheek Colour • Love Lust (too bad they reformulated!)
3. Kevyn Aucoin Candlelight Powder (or I’ll try Laura Mercier’s Matte Radiance Baked Powder • 01 Highlight)
4. Koyudo BP016 Brush (for blush)
5. Real Techniques Setting Brush (for highlight)
They’d all be blushes as I’m not much of a highlighter person:
Tom Ford Flush
Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk
Gucci Soft Peach
Chanel Elegance
Kiko Milano Flawless Skin
1. NARS Gilda (so unfair it is discontinued :/)
2. NARS Gaiety
3. MAC Stay by Me (also discontinued :/)
4. Clinique Cheek Pop Peach Pop
5. NARS Luster
I don’t count cheek contour here because I use it under my foundation.
Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-hour blush-color choices: Dollface/Blushing Bride/Paaarty
Becca Light Chaser highlighter-color choices: Amethyst Flashes Geode/Opal Flashes Jade/Rose Quartz Flashes Seashell
Revlon powder blush-color choices: Ravishing Rose, Mauvelous
Fenty Killawatt highlighter-7daywknd/Poolside combo
L’Oreal True Match Super-Blendable blush-Spiced Plum
Bonus: NARS Satellite of Love (if I could find it easily enough, being discontinued and all)
– Ostara highlighter from Aromaleigh
– Aphrodisiac blush from CP
– Chili Mango from Fenty
– Reclusa blush from My Pretty Zombie
— I don’t currently own it, but I’d get the Rose/Coral 6-pan blush palette from Viseart