>>>beauty banter: HOW TO ACTUALLY APPLY CREAM BLUSH - PART ONE (FORMULAS!)

Cream blush is my delightful little darling of the maquillage word, she sit’s so pretty and plush in her little pot, just waiting to be scooped up and patted lovingly on the apples of the cheeks to make them look plump and flushed. But she wasn’t always my little darling, in fact I used to think of cream blush as a conniving little beauty bitch. She was elusive, she would disappear disparagingly and before she did so she would mess around slimily, making my cheeks look more like rotten apples than bright, crisp and fresh ones. So how did cream blush and I not only mend our resentful relationship but foster something quite special and loving? Two things – I learned a lesson in application and cream blush formulas became a whole lot more usable, wearable and beautiful. Learn which formulas rock in this post and then watch out for part two for the best way to pat on your pop of color.

Cream blush circa four years ago was, frankly, more like cream sludge, a pot of gooey stickiness that felt heavy and looked shiny. They were tacky to the touch and lacked any slip (a term make-up artists use to describe how something spreads over the skin), meaning you literally had to tug it all over the place to get it looking good. By rubbing and tugging all over your cheeks you would actually rub away your entire carefully applied base. After you had rubbed it in it would look at complete odds with your skins natural (or “perfected natural” should you be wearing fond de teint) texture, before slipping clownishly down your cheeks like a particularly melancholy Pierrot. By the time you blush was making friends with your jaw line (never a good a look) all the pigment would have disappeared, leaving pale space behind which was actually your skin, but looked bizarre in comparison with foundationed areas.
Essentially cream blush was something I would gaze wistfully at in the cosmetics department, purchase with tentative hope, be disappointed by and then relegate to the back of my makeup bag. Thankfully beauty companies have completely upped their cream blush game in the past couple of years. My two favorite formulations come from Chanel and MAC. The former is an indulgent little treat if you want to splash out on a black lacquered CC case of cream brilliance. The colors are exceptionally pretty and offer a beautiful brightening effect to cheeks and the formula is creamy with a soft powdery finish, meaning it melds well with your existing (potentially powdered) base.
If you want a more purse strings friendly option check out MAC, who  updated their cream blush offering a few years ago – the original Blush Crème formulations are lauded for being a backstage must have, and rightly so, they were super pigmented (and thus, a bit heavy)and offered a sensational runway-ready sheen that was perfect for just that, the runway. In real life the look and finish the formula offered was more of the above aforementioned mess. Luckily MAC developed a much more consumer friendly version by way of their fabulous Cremeblend Blushes. Similar to the Chanel formula these are light, almost moussey and feel more powdery (but certainly give your complexion a creamy freshness), making them easy to blend. Check out the shade “Something Special” for the most perfect warm baby coral-pink or “Lady Blush” if you are after a natural look.
Because I am so enamored with these two formulas I have never looked at much else. You want to look for something light, pigmented with an almost soft and powdery finish in your cream blush.
Do you have a favorite formula you would love to share?

Watch out for part-two to learn exactly how to apply your little pot of prettiness.