Blusher is a less is more product, main use to give your face a bit more life and a fresher appearance, if you over-do it you will look like you’ve rolled around in your make-up bag.
You can get a variety of finishes and types of blush, from powder to cream – don’t forget to keep that blusher brush clean as you’re going over the same part of your face (possibly daily) and if you wonder why your skin breaks out it could be a need to clean your blusher brush.
You can apply blush and bronzer, mainly powder with a simple angled brush, preferably sized between a big eyeshadow brush and a powder brush, the angled brush can give you a great contoured effect on the cheek-bone because it is angled slightly and you really blend out the product neater and apply it better, I would say that an angled brush is perfect for highlighting and shading the face – you can apply down the sides of the nose, forehead, chin and cheekbones to give that (forgive me as I know it sounds ridiculous) ‘dimensional’ look.
Bronzer usually goes all over the face for a sun-kissed look, and blush is kept on the cheek-bone or apples of cheek, depending on face-shape – or your preference. Bronzer mainly comes in a shimmer finish, contouring powder comes in matte (so it doesn’t attract the light, making features thinner) and blushers come in shimmer, matte, glitter and finish, I personally think glitter blush should be kept for fun events as the glitter specs look like enlarged pores, matte blush can sometimes look chalky but can look really natural too, darker skins should make sure there’s no chalk in it so it doesn’t give a dull look on application, shimmer suits pretty much all skins – gives a glow too, powder blush comes in a wide variety of colours, from neon to the palest peach.
You can get blush in the form of a cheek-stain, these ‘stains’ are a great product they give long-lasting colour – I guess hence the name, ‘stain’, usually in blood red and shocking pink – the colour should dilute a lot when applied on the skin and definitely use sparingly! Gently apply and blend with the ring finger, try to avoid touching your face repeatedly with the applicator in the bottle, the stain works very fast so please make sure to give it a test-run if you’re new to the product. Stains usually are just applied on the apples of the cheeks. This applies really well on normal, combination and mature skins.
Creme blushers are like the happy medium between a stain and powder, it’s easier to apply than a stain but isn’t as easy to apply than a powder, this is also great for a dewy complexion and really only on the apples of the cheeks, you can slightly extend up the cheek-bone – more-so than with a stain, mainly because you have more control over application. Colours come in a slightly wider variety than the stain, and more to suit darker skin tones too, these apply really well to mature or dry skin because it’s more of an emollient than a powder blush that may go chalky.
Highlighters come in powder, liquid and creme form, and possibly other new forms I am unaware of, however, these are the ones I have used – my favorite to use is a creamy liquid, these types give the best dewy glow and fresh appearance – best applied on the cheek-bone and brow-bone. Powder high-light comes in matte and shimmer – best for the brow-bone, I would say matte highlight is best in theatre/stage conditions for areas like the cheek-bone as it’s not the most natural for day looks. Highlight usually has flesh-tone colours mixed with the ‘white’ because it comes across a lot more natural than bright white applied onto the skin.
I want to keep this as rule-free as possible and let you have a play about with the different types available, I mix and match mainly between powder blush and contouring but I do love to use stains and creme blushers, I just can’t use these kinds daily because the product builds up on my skin and just can’t ‘handle’ a daily application.
Image reproduced from avonteens.com
