As with any makeup product, the key to making something really work for you is to experiment with it and try it a few different ways. Everyone’s skin chemistry is a little bit different, not to mention our desired results and application style. Below, we give the step by step on how to apply cream blush perfectly. At the end, we have a few tips and tricks so you can really have fun playing around with your cream blush!
In this article:
Cream Blush Tutorial
While traditionally the best way to apply cream blush is after foundation and before setting powder, you might find that the particular cream blush you have looks better under foundation or maybe it actually blends nicely over powder.
- Make sure to start with clean, well-moisturized skin. The more hydrated your skin, the longer-lasting and more luminous your makeup will look, while makeup over dry skin tends to look cakey.
- If you’d like, apply a layer of primer all over your skin, smoothing it over gently. You can skip applying the primer to your cheeks if you’re applying oily cream blush, as oils and silicones don’t always play nicely.
- If you don’t wear foundation, or if you would like to have as sheer as possible a blush application then this is your moment to put on your cream blush.
- For a more saturated cream blush application, smooth on your cream or liquid foundation next. Try to keep the application as light as possible, especially around the part of the cheeks where you would like to apply your blush.
- There are a few ways in which you can apply your cream blush. If you have a cream blush that comes in the form of a roll-up stick, you can either make a few dots of cream blush along the top of the apples of your cheeks, or draw on a small stripe. Blend it out in circular motions using your fingers, a stippling brush or a rigid brush, or a damp makeup sponge or beauty blender.
- For a cream blush that comes in a pot, use your fingers, a stippling brush, or the fat end of a damp beauty blender-style sponge to apply it. Start with stippling or tapping motions first, in order to deposit the color on to the skin.
- Concentrate the color on the top of the apples of your cheek, not too close to the nose, and then slowly work your way outwards so that the color is most concentrated at the center and fades out towards the temples and the part of the cheek closer to the nose.
- Often repeating the tapping motion will be enough to blend out the cream blush perfectly. If that hasn’t blended out the cream blush enough, switch over to circular swiping motions until the color is sheered out to your satisfaction.
- If, after applying your cream blush, you feel like the application looks a little too heavy and the color is too opaque, load up whatever you use to apply your foundation with just a bit of foundation, and stipple it over your cream blush. This will sheer out and soften the blush significantly.
- Finish off your complexion makeup as necessary – you might want to apply concealer, cream contour, or cream highlighter.
- If necessary, set your face with the powder you would normally use. A translucent powder is best for keeping the flush of your cream blush showing, while a setting powder with pigment or a powder foundation will help cover the blush if you’re finding that it looks too strong.
- Now you can apply any powder-based complexion products like bronzer, contour, powder highlight, as well as powder blush if you’d like a bit more color to your cheeks.
- Finish off your makeup as you normally would, capping off the eyes, brows and lips in whatever way you like. For a monochromatic look you can apply your cream blush to your eyelids with your finger or with a synthetic eyeshadow brush, and apply it to your lips with your finger or with a lip brush.
Other Cream Blush Makeup Tips
- This might be old news by now, but you really don’t have to apply cream blush only on your cheeks! Many formulas look beautiful on the lips, while others double nicely as eyeshadow. Wear your cream blush on eyes, lips, and cheeks for a fashionable monochrome look.
- Matte cream blushes can be mixed with a concealer or foundation made up of similar ingredients (if the ingredients are too different, then you’ll have unsightly separation), either to make the color softer or to give a tint to the foundation. This can have a lot of different applications!
- A coral or orange-tinted cream blush mixed with foundation can become a color corrector for a blue under-eye tint.
- A glowy or bronzy cream blush, especially a more liquid one, can be combined with foundation to turn it more luminizing.
- Your glowy cream blush can be combined with primer (as long as both are silicone-based) to turn it into a strobe cream.
- If you want a multi-dimensional look that will last for hours, feel free to use a bit of powder blush after you’ve applied and set your cream blush. This will add more complexity to your makeup look.
Photos via @nikki.cruz, Instagram
