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Image / Style / Beauty

Six sheer and dewy cream blushers for healthy, flushed skin


By Holly O'Neill
12th Oct 2020
Six sheer and dewy cream blushers for healthy, flushed skin

Blend sunset shades of cream blusher to get flush blush right: think post-run pinky glow.


This season, blusher was less heavy and more post-gym meets country girl flush. It’s a healthy face; raw, ruddy windburn is the look – like young Prince William and Princess Diana, or your cousins who grew up on farms.

Chayalan SS20

With flush blush, we’re talking all the environmental effects: freckles are here to stay, apply your bronzer liberally and wear your blusher like sunburn.

Flush blush is the next generation of no-make-up make-up. The bronzer isn’t sculpted and the blush isn’t doll-like; think realness, softness, relaxed flushes in warm and bright, peach and orange sunset shades, not candied pinks. No chiselled-out cheekbones required.

Olivia Rubin SS20

No-make-up make-up requires more work than the name would suggest, but the lightest touch is the easiest way to do it; go minimal on foundation and for the dewiest look, rely on cream blusher.

For getting cream blusher right, using your fingers or a damp BeautyBlender to apply and blend is the best for blusher that sinks in and looks at one with the skin.

cream blushers

Lanvin SS20

Blend cream blushers low on the cheeks and add a touch of bronzer to the bridge of the nose for the most believably natural effect that blends into the skin.

These are the best cream blushers out now to add a healthy glow to a flat complexion, with light highlighting for a super-natural, glowing base.

Shiseido Minimalist WhippedPowder Blush 03 Momoko 2

Shiseido Whipped Powder Blush, €37

Shiseido’s make-up collection is built around textures – there are dewy gels, seamless powders and high-intensity inks, but the cream blushers are a real standout. Whipped Powder Blush is a fluffy, meringue-like blush that goes on like a mousse and changes into an light, matte finish that will last for eight hours.

Gel-Cream Blush Duo: Cloud Paint Duo | Glossier

Glossier Cloud Paint, €18

Glossier Cloud Paints come in pillowy-gel textures in shades inspired by gradient NYC sunsets, with added collagen for plumping hydration. It really is as beautiful on as it sounds. It becomes one with the skin when applied with fingers and gives a natural flush. I’ve tried all six shades and couldn’t pick a favourite, they’re all fantastic.

Giorgio Armani Neo Nude A-Blush €40

Sheer, weightless and brightening, the Neo Nude A-Blush from Giorgio Armani looks like a healthy flush on your skin. This is the cream blusher you need if “no make-up make-up” is your whole aesthetic.

MAC Cream Colour Base in Hush, €22

MAC Cream Colour Base will add vibrancy to the skin but melon shade Hush is perfect for luminosity on the cheekbones, brow bones and tip of the nose.

LA MER Lip and Cheek Glow

La Mer The Lip and Cheek Glow, €40

La Mer’s multi-purpose lip and cheek stick is made with nourishing oils and infused with the MiracleBroth in Creme de la Mer moisturiser that has made it the most covetable and well-known moisturiser in the world. They glide easily and seamlessly onto the lips and cheeks and bonus point, look good on the eye too.

NARS Orgasm Liquid Highlighter - Harvey Nichols

Nars Orgasm Liquid Highlighter, €32

Nars are the leader of powder blushers but Orgasm has always been the most popular (one sells every minute), as a universally flattering perfectly peachy pink with a slight golden shimmer that perks up every skin tone, pale or dark. The Liquid version is no different, with the same power to wake up your face, just with even more dewiness.

Photography by Glossier. 

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