I’ve been wearing way more warm eyeshadow lately (I know, who is she?). This started because Rose did a look with MAC Venom as a welcome to fall type look, and she looked incredible. My husband had actually just picked out Venom for me to review, and I remember looking at it and thinking there was absolutely no way I was going to make that color work. But Rose paired the warm eye with a pink blush, and it looked so pretty that I decided I had to try my own version.
I loved the look so much that I was sending pictures of myself to basically everyone I know, and then started experimenting with pink blushes and gold, bronze, warm brown, and all the eyeshadow I normally think I can’t wear. I’ve been wearing some version of this almost every day, and these are the 5 blushes that I’ve found work the best for this look. These are blushes that still look pink on me, but are warm enough that they still feel like they go with a warmer eyeshadow.
In this post, all links are affiliate links (thank you for your support!), but all opinions are my own and I bought all these products myself. Swatches are under a ring light to show true to color (photo #1) and then standard lighting to show the formula a little better (#2) for all the products.
I swatched A’PIEU Juicy-Pang Jelly Blusher in BE02, Merit Flush Balm in Fox, and Haus Labs Color Fuse Glassy Blush Balm Stick in Glassy Cinnamon next to the five blushes I’m talking about today so you can see what I mean. The five blushes in this post definitely lean warm on me, but they’re still very pink and not orange. For fall, I actually do want to be a bit of a pumpkin, just not a Dorito. Warmth is good sometimes! But I know that I can’t go all the way to coral/orange/peach without it being A LOT warmer than I was planning on.
And a closer swatch of the five blushes in the order they’ll be reviewed below:
Nars Insatiable Longwearing Liquid Blush in Fast Ride – This is the one I’d recommend trying if you want to play with this look without putting on a very, very bright pink. It’s actually the one I used with Mac Venom and loved that kicked off this whole thing. Nars calls Fast Ride a cool pink, but on me, your very green friend, it really doesn’t look cool at all.
As a comparison, Rare Beauty Daydream is described as a muted cool mauve, and on me that turns into what I would actually consider a cool pink. Something basically needs to start as a cool mauve or purple to actually end up cool pink on me. So, if it’s described as cool pink, it’ll probably just be regular pink like Fast Ride. And if the brand is already calling it warm pink, we are probably headed toward very orange. Since I started trying all these “cool pinks” that are actually just pink (or even a little warm) with warm eyeshadow, I’ve found a place for them all instead of just going “ugh they said this was cool and it’s not cool what now.”
The Nars liquid blush formula has that serum-y gel texture that’s really easy to work with. It blends out very easily and evenly, and I haven’t had any patchiness or other issues. It also doesn’t completely dry down like a matte liquid blush. It keeps a little bit of luminosity and has a really pretty skin finish. I’m not a huge liquid blush person, so I’ve been surprised by how much I’ve been reaching for this one.
Merit Flush Balm in Le Bonbon – This looks really bright when you swatch it, but the Merit formula sheers out so well that it doesn’t look anywhere near that bright on your face, as long as you don’t build it up. I love how this formula just sinks into my skin, and the color gives me a really pretty bright flush.
This is also the only regular cream blush in this group, so it’s the easiest one to just tap on and go. I love this formula and have the Flush Balm in a bunch of shades, but the more I use Le Bonbon, the more I realize how warm some of my other shades, like Fox, actually are. I really hope Merit comes out with more of these kinds of colors because I think the range otherwise leans pretty warm. Although now that I’m looking, it feels like I need Apres since it seems like the one other than Le Bonbon and Postmodern that might really look amazing on an olive undertone.
NYX Buttermelt Blush in Butta With Time – Of these five blushes, this one is the most pigmented and I would say hardest to work with even though it’s not really hard to work with at all. It just happens to be a traditional powder blush (not my fave blush formula with my dry skin), and this one in particular is very pigmented. Especially with a color this bright, it’s really easy to go overboard if you don’t know what you’re getting into.
But! The formula is really smooth and really easy to work with as long as you go in prepared. I make sure to use a brush that isn’t super dense, and build up slowly rather than slapping a bunch on. I also like using this on top of other powder (e.g., setting my cream makeup first with a finishing powder and then going in with this). The color is also just so pretty – it’s a berry pink if you’re not olive, and if you’re me, it’s just such a pretty bright pink that goes really well with warmer eyeshadow.
Morphe Cloudlight Soft Glow Diffused Blush in Whirl – If you normally avoid warm makeup because everything turns orange on you (One of us! One of us!) so you’re a little scared of this idea, this is the blush I’d recommend starting with from a color point of view (Nars is still my pick formula-wise). It’s the coolest and most berry-leaning of these five while still being in this pink family that isn’t purple leaning.
The formula has a little bit of a satin glow to it, which makes it really easy to blend and gives it a really pretty finish that still manages to be a little blurring without it needing to be matte. It doesn’t have any sparkle or glitter either. I wish they had more shades of this, but so far this and Breeze seem to be the ones I can get to work.
VIOLETTE_FR Plume Blush in Rose Fumé – I’m honestly shocked I haven’t talked about this blush before, especially because I’ve been using it so much and I love the formula. I have this in two other shades, and I’d totally buy more if they released more (but the current shade range is fairly limited. This kind of hybrid blurring cream to powder blush is one of my favorite formulas so I’m sure it’s no surprise how much I like this one.
Rose Fumé in particular gives me a softer version of this look without having to be careful with it. It’s more matte than the Nars or Merit, but it doesn’t look dry or flat at all. It’s so blurring and easy to blend – just make sure you’re using a denser brush than you would think you should use. Basically the opposite advice as the NYX blush. I also wanted to make sure y’all know that these have a vanilla scent, which doesn’t bother me, but if it’ll bother you, it’s worth looking for a different blush in the same type of formula, especially because there are so many now.
I blended all five out too (apologies for my arm basically turning pink because of all the swatching). I think this gives you a much better idea of how different they actually are once you put them on. The Violette_FR, Nars, and Merit are much easier to blend into a softer wash of pink. The NYX and Morphe stay a lot brighter and more saturated, so I think a lot of which one you’ll like if you decide to try this out comes down to how much pink you actually want and how bright you want it to be.
Makeup and Skincare Reviews 