I have a love-hate relationship with cream and liquid blushes or cheek stains. On the one hand, I love how a good cream or liquid blush will sit and move with your skin, giving you that barely there, yet natural glow from within your skin. A cheek stain will stay with you long after your powder blush is gone.
Yet, most of these cream or liquid products call for the use of fingers for best results. Quite often you hear of people telling you to work quickly with your fingers to spread and blend the colour on your cheeks, especially if its a product that sets quickly like the Benefit cheek stains. Oh boy, do they set quickly!
Herein lies the problem. I hate how these products stain my fingers. Have you experienced the same thing? It’s especially true of products like the Estee Lauder Cheek Rush gel blush or the Benefit cheek stains like Cha Cha Tint I’ve shown you here. They live up to their ‘stain’ reputation and its a right bitch especially in the morning. So, I shied away from cream/liquid/gel/stain blushes for ages.
That was, until I tried a technique that changed things 180° for me! Now, I can use cream/liquid/gel/stain blushes, it is so much quicker to apply and most importantly I no longer have to contend with stained fingertips! 😀
The “secret” is to use a brush.
Alright, maybe its not that much of a secret but I truly had the “Hallelujah!” chorus ringing in my ears when I first tried it many months ago and worked out how wonderfully useful it was for me… and how quick!
I have 2 brushes that I use for this purpose but the one that really works the best if you ask me, is the Sigma F84 Angled Kabuki brush (you can view it here) I bought this a while ago with a bunch of other Sigma brushes, most of which I no longer use, and I don’t even remember why I bought this one. It is a synthetic angled brush with a dense head that you can use for bronzer or cream blush. I never really used it, but one day, I picked it up, gave it a try and heard the Hallelujah chorus. Truly a game changer for me! Its not expensive (US$18) so I do think its worth trying. Do let me know if you want an individual review on this brush and I’ll oblige 🙂
The other brush I have is the Real Techniques Stippling brush. I still haven’t got the hang of a stippling brush so I use this one primarily for cream blushes not liquid ones because I can dab it and then dab on my skin and blend.
Here’s a quick picture tutorial on how I use a brush to apply a cheek stain (similar techniques for cream blush or gel blush or liquid blushes) because a picture speaks a thousand words 😛
- If using a cheek stain like Benefit Cha Cha Tint, draw 2-3 stripes of colour on the top of the Sigma F84 Angled Kabuki brush. If using a gel blush like Estee Lauder’s or a liquid blush like the Guerlain Terracotta pictured above, I pump a little dot on the brush. I’ve learned that a little goes a very long way. With cream blushes, I dab the whole head of the brush into the cream blush.
- Dab the product on your cheeks. I used the Cha Cha Tint because you can see how the product on your brush will translate onto your skin. You have to work very quickly with this one because it sets fast.
- Spread and blend the cream/liquid/gel/stain blush in a dab and swirl motion, or just bounce the brush against your skin. The product will spread and blend nicely and you can control where it goes quite easily with the angled brush head.
- Repeat for the other cheek and you’re done!
I was very surprised at how little time it took me to apply a cream/liquid/gel/stain blush using this technique as opposed to using my fingers. For some reason, I find it harder to blend with fingers and it is more patchy. With a brush, its quicker and the blending is a cinch!
If you too have balked at using a cream/liquid/gel/stain blush because of the inconvenience, well be inconvenienced no more! I have 😀
Do you like using cream or liquid blushes? Do you also use a brush or do you use your fingers?
I never used to like using blushes other than powder blushes because of my comfort level but now that I’ve worked out how to ease into a different sort of comfort level, I’m enjoying using liquid or cream blushes and discovering them anew! I hope this helps some of you 🙂
Paris B
I tried it today with my e.l.f blush brush and I love it. No messy fingers! And still looking natural.
YAY! Thanks for letting me know it works for you Esther!
Yay now I can use cheek tint. Thank you Paris 😉
Glad to have been of help! Its so easy now isn’t it? 😉
A very stupid question here… what do you do when you apply blush one cheek too heavy? How to correct it especially those that set very fast?
I use fingers with my Stila cream blush. Sometimes I also use the stippling brush after dotting it.
Not stupid at all! If its a powder blush, I just get another clean brush and buff till it lightens, or add some loose powder over. If its cream erm… balance off the other side? 😛
Duh why didn’t I think of this sooner! Thanks! 🙂 I will be using Benetint more often now!
Better late than never! 😉
Awesome tip! I hate using my hands for anything, too lazy to clean them LOl, btw why did u stop using most of your sigma brushes? I was thinking of getting some!
Glad you found it useful, Josephine. I had a set of Sigma brushes but didn’t think the quality was as great as it was made out to be. I think the individual brushes are better and the kabuki brushes are also quite good. But I personally prefer natural hair brushes to synthetic which is why I gave my brushes away.
Oh my, thank you so much!!! This is a lifesaver for me too, I\’ve never been adept with the finger applying technique. Awesome…:)
Love this post ???? i just bought tarte maracuja cheek tint and have no idea how to apply it
This tip has been a game-changer for me. Thank you.