Blusher advice

[Jemster]

I have quite a few blushers but none of them seem quite right. I am rubbish at applying it and because I'm conscious of being quite sallow skinned, I think I may put on a little too much. My boss often asks me if I'm ok as she says I look tired (of course I'm tired, I have an 11 month old who likes to play in the middle of the night!!), so clearly I do need some blush to pick me up but I'm after a natural look and just can't seem to get it right both with colour and application. Where exactly should it go?!

My colouring is brown hair with a few highlights, brown eyes, sallow/olive skin a bit on the dry side.
I did try a cream blusher but I felt this disappeared too quickly.
Any tips would be appreciated please.

Have you tried going to a few counters at a department store? It could be a good way to try a few different brands without having to buy until you find something you really like. Tell them you want to 'wear it' for a few hours and will be back if you like it.

I'm olive skinned and I use L'oreal mineral glam bronze in brunette to contour with, I suck my cheeks in and brush it in the hollow just under my cheek bone. Then I use a little bit of benefit coralista for blusher, Make a big smile and you will see the apple of your cheek, brush a bit on there. Then I use a clean kabuki brush and blend them a bit.

Don't know if that helps or not, everyone is so different.

If you are sallow/olive skinned, you probably need to go for cooler pinky tones rather than the warm pinky/brown ones. I had my colours anlaysed years ago and found this out, and it made such a difference that I got loads of compliments all of sudden. (can thoroughly recommend this if you have the money as it helps to organise your wardrobe as well as your make up bag!)

Cooler pink tones work well with sallow skin, anything warm (orangey/browney pinks) will bring out the sallowness (is that a word?) and the more 'yellow' tones in your skin...

A lot of advisors on the make-up counters seem to automatically reach for the warm colours when they see my brown hair/brown eyes and it's wrong!

Brush shape and application technique are even more important than the colour, I find. It sounds like you could be a good candidate for a Bobbi Brown blusher - the assistants at her counters are good at picking colours that suit olive toned skin, IME, and they will be able to show you how to apply it properly. You can then buy a similar but cheaper brush and blusher from Boots or similar.

If you're looking for a cheaper fix, may I recommend No7 in "Honey"? I think it's a bit of a fail-safe for olive toned skin, based on my own experience and the (practically unanimous) praise it gets on makeupalley.com .

Oh, and for a bit of MAC Strobe Cream mixed into your foundation will make you look much more awake/healthy after nights up with the baby - might be worth picking up a sample while you're in a dept store?

Soap and Glory does a similar product called Bright Here Bright Now for about 1/3 of the price which may work for you, but I can't recommend it as it's quite oily and makes my skin bumpy .

Cream blusher.

Try bene-tint off the benefit counter - it's liquid, you just rub a bit in. For powder blushers you need a big brush (mine is the size of a man's shaving brush thing) to get a natural look. The brush they sell in the pack with the blusher is next to useless.

I'd persevere with cream blusher - I have a No7 one which is hopeless, lasts 5 mins, but a Clinique one I love and lasts all day, and an Estée Lauder one which is also v good. Spendy but they last ages.

I've never sussed how to use bronzer and blusher together don't they go in the same place?

Curly it's funny you say that as I have always gone for more browny orangey colours as I had my colours done years ago and that's what I was advised. However I found an old pinky clinique blusher in my drawer and it really made me look healthy, so I think you might be right.
I have just bought clinique blush in innocent peach and it is hardly visible on my skin. When I put a bit more on it did actually make me look more yellow! So that was an expensive mistake!
I too have the no.7 cream blush and find that when I blend it in it basically just rubs it off! Wouldn't this happen with most cream blushers when you blend them in? Goodness I have wasted so much money on the wrong things!!

Agree. Bot brown bobbi brown woman chose quite a bright pink for me and I'm white but dusky