This article has been updated since its initial publish date to include more expert insight.
Blush has the power to sculpt your cheekbones, give your face a year-round glow, and take years off your look, if used correctly. With that said, we reached out to expert makeup artists to learn more about the powerful, rosy and radiant makeup tool, and which type they believe is best for an anti-aging purpose.
With so many kinds and types out there— such as powder, liquid and cream— it can feel daunting trying to search for the ideal blush product at your local drugstore or makeup retailer. It doesn’t have to be! Read on for tips, suggestions and insight from professional makeup artists Margina Dennis and Mandie Brice.
The 125 Best New Beauty Launches Of 2023
Shutterstock
3 Blush Hacks For A Radiant Glow Over 50
Pro Tip #1: Choose A Cream Or Liquid Blush (Without A Shimmer)
The best kind of blush for aging, wrinkled or textured skin, Dennis says, is one with a “cream or liquid formula” that does not have an “added shimmer” or glittery element in it. Powder and shimmer formulas, she stresses, can “draw more attention to texture and wrinkles.”
“I would also shy away from the creme to powder formulas because these can sometimes highlight texture in the skin,” she warns. Instead, she says to “choose colors that invoke a youthfulness” like “rose, cool peach, coral, terracotta and soft reds.”
Shutterstock
2. Blend Up And Back For An Instant Lift
To give the illusion of lifting the face, she recommends “blending up and back, towards the ears on your cheekbones.” Brice agrees, and says that a liquid or cream blush will “glide onto skin much more easily,” as opposed to a powdery one. “Powder makeup can dry the skin and make texture or wrinkles stand out a bit more,” she echoes. “Cream tends to be a little easier to blend and work with for beginners than liquid.”
Shutterstock
“The reason I recommend to use one that doesn’t have shimmer or sparkle is because often that exacerbates the look of wrinkles as well,” she continues. As for how to find the best blush color when selecting the liquid or cream blush of your dreams, Brice has a nifty hack for that as well:
Shutterstock
3. Find The Best Blush For Your Skin Tone
When choosing a color, Brice says to “try a few and see what works best, but a good guideline is understanding undertones.” If you look better in gold jewelry, you’re “likely a warm undertone,” she notes, and explains that colors with more of a red base will be best, like “corals, bronze-toned pinks, and even a muted red.”
If you’re cool toned, silver jewelry looks best on you, she points out, and you can do blushes with a “hint of blue, like more purple-ish pinks.” Those with a neutral undertone can wear “any color for the most part,” she says, and you can base it off “what you’re wearing on the rest of your face, like your eyeshadow or lipstick.”
Shutterstock
Some brands, she concludes, actually use either “warm or cool or “neutral (or N, C, W) in the names of the colors,” which can be helpful as well.
The holiday season is the perfect time to experiment with makeup, and with these tricks up your sleeve, mastering your blush blending couldn’t be easier!
