How to Pick a Blush Color That Reads Like Your Own Flush

How to Pick a Blush Color That Reads Like Your Own Flush

The right blush color reads like your own flush, the one you get after a walk in the cold. Here are soft pinks and roses, peaches and corals, and berries and deep plums, with a simple way to find your family and the shade names to look for.

Ancient Egyptians colored their cheeks with red ochre, ground from iron-rich earth, and you can still see the flush on the painted portraits in Queen Nefertari's tomb. People have been trying to look a little warmer and more alive for more than three thousand years. The goal has not changed much: the right blush color should look like you just came in from a walk in the cold, not like makeup.

The easiest way to choose is to look at your own flush. Pinch your cheek, or notice the color your face turns after exercise, and pick something close to it. For most fair and cool toned skin, that is a soft pink or rose. For warm and golden skin, it is usually a peach or coral. Deeper skin tends to glow in berries and plums, which show up where paler shades can look chalky.

Soft pinks first. Dior's Rosy Glow powder blush in 001 Pink and Benefit's Dandelion, a baby pink, are the gentlest. Gucci's Luminous Matte powder blush in 07 True Pink and Charlotte Tilbury's Matte Beauty Blush Wand in Pink Pop are brighter. For creams, Saie's Dew Blush in Sweetie, Westman Atelier's Baby Cheeks stick in Petal and Lawless's Pinch My Cheeks in Gumdrop melt in easily. Rare Beauty's Soft Pinch liquid blush in Grace goes a long way, so start with a single dot.

These are rough guides, not rules. Many people wear all three families depending on the season, the light and the outfit.

Collage of pink, peach and berry blushes beside a photo of a woman holding a blush compact.
Pinks, peaches and berries, a blush for every kind of flush.

Soft pinks and roses

Peaches and corals for warmth

Peach and coral blushes are the ones that make skin look sun warmed. They suit golden and olive undertones especially, and they are lovely on anyone in late summer, when skin has a little color of its own.

Glossier's Cloud Paint in Dawn is a sheer gel cream, easy to tap on with fingers. Armani's Dolci Blush in 3 Apricot Blush goes on as a cream and sets to a soft matte powder. Makeup by Mario's Soft Pop in Papaya Pop is a plumping cream blush veil, and Tower 28's BeachPlease in Golden Hour works on lips and cheeks. Hourglass's Unreal Liquid Blush in Moment is a liquid for a fresh, dewy finish.

For powders, Too Faced's Cloud Crush in Tequila Sunset is a blurring powder, and Kosas's Blush is Life in Wavelength is baked and dimensional. Yves Saint Laurent's Make Me Blush liquid in 57 Coral Clash is the one for anyone who wants a proper coral.

Creams and liquids look most like real skin and suit dry or mature skin, since they do not sit on texture. Powders last longer on oily skin. If you want both, press a cream on first and a little powder of a similar shade on top.

Smile, find the apples of your cheeks, and blend upward and back toward your temples. That lifts the face. Placed low and toward the nose, the same color tends to drag it down. A little blush tapped on the chin and the tip of the nose, where you naturally flush, makes it look even more real.

Peaches and corals

Berries and plums for depth

Berry and plum shades are the richest, and they are often the most flattering on deep skin, where they read as a natural flush. On fair skin, a sheer layer of berry looks like cold weather cheeks, especially in winter.

Dior's Rosy Glow Blush Stick in 006 Berry and Summer Fridays' Blush Butter Balm in Berry Spritz are creamy and buildable. Merit's Flush Balm in Apres is a cream in a compact, and rhode's Pocket Blush in Date Cake is small enough to live in a coat pocket. Milk Makeup's Cooling Water Jelly Tint in Splash is a lip and cheek stain that dries down to a sheer tint.

Huda Beauty's Blush Filter in Black Cherry is a soft glow liquid, and Rare Beauty's Soft Pinch Matte Bouncy Blush in Spirited is a matte take on their blush. ILIA's Soft Focus powder blush in Magnetic is talc free.

Start sheer with deep shades. A stain or liquid can look much stronger once it sets, so tap a little on the back of your hand first, then on your cheek, and blend the edges with a clean finger or sponge.

What I would skip: matching your blush to your lipstick exactly. It can look a little like a costume. Choose the same family, a berry cheek with a rose lip, instead of identical shades. I would also skip shimmer across the whole cheek if you have texture or large pores. Keep glow for the top of the cheekbone, where it catches the light.

Berries and deep plums

Test it in daylight

Always check blush in daylight, near a window, before you leave the house. Bathroom light hides both too much and too little. If it looks strong, press a clean sponge over it to lift some off rather than adding foundation on top.

Keep one shade from your own family for every day, and one from a neighboring family for a change. A pink person might borrow a soft peach in summer. A coral person might try a berry on a winter night out. That little bit of range keeps a face from looking the same all year, and it makes getting ready more fun. Clean cream blush fingers or sponges often, since they sit on your cheeks every day.