ILIA started with a lip balm. Sasha Plavsic had worked in fashion and beauty branding in London, New York and Los Angeles, and when she moved home to Vancouver her mother nudged her to read the ingredient list on her favorite balm. She did not like what she found. In May 2011 she launched a Tinted Lip Conditioner in six shades, sold in one small Vancouver boutique. The brand's About page tells the same story.

The ILIA Multi-Stick grew out of that lip-first idea. It is a twist-up cream you swipe on cheeks and lips, and the brand now lists 12 shades. The base is mostly oils and butters: sunflower seed oil, castor seed oil, cocoa butter, shea butter, avocado oil and beeswax. So it is soft, it melts on warm skin, and it is not vegan, which is good to know if that matters to you.

Allure readers voted it a 2021 Readers' Choice winner in the clean category, and I understand why. It is the stick I hand to friends who say they do not wear blush.

The first grid is eight Multi-Stick shades. The second is eight other cream blushes, from sticks to balms to liquids, for when you want a different finish.

A small test before you commit: swipe a shade on your cheek and the same shade on your lip, then look in a window, not a bathroom mirror. The one that looks like your own flush in daylight is your shade.

All eight of these are the same formula, so the choice is only about color and finish. ILIA says the Multi-Stick comes in natural and luminous finishes, and its tip for first use is to warm the surface with your finger so it glides.

In the Mood looks like the soft, milky pink you reach for on a tired Monday. All of Me is the one ILIA calls watermelon pink, and it is the brightest pink here. Lady Bird and At Last read as mauve roses in the photos, the color you get from walking in out of the cold. Dreamer is warmer and browner, which I would pick for olive or deeper skin.

Then the two with more attitude. A Fine Romance is a deep berry, and on lips it gives a stained look rather than a glossy one. Dear Ruby is a bright red, and I like it best tapped very lightly on cheeks. In the City is the odd one out, a shimmery bronze that works as a highlighter on the tops of the cheekbones.

My way to wear them: swipe once on each cheek, blend with two fingers in small circles, then press whatever is left on your finger onto your lips. One color, one minute, done.

What I would skip: Dear Ruby if you want the stick to be your everyday lip too. A bright red mouth every morning is a commitment.

If you like the idea of the Multi-Stick but want a different texture, this is where I would look. They all do cheeks, and most do lips too.

Kosas Impressionist Multistick is the closest cousin, a stick that the brand says glides on and melts into skin. Westman Atelier Baby Cheeks is the slim lip and cheek stick makeup artists pass around. Makeup by Mario Soft Pop is dual-ended with medium, buildable coverage, and Marc Jacobs Beauty Joystick is a lightweight cream that the brand says lasts through the day. LYS Beauty Higher Standard is a glow stick made to give a quick flush.

Then three that are not quite sticks. Merit Flush Balm sits in a little pot and lays down a transparent veil of color, so your skin shows through. Milk Makeup Cooling Water Jelly Tint is a bouncy jelly stain for lips and cheeks, and stains tend to outlast creams. Saie Dew Blush is a liquid cream that you dot and blend.

Here is how I would choose. If your skin is dry, go creamy with the Merit or the Westman Atelier. If you are oily, or your blush tends to slide off by lunch, a stain like the Milk Makeup one stays put.

What I would skip: the liquid Saie if you do your makeup in the car. A liquid wants a mirror and a clean fingertip.

I think the Multi-Stick is at its best when you stop treating it as makeup and start treating it like a lip balm with color. Keep one in your coat pocket and one by the door. Plavsic built ILIA around reading the label on a balm, and the Multi-Stick still feels like that: a few oils, some butter, a bit of pigment. Pick one pink and one deeper shade, and you have most days covered. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together How Nars Afterglow Lip Balm Grew Out of a 1999 Blush and cocokind Lip Balm.