We Tried The 3 Top Selling Blushes From Sephora And We Hated Them! Here’s What To Try Instead.
None of them are mature skin friendly.
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by The Candidly Team
When we hit 40, all our beauty routines and products began to suddenly fail us.
Everything looked weird.
Our skin looked more textured, our wrinkles seemed more prominent, our pores, cavernous. But we only really noticed this when we had makeup on. But makeup is supposed to make us look BETTER, not older.
And we realized, it’s not us. It’s our makeup.
And nothing makes this point better than with blush. Ok maybe concealer makes this point better but we already wrote that article HERE. Today we’re talking about the fact that the 3 biggest blush sellers at Sephora all look atrocious on our 40+ skin, and all for different reasons. We already owned all of these products (because we are emotionally unwell beauty hoarders) so we thought we’d take you on a photo tour of the 3 bad blushes, and then end with our 2 go-tos that look incredible on mature skin.
Let’s dive in.
1. Top selling blush we don’t like: NARS Blush in Orgasm
You’ve no doubt heard of this or perhaps own it and have always wondered why it doesn’t work for you. Well, if you have pores or wrinkles, this much shimmer highlights every blemish, every dark spot, every pore, every cranny. The color itself sort of looks like nothing but overall it just makes skin look patchy and bad. Exhibit A:
No no no bad. On to the next.
2. Top selling blush we don’t like: Rare Beauty Soft Pinhc liquid blush in Hope
The formula is sort of fine, but it’s so unnervingly pigmented that even one tiny dot is too much and will make you look sunburned. But in a bad way, not in an aprés ski way. And without any blurring properties, this blush really reveals itself to be meant for a younger person’s makeup bag. Exhibit B:
3. Top selling blush we don’t like: Patrick Ta Major Headlines Double-Take Crème & Powder Blush Duo in she’s that girl
This is actually a pretty color, but the duo cream/powder concept is a bad idea if you have skin texture. The key to not looking like Meryl and Goldie falling down the stairs at the end of Death Becomes Her when you put your makeup on post 40, is using the bare minimum of product you possibly can. Layers create texture, and texture creates age. Both the cream and the powder formulas are also so pigmented and dense, they’re hard to get a nice, natural flush. As evidenced by this semi-jump-scare of Exhibit C:
4. Our favorite blush: It cosmetics Do It All Serum Color Balm Sun Cream Blush & Bronzer in Sunlit 10
We love this formula so very deeply. It’s unspeakably thin, subtly mousse-like, serumy and light on the skin, extremely blurring so no texture is amplified, and there are so few colors to choose from (which we love) so you can’t make a mistake. Though this happy, slightly corally pink looks great on just about everyone. We just tap it on with our middle finger and it’s perfect. It actually has a sister product HERE that we also love and we’re about.
Price: $34
5. Our other favorite blush: Charlotte Tilbury cheek to chic blush in ecstasy
We will almost always choose a cream over a powder blush, but this finely-milled powder formula is hands-down the best powder blush for mature skin. There is the most subtle of reflect in the formula but there’s no overt shimmer to highlight all of our pores and texture, so skin just looks soft and sort of airbrushed. We use THIS* brush with it, and it’s perfection.
Price: $43
At The Candidly, we try a lot of stuff so you don’t have to. We only recommend things we truly love, and that we think you’ll love, too. All products are chosen independently by our creative team, and all details reflect the price and availability of products at the time of publication. If you buy something we link to, The Candidly may earn a commission.
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