Blush Comparison: MAC Warm Soul & NARS Madly Swatches

As the cooler weather starts, I like to branch out from my bright coral and peach blushes and venture more into the warmer bronzy-peach tones. Recently, I picked up MAC Warm Soul and NARS Madly. I read that these two are very similar and some of the blog posts that I like reading the most are swatch comparisons. I am guilty of buying products that are basically the same, just because I feel like I need to have them. These blushes retail for $27.50 CAD for the MAC and $29 CAD for the NARS.

MAC Blush Collection and Swatches

Today I will share with you my MAC blush collection. I love MAC blushes because they come in a wide variety of shades (although most of mine are peach) and they have good pigmentation. I have depotted all of mine except for the limited edition and mineralized ones. I will talk about them briefly here and show you swatches.

Review: NARS Luster Blush

I don't think it's humanly possible to own ONLY one NARS blush. I say that because once I bought one, I had to have another, and another. It started with Gina, she was my first NARS blush love, then Taj Mahal and now Luster. Oh luster, you sparkle and give me stunning peachy bronze cheeks, you are the ultimate blush out there, you shine over every other. Luster is described on the Sephora website as a "sheer golden apricot", which is pretty accurate. To me this looks peachy/bronzey gold, aka perfection.

Review: MAC My Paradise Surf Baby Cheek Powder

MAC's "Surf Baby" collection launched finally, I think officially at MAC counters and stores today. I say finally because the UK got this before North America and I was going crazy not being able to buy this while youtubers were posting videos of all their hauls. The only item that I wanted from this collection was the "My Paradise" cheek powder and I got it here. I can't say this enough lately but I love orangey/peach blushes and MAC knows how to drive me crazy with them, first it was Ripe Peach (missed out on it), Marine Life (my order got cancelled it sold out) and now this, it seems like every summer there is a blush similar in colour.

Review: NARS Taj Mahal

Let me take a moment to profess my love for NARS Taj Mahal... this is a thing of beauty! NARS Taj Mahal is a true bright burnt orange blush with a pretty gold sheen. Just like all NARS blushes it's super pigmented and buttery quality, they make the best powder blushes in my opinion, at least from the ones that I've tried. I am a peach blush junkie, if there is a peach blush out there, I need to have it! And NARS Taj Mahal is up there with the best.

Review: Stila Make Me Blush

Have you ever bought a beauty product just because it was pretty to look at? Stila's Make Me Blush blush is beautiful, one of the prettiest products I've ever seen. I didn't get MAC's Marine Life, but I have read that the colours in this are quite similar (check out NaturalNChicMakeup's comparison post here). This blush came out at the start of the year and was limited edition. Honestly I don't pay much attention to Stila's products, so I didn't get this back then and thought I missed out on it entirely. However, while waiting in line to pay at Sephora the other day, I noticed it, and quickly put back something else that I was buying and got this! It was $18 CAD. The cashier seemed to like it too. :)

This blush has a really sweet and gorgeous heart pattern on it, there are coral/red, pink and peachy-pink hearts throughout. The gold parts are very vibrant, however the gold will go away since it's just overspray. I think it would be cool if a company made a blush like this where the gold goes all the way through.

The gold hearts are the prettiest part of the blush I think, embossed on the hearts are cute words like "I Heart You", "Stila", "XOXO" and "Kisses". I could stare at this blush all day long it's so pretty, I didn't even want to use it, but it would be silly to buy something just to look at it right? At least I think so.

Here are the swatches of the blush, I took a small amount of each coloured heart, you have the peachy-pink on the top, then the pink, then the coral/red, and then the gold on it's own. To the left there is a swatch of all the coloured mixed together. The mixed part is very pretty, it's a peachy coral with a gold sheen, as you use it though, that gold sheen will minimize.

And here you can see how the gold bits wear away over time, half of the gold parts of the heart in the center is all gone revealing the normal colour underneath. Although I do like the gold mixed it, I do like the colour of the blush itself without it, so it's not a huge loss. Although I will try to keep some of the gold hearts intact as I use it, just to keep the original colour of the blush as long as I can.

Would I recommend this product? If you can still find it I would totally suggest picking up this blush, it's too pretty not to!

Review: Make Up For Ever HD Blush

I love Make Up For Ever's foundations, but until now, that was the only product that I ever used from them. About a year ago now, they came out with their HD Microfinish Cream blushes.They are described on the Sephora website as "A cream blush that naturally sculpts and highlights the cheeks for a healthy glow. HD Microfinish Blush combines mattifying and reflecting powders to create a soft-focus effect for a radiant complexion. Its ultra-fine, second-skin texture blends seamlessly, imparting a healthy glow that's hard not to notice." They are also long-lasting, dermatologist tested and paraben free. They come in 14 shades on the Sephora website, I know there are more shades available however.

Review: Hard Candy Truth Or Dare Fox in A Box Blush

Today I will be reviewing the final Hard Candy Fox in a box blush that's in my collection, Truth or Dare. I have reviewed Smooth Talker and Skinny Dipping previously, click on the links here to check out those reviews individually. I am a fan of Hard Candy products, they are cheap and quite good quality and many would say they are dupes of more expensive products, so it's a good option for many of us who are on a budget.

Review: Skinny Dipping Fox in a Box Blush

When I first heard about the Hard Candy Fox in a Box blushes, the one that I wanted most of all was Skinny Dipping, strictly because of the bright orange that's in this duo. I managed to finally pick it up, along with one other (Truth or Dare) finally after hitting up several Walmarts. I previously reviewed Smooth Talker and was quite happy with this one too.

Review: Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush Tipsy

Coral and orange tones are very spot on trend for Spring/Summer 2011. I've noticed a growing love for them in lipstick, lipgloss and blush form in many magazines and blogs. A great blush that suits this trend is Tarte's new Amazonian clay blush in the colour, Tipsy. I got a sample of this blush at Sephora a few weeks ago. I was actually looking for NARS Gina, which my Sephora did not have, and the girl recommended Tipsy as a good matte peach blush. She was raving about it, I just took the sample and went on my way, I am upset that Gina wasn't there (I purchased Gina online since then). I knew nothing about Tarte at the time, since then I have seen many youtube gurus rave about it all of a sudden, marketing in it's best I think. So I have pulled out my sample of this to show to you all here today.

A little background on these blushes from the Sephora website "Infused with natural clay harvested from the banks of the Amazon River and naturally baked by the sun, this nutrient-rich blush benefits all skin types for a fade-free flawless finish for an amazing 12 hours. Inspired by Tarte's best-selling shades of cheek stains and lip tints, the colors range from soft to vivid to suit a wide variety of skintones. For oily skin types, Amazonian clay minimizes oil in and around pores to balance skin and keep product in place. Those with dry skin will benefit from the clay's nourishing and hydrating properties, which naturally restore skin's moisture. Combination skin types can rely on its ability to zero in on skin concerns and deliver benefits to restore complexion harmony. The result? Blush that wears better, longer, and truer!" The blush is free of parabens, sulfates and synthetic fragrances. The clay used in it is meant to reduce dryness and flakiness, improves skin clarity, removes oil from the skin's surface. It's a gorgeous blush, packed full of goodness for your skin too, and did I mention it's supposed to last 12 hours?

This is a sample only, I don't have the full product, but I intend on buying it soon. I didn't know you could get samples of blush, but apparently you can. The Sephora girl shaved some off for me in a small container here. I got a lot, as you only need a bit for great colour payoff with this product. Mine is in loose powder form here, when you buy it in the compact it's pressed, so it won't be crumbly like my swatch here. It's a bright orangey coral, but more orange to me than coral, but once you swatch it, you see the coral come through. This is said to be an almost exact dupe for MAC's Ripe Peach, click out Bloomin' Beauty's swatches and review here. I don't own Ripe Peach, so this really excites me. Check out WillWorkForMakeup's review too, it looks great on her. 

The packaging is really nice too, it has a picture of the Amazon river embossed on it, which is cool. The compacts are close to the colour of the blush itself, so you don't have to look at the back to see what blush you're grabbing in your collection. It has a nice mirror on the inside, and the pan pops out easily, so you can depot it and put it in your MAC palette if you like. I highly recommend this blush. If you're looking for a more peach blush, try out Blissful, Tipsy is an intense peach coral.

Have you tried Tipsy? or any other Tarte Amazonian blushes?

Review: Hard Candy Smooth Talker Blush vs Benefit Sugarbomb

Today I am comparing Hard Candy's Smooth Talker to Benefit's Sugarbomb. There has been a lot of hype about the Hardy Candy Fox in a Box blushes because they look so similar. When I picked up Smooth Talker (on left) I definitely thought it looked like Sugarbomb, no question about it. Both blushes have very similar colours in the mosaic pan, the HC has squares and the Benefit as triangles. I was excited to test it out today and see if they really are dupes.

Review: MAC Something Special Cremeblend Blush

MAC's new Cremeblend Blushes have launched on the MAC website and are available in-stores tomorrow, Thursday. I jumped on the chance to get these early because I missed out on the Lillyland collection and have never tried any creme blushes from MAC until now. A few of the colours appealed to me, but I decided to only get "Something Special" for now, I love peach blushes and some of the others looked really dark and scary to me. "So Sweet, So Easy" the bright pink one looks nice too, I am going to check that one out at the counter first. It will be interesting to see how Posey and Ladyblush compare because everyone loves those ones the most.

Review: ELF Mineral Blush in Coral and Peachy

Today I will be reviewing ELF's mineral blushes in Coral and Peachy. These retail for $5 on the ELF website, but with a coupon code you can get them for even cheaper. These blushes are described as having "no parabens, no preservatives and no chemical dyes." They come in a variety of colours, but I like peaches, so I picked up these two. What you should note right away is now un-coral the Coral shade is (on left above), I was expecting from the name that it would be that..Coral, but it's not, so keep that in mind if you order these. I am glad that I got Peachy because it's what I expected Coral to me and vice versa.

Coral is described on the website as a "peachy coral" wrong! This is a very light peach nothing coral about it. This shade is also out of stock currently, I think there are going to be a lot of disappointed people, I doubt it will show up much unless you are very fair. If you are looking for a coral blush, don't get this cause you will be disappointed.

Peachy is a newly added shade and is described as...there is no description but you can tell for yourself. This colour is really nice and I would definitely recommend it.

These in round plastic container with black tips (resemble bare minerals packaging). They are a far size so you can get your brush in there to tap off the excess.

Here is the inside, it comes with a plastic peeley over the holes, I would suggest only peeling off half of the insert because if you peel off more it will get messy. The holes are pretty large and dispense too much. These are loose blushes of course so they can get messy.

And onto the swatches, I have compared these blushes to two other Studio line ones here. The Peachy mineral blush is nice, but comes off looking a bit terracotta when swatched. The Coral shade is very light and close to my skin colour. The Coral is completely matte while the Peachy has minor shimmer to it. I find Peachy to be very pigmented too. The two studio line blushes to the right are Candid Coral and Tickled Pink for comparison purposes, I have Peachykeen somewhere too, but couldn't find it, sorry.

Have you tried any ELF Mineral blushes?

MAC My Highland Honey Review

The past few MAC collections (Fabulous Felines, Venomous Villains and A Tartan Tale) have really underwhelmed and overwhelmed me, they've been huge and nothing has really impressed me about them. I feel that about MAC often, it's underwhelming and overwhelming at the same time, if that makes sense. I look at it and want a dozen items, then I read about the items, see swatches, even look at it at counters and think..meh. Once you have a certain amount of MAC items, it all starts looking the same to you. But one thing that I cannot resist is...peach blushes! I went to the Clinique counter yesterday and the girl tried foundations on me and did my entire face and told me that I would look good in peach blushes and I said YES! I love peach blushes, it was pretty funny that she had me spot on!

Anyways, from "A Tartan Tale", MAC's new holiday collection all I picked up was the "My Highland Honey" blush. Also next to it in the top picture is a sample size of MAC's Eye Makeup Remover (6ml), with any purchase now on the MAC Canada site you can get this for free, enter the code "MACSAMPLE" until Nov 14, 2010. I was back and forth about this blush, and frankly I am happy to have it, but it's totally not "necessary". It's possibly the most true peach that MAC has ever released, lots of the peach blushes that I have can be slightly darker or have pink or coral undertones, this one is just peach. It's a satin finish, I find it a bit chalky and you have definitely have to pack it to get the right colour payoff. It's very light, and even on me, I am quite fair this takes some work.

Here are some of my peach blushes, but as you can tell Peaches and My Highland Honey look very close right? Style is considerably more orange, Cantaloupe is darker.

Okay, side by side, Peaches and My Highland Honey. I tried to take the most accurate picture here, peaches looks darker and less orange right? You definitely do not need both, but if you are obsessed with peaches like me, what can you do? You gotta feed this obsession! I asked my boyfriend and he says they look the same, clearly they are slightly different.

And next to Utterly Game here, they look a bit different I think. In the swatch you can see that My Highland Honey is more bright, orange/yellow compared to the other two. Up close, Utterly Game has a light sheen to it that the other two do not, plus it's a mineralized finish.

All in all, it's a nice blush to have, but to have Peaches, Utterly Game AND My Highland Honey is not necessary and suspect that applied on the cheeks no one (but you) can tell the difference.

Did you pick up My Highland Honey or other items from the new MAC collection?

Review: Everyday Minerals Snuggle Blush

I have a ton of Everyday Minerals sample blushes from back in the day when they used to let you choose free sample kits that had blushes, eyeshadow and foundation in them. I do not believe they do that anymore, the free sample kits are only for foundations (or bases as they call them), which are pre-determined based on skintones. You can still buy sample sizes for $2.50 though, which is reasonable. Their blushes are actually pretty good, and you can get by with just a sample size since you do get lots of product and with blush, you don't need that much anyway.

Snuggle is a peachy pink blush with a really cute name. On the Everyday Minerals website, it is described as "A radiant pink with a hint of peach and a dust of sheen". I see more peach than pink in it though, and it does have shimmer in it, which adds some glow to your skin. This is in mineral form so it can be messy, I find with these sample jars it is really hard to get the right amount of product and you end up wasting a lot, but the full size ones are just too damn big. I wish this came in pressed form instead.

I got mine during a time when they were transitioning through their packaging. I was lucky enough to get this in a large container, but the amount of product that I got was the same as the normal size. As you can tell the container with the green lid is much larger than the white one (white is what they use now). And the picture below is the swatch from the website, pretty accurate I think.

If you like light, peachy pink blushes, this blush may be for you. I think it would flatter many skin tones. It is quite pigmented, but since it is a mineral blush it does take some swipes to get the right opacity. I am used to pressed blush so it took me some effort to get this to work for me. I did find that it wore off throughout the day though, staying power isn't great on these. The texture is great, it blends very easily. It does have shimmer, but it doesn't look like you have glitter on your face at all, it's subtle.

I may do more swatches of their blushes if you guys are interested, I have loads of them and should really use them. Do you have any Everyday Minerals blushes?

Review: MAC Fun and Games Beauty Powder Blush

Featured in last month's favourites was this MAC Fun and Games blush, I decided to write a full review of it here. It came out in the Hello Kitty collection back in February 2009. I wasn't into MAC during the time so I didn't get this back then. And I am not even a Hello Kitty fan, but I found the packaging really cute, odd because I don't really love the Venomous Villains stuff at all. I do love peach blush though so I had to add this to my collection. I bought mine recently from allcosmeticswhole.com, I think this is a great site to get discontinued and limited edition products. I did pay more than retail for this one since it can't be found anywhere anymore, I am glad that I have it cause it's really pretty.

The packaging on this is so cute, Fun and Games came in black compact with small red sparkles all over it. The front has Hello Kitty's face as you can see in the image above. I admit this is quite kiddy looking, but it's cute. I think it's appropriately named because it is quite a "fun" colour, great for summer.

The colour is a light peachy apricot with gold shimmers. It isn't intensely pigmented but okay, it works well for me because being fair it is easy to overdo blush and with this one, you can't really. It gives a glow without looking orange like Style blush might. Since it is a beauty powder blush it is quite sheer and can be built up, and isn't as intense as the regular blush line. If you have a darker skintone you will have to layer this on to get the colour to show up.

Here is a comparison with my other MAC peach blushes, you can see the shimmer right away that that it's not as orange as Style, similar tone to Peaches blush.

I've swatched some of the similar blushes here, I piled on Fun and Games quite a lot to get the correct colour to show through. As you tell it's slightly pinker than Peaches and lighter than Cantaloupe. They all do look similar though and if you aren't really into peach blushes, but I have a bit of an addiction to them so I like having them all.

Do you have MAC's Fun and Games blush?

Review: Benefit Dandelion Blush

Dandelion was the first Benefit product that I ever purchased. It's a pretty pale, light pink blush, on the back of the box it's described as "finely spun with delicates mauves and pinks, this exquisite brightening face powder leaves a petal like finish." It's meant to be used as all over the face brightening, but I know most people that buy this use it as a blush, and on fair skin tones it will show up as such. I think this is a really pretty subtle pink blush, good for everyday, and good for those who aren't really into blush as this does give a perk me up, natural looking flush.

MAC Utterly Game Mineralized Blush from Fabulous Felines

Yesterday the new MAC collection, Fabulous Felines launched online. I only picked up one item, I may get some pigments, but nothing else really interests me. However, I am a sucker for peach blushes so I HAD to get Utterly Game mineralized blush. This sells for $25 on the MAC Canada website and is described as a "warm peach with soft pearl". By the way if I haven't said it enough yet, I hate the new MAC Canada website it's totally user UNfriendly, I had to go on the MAC pro site to get this description because I couldn't even find it on our site, how annoying.

Anyway, Utterly Game is a peach colour, not too shimmery at all, very subtle once you swatch it and will give your cheeks a bit of a glow and who doesn't like that. I think this is a necessary peach blush to have in your collection.

Here are some of my MAC blushes that compare to Utterly Game. As you can tell Peaches is the most true peach you will get, I love this blush most of all, but Utterly Game is like a better slightly deeper (less orange) version of it. In comparison, Style is much more pigmented orange and mine is pretty gritty and powdery.

The non-flash version gives a better representation of the true colour, as you can tell in the image above. The consistency of Utterly Game is great too, very smooth, applies well.  Apparently it's comparable to Ripe Peach too, I do not have that one so I can't compare, but it looks reasonable.  I think this blush is the standout winner of the collection, as least for me.

Did you pick up Utterly Game? What's your favourite MAC peach blush?

Review: ELF Studio Blushes

ELF's studio blushes are really nice and cheap, they sell for $3 on the ELF website. I have five (9 available) of them here to show you and review. The websites describes these as "The soft sheer texture blends into the skin for a silky finish. Designed to be worn alone or layered for more depth. Highlight your complexion with a subtle healthy glow!" I think these are quite sheer and need to be built up, they aren't like one sweep compared to MAC and other high-end blushes. I like that because I don't like overdoing much, it can be a pain to remove when you've finished your makeup and have to redo everything. The packaging on these is the sleek back that is present on all studio line products, you get a small mirror inside too. These come with 2.75g.

Review: Benefit Sugarbomb

I love Benefit's boxed powders, they are so pretty, recently I picked up Sugarbomb, one of Benefit's newer blushes. This retails for $36 CAD, you can get it at Shoppers Drug Mart. It is expensive and my heart dies a little every time that I buy one of these, but they are so pretty and will last you forever because you do get so much product.