While you can find elegant powder and pressed options aplenty, a cream blush is extra sensorial and playful (you are tapping into your fingerpainting skills, after all). Cream formulas also melt into your skin like butter, fusing to your complexion like you just woke up with a natural glow. They’re multitaskers, too: You can pop the same pigment on your lids and lips for a monochromatic beat—as clean formulas will have skin-loving ingredients you can apply all over. Vitamin-Infused Cream Blush, Tata Harper ($42) BeachPlease Luminous Tinted Balm, Tower28 ($20) Multi-Stick, ILIA ($34) Color Nectar Pigment Balm, Rituel de Fille ($24) Baby Cheeks Blush Stick, Westman Atelier ($48) Cheekslime, Freck Beauty ($22) HAN Multistick, Han Skincare Cosmetics ($16) Phyto-Pigments Last Looks Cream Blush, Juice Beauty ($25) Cheek and Lip Tint, Jillian Dempsey ($28) Cream Blush, Alima Pure ($28) Certified Organic Lip & Cheek Cream, INIKA Organic ($35) Creme Cheek + Lip Color, Honest Beauty ($15.99) Cream Blush, Kjaer Weis ($56) Higher Standard Satin Matte Cream Blush, LYS Beauty ($16) Tulip Tint Lip & Cheek Balm, Bloomeffects ($29) As a general rule: Applying blush inward toward the apples creates a soft fullness, while blending outward toward the temples creates lift and definition—but you can find our specific tips for each face shape here. As a result, “Your blush placement will actually be lower with a straight face,” Compton notes, which can create the illusion of sagging. When you apply your blush with a relaxed face, however, you’ll know exactly where to plant it to achieve that lifted, lit-from-within glow, sans grin. With this layering trick, you’ll notice just a peek of blush through the base, like the most natural flush. (See a full tutorial here.) Both help the makeup appear polished and expert-level, but know that setting powder will offer more of a matte look; so if you’re relying on cream blush for that dewy shine, a finishing powder might be best to maintain that all-over glow.
