How to Pick and Apply Blush to Fit Your Face Shape

Blush livens up your complexion by adding a natural-looking flush to your cheeks. Blushes come in cream and powder formulas with either matte or shimmery finishes. Matte products look most realistic and are more versatile, while shimmery products work great as a highlighter, applied sparingly on the high points of the face or just on the cheekbones.

Different mediums yield different results. Whatever you do, don’t mix cream on top of powder or powder on top of cream—it won’t blend well and will likely look streaky.

• Liquid blush and cream blush are great for dry or mature skin since they won’t stick in fine lines. Cream is great for its ease of use—you can apply it with your fingers, pressing it into the skin and blending with your fingers for a fresh, glow-from-within finish. For cream blush and liquid blush, start with a base of liquid foundation. (It’s almost always a good idea to match product textures.) If your blush comes in a stick, swipe directly onto cheeks. If it comes in a container, use clean fingers to gently dab product onto cheeks. Use a makeup blender to blend.
• Gel blush and stain blush work well with most skin types. Stains need to be blended quickly to avoid streakiness, but they’ll last all day.
• Powder blush is great for those with oily skin. It’s also the most versatile, especially because it comes in different finishes. Powder blush has a reputation for sticking to fine lines and dry spots, but this can be fixed with a good makeup primer. After priming your face and using powder foundation, if desired, use a medium-sized, round, fluffy brush to apply powder blush. A brush that’s too big or wide will make it more difficult to target specific areas of the cheek.

The best way to find a natural-looking blush shade is to pinch your cheek and match your natural flush. Play around with different tones like peach, pink, or red for a different effect. If you have a darker skin tone, the cheek-pinching technique doesn’t always work, in which case Bobbi suggests choosing a more vibrant or deeper shade.

Although identifying your undertone isn’t as important when it comes to choosing blush as it is for selecting the right shade of foundation, it’s a good place to start. Whether you’re exceptionally pale or have very dark skin, undertones fall into three basic categories: warm, cool, and neutral—and each of these has tones within it.

• Cool: bluish, red, or pink
• Neutral: a mixture of both warm and cool
• Warm: golden, peachy, or yellow

For the most natural look, choose a blush that matches your undertones: Peach for warm undertones, plum for cool undertones. For blush that stands out, experiment with shades in the opposite undertone.

For lots of people, makeup application is a no-brainer: Blush goes on your cheeks, lipstick goes on your mouth—all obvious stuff. But the shape of your face can play a role in how and where you apply. When you know your face shape and alter your routine accordingly, you can better understand how makeup placement can shift the eye of the beholder.

Generally, faces come in four shapes: oval, round, square, and heart-shaped. Oval faces are proportionally balanced on a vertical plane, while round faces have slightly wider cheekbones. Square faces are defined by an angular jawline, and heart-shaped faces typically have wider cheekbones and a delicate, narrow chin, like the point of a heart (hence its name).

The most basic way to apply blush is to smile and find the apple of your cheek. Apply there and then blend up toward the temples and brush down to blend. But if you’re looking to play around with different blush placement, here are a few techniques tailored to the four basic face shapes.

1. 1. Oval: Apply blush to the tops of your cheekbones, above the hollow, to elevate the cheekbones.
2. 2. Round: Using a matte blush (shimmery blush can make round faces look even rounder), apply color just below the apples of the cheeks, along your cheekbones, and sweep upward toward your hairline.
3. 3. Square: Define the cheekbones by applying blush a little below the cheekbones. You can also try sweeping some blush around your hairline to soften the edges of your face. Or stick to the apples of your cheeks, blending softly outward, to avoid widening your face.
4. 4. Heart-shaped: Apply blush in a “C” shape starting slightly below the apple of your cheeks and reaching up to the temples.

Whether you already know a blush brush from a bronzer brush or are simply looking for tips on bringing glamour into your daily routine, navigating the beauty industry takes knowledge, skill, and practical experience. No one knows their way around a makeup bag better than Bobbi Brown, the makeup artist who built a career and a multi-million dollar brand with one simple philosophy: Be who you are. In Bobbi Brown’s MasterClass on Makeup and Beauty, learn how to do the perfect smoky eye, find the best makeup routine for the workplace, and hear Bobbi’s advice for aspiring makeup artists.

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