What a cheek!!

Glowing, healthy skin is the best friend a girl can have – especially over the summer months. But, sadly, not all of us have glowing, healthy skin. As we get older, our skin can lose its vitality – that beautiful youthful glow of teenage-hood yielding to the ravages of gravity and daily life – and we can need a bit of a helping hand. This, my friends, is where blusher steps in.

Applied correctly, blusher can be transformative, giving your face a youthful gleam and killer cheekbones. Applied incorrectly it can make you look like a 5-year-old who’s raided Mum’s makeup bag.

Auckland makeup artist Lee-Ann Smith says that learning how to apply blusher correctly can take time.

“Personally I used to struggle with blush as a makeup artist and consequently I have become an expert on it since mastering the art of knowing how to apply it.

“There is much more to it than just putting it on your cheeks, a lot of ladies are scared of using it because they don't understand how to use it.”

Lee-Ann explains that it’s important your blusher matches the type of foundation you use. If you use cream foundation, you should use a cream blusher; if you use powder, use a powder blusher. She says you can also use it by itself, but you need to make sure any moisturiser or sunscreen you use is dry before you apply it.

Knowing where and how to apply blusher is something that many of us are confused about. Lee-Ann has some useful tips.  

“Contouring with neutral colours (darker than your skin colour of course, as dark recedes and light attracts) under your cheekbone first always helps to enhance your cheeks,” she says.

“Find your cheekbone and apply the blusher directly on it, all the way to where it ends.”

“Don’t smile when applying [blusher] because [you will end up with] blush halfway down your cheeks. That’s where your contour should go.”

The colour of blusher you choose is just as important as the application. Lee-Ann suggests that you try to choose a colour that is as close as possible to your skin tone.

“Use warm tones on darker skin and pastel, cooler tones on porcelain/pale skin – the lighter your skin the lighter your blush and vice versa (about five shades darker maximum).”

Finally, she suggests that a little contrast will work wonders on your cheeks.

“A useful tip is to do your blush, then just sweep a darker shade just on the apples of your cheeks gently for a little effect.”