The right blush can bring out and enhance the natural glow in your face, giving your skin the perfect kiss of color. The wrong blush can make you look like someone who flunked out of beauty college. The trick to wearing blush is to look like you’re not really wearing blush, and that all begins with finding the perfect shade for your face.
Pale and Fair Tones
Finding a good blush shade can be particularly challenging if you have pale skin. You’ll always want to stay on the lighter end of the color spectrum when it comes to choosing the right blush shade.
Pale pink is flattering on fair skin and creates the natural look that you want. Look for a soft pink color in a shade that’s similar to the natural shade of the inside of your lip. Be careful about choosing a blush that’s too pink, as this can look orange on fair skin. Peach looks very natural on fair skin, particularly if you have yellowish undertones. The peach shade will enhance your own natural coloring.
Medium Tone
If your skin is tanned or has a natural medium tone to it, pink blush isn’t necessarily going to be a good friend to you. Look for blush in shades of apricot instead. Your medium skin already has some warmth and color to it, so you don’t need a heavy blush in a strong color. A sheer blush will enhance your natural coloring and add just a touch of rosiness, which is exactly what you want.
If you do want to add more color to your face, try a medium mauve shade. The touch of purple will give your skin a look of depth and richness, and it will add color that brightens up your face. The sheer sheen of e.l.f. Studio Blush in mellow mauve works well with medium skin tones.
Olive Tone
It’s more difficult to match blush with an olive complexion. Olive skin has green undertones that tend to clash with a lot of blush colors. This can make your blush look orange or ruddy, rather than warm and sunkissed. Look for warm shades of blush with orange tones.
A peachy orange blush will give your olive skin a beautiful, natural-looking glow. Maybelline’s peach shade of Fit Me Blush has orange undertones that perfectly compliment olive skin tones.
Dark Tone
If you have a dark skin tone, you’re looking for vibrant shades of blush. If you can spot it from 10 paces, you’re in the right ballpark. Dark skin looks great with bright blush in red, orange and pink. Look for vivid shades to compliment your skin tone.
Use a light hand to apply your vibrant blush, and add more as needed to get the desired look. Get bold with a bright shade like NYX High Definition Double Dare blush, which comes in a vivid orange that will look fresh and beautiful, especially for the spring months.
The Perfect Blush
Finding the perfect shade of blush is easier with some basic guidelines, but you’ll also want to use trial-and-error. Try different shades to see how well they work on your face. Stick with a basic palette based on your skin tone, and you will find shades of blush that work perfectly for you.