The Case for Orange Blush on Brown Skin.

I'm a child of the 80's.  Back then blush was a really big deal.  Women loved to oversaturate their cheeks with blush to the point where it became excessive.  Even as an innocent child, I knew that what these women were doing was a faux pas they would one day regret.

 Since then I've had an unhealthy relationship with blush.  I didn't see it as useful and feared that wearing it would make me look like a clown.  Not to mention how difficult it is to find a blush that flatters deep skin tones.

Today I'm here to announce that I've finally overcome my hatred to blush.  How? This shift in my thinking is due to finding the shade blush that does what blush was supposed to do.  Blush isn't supposed to be some random bright color that contrasts with the skin, sitting atop of cheekbones.  It's supposed to replicate the look of enhanced blood flow to the cheek.

Orange blush does just that.

Years ago, I visited the Nars booth at The Makeup Show.   While there, a nice lady by the name of Cindy Rodriguez offered to help me select products for purchase.  She may have noticed me trying on one nude shade after the other which prompted her to ask if I was willing to let her try on a brightly colored blush.  I'm sure she read the expression on my face 'cause she spent the next 20 seconds trying to convince me to concede.

Finally,  I let her have her way.  When I  got to take a look at her work......I didn't hate it.  Although I couldn't deny that the blush was more flattering than expected, I just couldn't convince myself to break my rule of forsaking all colorful blushes.

Fast forward several years and here I am ready to expound on why I think that orange blush is absolute perfection.

It all started fairly recently.  I was cleaning out some of my goodie bags of gifted makeup.  Typically these bags contain products not meant for dark-skinned women so I rarely find anything good.  What  I did find was a highly pigmented orange eyeshadow pod called Wild Fire. On a whim, I took a little of the pigment and deposited it on my cheeks.

I didn't hate it.......in fact, I kinda liked it.

Instead of looking clownish and rediculous, the orange hue brought life and vibrancy to my face.  I was a little surprised at how flattering it was to my skin tone.  Immediately, I decided to hop on over to Glossier's site and pick up a tube of the Cloud Paint in Dawn. Cloud paint is a liquid blush that melts beautifully and seamlessly into the skin.  The whole idea of Cloud Paint is to make it appear as if you're actually blushing.

Having yellow undertones, it makes perfect sense that orange blush would be flattering.  Yellows, oranges, and browns are all in the same family of colors.  Hence why they complement each other so beautifully.  I'm thankful to Cindy for hand-holding me as she introduced me to the world of brightly colored blush. Without her, I wouldn't have dared to test that orange shadow on my cheeks nor would I have purchased Dawn Cloud Paint (which I love by the way).  But everything worked out perfectly and now I have a blush that gives my skin a warm glow for winter.

The timing couldn't be better.

Now, I'm ready to dip my feet into the warm waters of orange blush.  Some other notable shades folks recommend are Nars Taj Mahal, NYX Cinnamon, and MAC's Bright Response.  Now go find your perfect oranged-hued blush and glow this winter like on a warm summer day.