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Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Culling My Collection: 2016 Cream Blush Declutter

Time for more culling of my makeup collection! This time I'll be going through my cream blushes and pulling out items that have gone bad or that I do not wear enough to warrant keeping them.
45 cream blush items
I love cream blushes and how they meld with the skin for a natural finish. I obviously love them enough to have collected a whole drawer full.  So let's get started culling. Links are to full reviews.
One of my favorite blush formulas is from The All Natural Face, which features a simple and natural ingredient list featuring argan and jojoba oils.  At on $5.75 each, it's easy to collect a lot without breaking the bank.  However, I've had these for a little over 3 years now and are reaching the end of their shelf life.  A few have started to smell "off" and some others are colors that I rarely wear. These are the ones that I'm getting rid of:
I'm keeping these three.  Tally 6 cream blushes culled, 3 kept.
Next are some BECCA Beach Tints, another favorite formula.
All 3 are still good but I rarely wear the darkest shade in Raspberry, so it's out. I'm keeping Grapefruit and Watermelon. Tally 7 cream blushes culled, 5 kept.
I also have a plethora of Vincent Longo lip and cheek tints that I acquired for a song when they were being reformulated. These are one of the few lip/cheek tints that does a good job of working for both areas, but a few of the shades are out of my color wheel house so I'm letting them go. I had also bought one of the shimmer lip /cheek tints, and it does not work well for me at all. The formula seems different than the other gel tints and it really didn't show up on my skin, so out it goes.
These are the ones that are being culled, making a tally of 11 cream blushes culled and 8 kept.
I have a few other gel stain lip/cheek tints from theBalm, Revive and Benefit. I haven't used them much, but based on swatches one was a clear winner.
Surprisingly, it was the Revive sample (top swatch) that I got from a Birchbox.  I decided to keep Posietint as well, but after using it for a few days I've decided it needs to go as well, as it really doesn't show up on me when I apply in my preferred manner with a damp Beauty Blender.  Applying it directly to me skin gives less than stellar results, as it's a bit splotchy. Tally: 13 cream blushes culled, 9 kept.
Next are some coral blushes from W3LL People Multi-stick Luminous, Clarin's Grenadine, and BECCA Watermelon/Moonstone Shimmer Beach Tint. The W3LL People and BECCA blushes are similar in shimmer and color, but W3LL People's Universalist is rather disappointing in that it's really more shimmer than color and the formula is a little too oily for me. So, it's getting tossed. Tally: 14 cream blushes culled, 11 kept.
W3LL People (top), Clarin (middle), BECCA (bottom)
Now for some pink cream blushes, including a few favorites. All four of these have good formulas, with the bareMinerals Natural Passion and Tata Harper Very Charming being quite similar in color (you can see comparison swatches here).  I also enjoy the Vincent Longo's Swan Lake, so those three are staying.
Berry Flirtatious, Natural Passion, Swan Lake, Very Charming
While Revlon's cream blush formula is quite good, Berry Flirtatious is a little too dark for me, so it's getting culled. That makes 15 cream blushes tossed, and 14 kept. I think the tide may be turning and more blushes will be kept then tossed, hmm. That's okay.
Here are two Josie Maran cheek gelees, both of which I love and are staying: Island Pink and Pink Escape.  Just such a fun formula! Tally: 15 tossed, 16 kept.
I also enjoy Julep's Skip the Brush blushes (and I guess technically a bronzer) in Golden Guava and Warm Bronze, so those are also staying. Tally: 15 tossed, 18 staying.
Next are my Giorgio Armani Maestro Fusion Blush in #500, elf's HD blush Diva, and Sephora's Colorful Ink Gel in Orchid. Diva is just not a color I tend to reach for, so it's getting tossed and the other two remain. That makes 16 tossed and 20 cream blushes kept.
#500, Diva, Orchid
Now here are two blushes that look very similar in the pan and also have formulas that feel and look comparable on. One is the LE Chanel Intonation and the other is Sephora's house brand Double Contouring Cream Blush in Poppy Pink, which I believe is discontinued now as well.
Poppy Pink, Intonation
Side by side swatches show that Intonation runs more coral, but both are lovely and are staying in my collection. So now we have 16 blushes culled with 22 staying.
The last four single blushes are Elizabeth Arden's Ceramide Cream Blush in Nectar, Le Metier de Beaute's TennĂ© Cream Blush Tint, Revlon's Photo Ready Cream Blush in Coral Reef, and Urban Decay's discontinued Afterglow Cream Blush in Quickie.  Nectar and TennĂ© are two of my favorites and the other two are unique colors with good formulas, so all are staying.  Tally: 16 blushes tossed, 26 kept.
Last are two stila cream blush palettes and a theBalm cream blush sample. I love stila's cream blush formula and while I considered tossing the sample, it's a great color with a good formula, even thought it's a tiny little thing. I'll still use it, however, so all are staying.
The total number of cream blushes culled from my collection are 16 and I kept 29, which is not bad.
Cream blushes culled
Cream blushes kept
My cream blush drawer looks much more organized and plus I reacquainted myself with some items that I really love, which means they are getting more use now. Win/win.
Post-cull
Next in my Culling My Collection series will be lip glosses, which have gotten totally out of control.  Totally.

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