Hello my beauties. Today I was in a very tut-y mood and decided what the heck I’m gonna go for it! So I did this tutorial on different ways that you can apply blush and how it can affect how your face looks visually. We will also focus on the age old adage of applying the blush to the apples of the cheek and how you should modify it to suit your face. As always, remember practice make perfect and it will help you to gain an understanding of how small things effect your look. So the next time you will go more by what is right for you rather than what is assumed or preached to be right. Let’s get started with the basics.

     I’m using the MAC brush and a very pigmented blush from MAC so that it helps to show you the result properly. I will come out looking like a clown cause of the color so please bear in mind that this is not the usual shade that I use (just to be clear :P). The reason I picked the MAC brush was that it helps to give a very pigmented and defined look. You can go wrong with it as it creates harsh lines but then you can always blend it out. I have a Real Techniques one as well but that gives a very soft and buffed out look which would have taken away from the prominence that I wanted for this tutorial. I prefer using the MAC one to contour my face for the reason that it gives more pigmentation and definition. Then finish the thing off with a blush using the RT brush.

Products used. Click pic to enlarge

First if all as we all know makeup is about enhancing your looks. You use it create the light, shadows, etc which help you to “fake” a characteristic like for example creating cheekbones, making your eyes look bigger, slimming down your face, etc. So always keep that in mind. It may sound silly that I’m stating such an obvious thing to you but the reason I had to was I recently saw some pics of various looks and saw a girl with blush that was till her nose. Personally I think it looks off and spoils the face. My funda is that you should restrict your blush to a certain zone to your face and anything beyond that is a no-no.

     Start by looking straight ahead. Now picture a line running straight down from just outside your iris (the colored part of your eye) till your jaw. This is the blush zone rather the place where a certain part is for your blush and the rest for the contour product. Anything beyond this line ie closer to the nose is the “no blush” zone. So we will make this the cardinal rule for our tutorial here. Lets take the first one – Blush on apple of cheeks.

     Ok I find a couple of things wrong with this concept. Firstly being a person with a heavy face if I follow the rule and smile the part on my cheek just higlighted which is a) front and center (falls in the no blush zone) AND b ) marks the heavy portion of the area. All my fat just lifts up to the point and Im supposed to dab on some blush there? No thank you! The last thing I need is to highlight my already heavy face. Maybe people with no fat on their face can get away with it.

Blush applied using “apple” method. Notice its position. Click pic to enlarge

 

     But hold on – I saw Gossartist vid on youtube on blushes (already had an idea in mind and when I saw his vid I was like now I just have to do my tut.) and turns out my instinct on avoiding the apple was correct. His concept was that since we are getting older our skin is loosing its elasticity and when we do the apple method and apply our blush, the area droops low after we relax our muscles thereby making the application area much lower than what it should be and side-by-side creating a droopy blush effect. Not pretty.

Locating the cheek bone. Click pic to enlarge

 

     So what I do (and what he also recommends) is to apply the blush on the cheek bone. How do you find it? If you are thin faced then it should be prominent for you. But if not here is what you need to do. Touch the area of your cheek right below your eye and you will feel a bone slightly sticking out. This is the cheek bone and if you notice it falls in the “blush zone”. This is what need to be highlighted with the blush to give your face a more defined look.

Place blush on the cheek bone and pull it up in a slant as shown. Click pic to enlarge

Another way to find it if you have fat on your face like me is to suck your face in and try to spot the high point. Feel around a bit and you will be able to feel it slightly. If for any reason you cant find it either way just suck your cheeks in and apply the blush on the point which looks the highest and falls in the blush zone. So pat some of the blush on the bone and pull it in a slant upwards. This helps to give a lifted look to you face. Blend it out with a back and forth motion till it looks right to you and the harsh lines are not visible. Viola! you are done.

Look after application. Click pic to enlarge

 

On the left – blush on apple. Right – blush on cheek bone. While one does not do anything for my face the other is adding definition. Click pic to enlarge

 

 

Feel for the depression just below the cheek bone.

Now coming to the second method, in this we will use the blush to contour our face. For this we will place the blush slightly below the cheek bone in the depression underneath it. Just feel the area below the bone. You will find it pressing in. This is where the blush is going to be placed. Ok usually I use a contour powder most of the time cause I have a lot of area to cover so this method is not what I go for. This is something I learnt by observing what the French makeup artist did for me at the Jean Claude Beguine salon. I’m also new to this technique and ended making mistakes while doing this tute. So now you will get an idea what not to do 😛

On the left I went to low with the placement and on the right it looks too high. Does not look off but does not give the contoured effect. Click pic to enlarge

Try to not go too low or high with it to make it look like a contour. You can do those things but it will make it look more like a flush of color than a contour so see what suits you better. Again I’m new to this so you and me both need to practice it. But I hope you have gotten the general idea. I’m attaching a pic of what the artist did on me in the end so that you can better understand the blush placement.

That looks sort of right. Click pic to enlarge

 

See the difference between the two. The right one has more definition. Click pic to enlarge

 

This is how the artist did it. Click pic to enalrge

That wraps another one of these. I hope you liked it and I didn’t end up confusing you further. Please don’t hesitate to ask me any question that you may have. I will try to answer it to the best of my knowledge. As always your comments and suggestions are eagerly awaited. Till the next time – Take care!