Blush and Bronzer Makeup

To get a radiant, healthy glow, follow these steps on how to apply blush.

1. Your base makeup should be done first, using foundation and/or concealer to even out your complexion. Follow with bronzer to warm up your skin, and then apply a contour product for additional sculpting.
2. Then, it’s time to apply your blush of choice. Our Cloudtopia Cheek and Lip Mousse Blush is a lightweight, yet deeply pigmented cream mousse formula that melts into the skin for a believable flush. Start at the apples– the round, fleshy part of your cheek– and dab a few dots of blush up your cheekbone using your fingers. Tap it into the skin to subtly diffuse and blend.
3. If you’re looking to lengthen and slim a rounder face shape with blush, concentrate higher up on the cheekbones instead of the apples, but if you want a more youthful, softer look on an angular face shape, the apples are where you should apply most of your blush.
4. Whether you want to sheer out your color a bit or prefer a more pigmented look, you’ll opt for a damp makeup sponge/your fingers, or a fluffy/angled blush brush, respectively. Using a brush will allow you to layer to achieve more coverage while using a sponge or your fingers will help melt the product into the skin. Dab the blush into your skin and blend back toward your hairline to sculpt and lift.
5. Depending on how bold you want your blush, you can also go in with a powder blush like Fit Me Blush over the top of the cream blush. This will add color and help prolong the wear.

Bronzer is meant to warm up your skin tone, giving the look of being kissed by the sun.

1. Typically, bronzer comes after your face makeup (foundation and/or concealer), but before your contour and blush.
2. Using a big, fluffy bronzer brush, swirl bronzer such as City Bronzer across the high points of your face, like your cheeks, nose, and forehead, where the sun would naturally hit.
3. The same rules apply to using a cream bronzer formula. Dot it in these areas, and then buff it in with a fluffy or angled brush for more precision. You could use your fingers, too; it just might be a little tougher to get that seamless, blended finish, especially if you’re trying to get a sculpted contour effect.
4. Be sure to buff it into your skin and hairline for the most natural, sun-kissed finish. Do so using a light hand and a circular motion as you glide along your hairline and down your cheeks and jawline.
5. Bonus: You can use bronzer on your eyelids as an eyeshadow, too!

Confused about the difference between bronzer and contour? Bronzer is meant to warm up the skin, while contour is meant to add shadows for a more sculpted look, which is why they pair perfectly together. Typically, bronzer will have shimmer for some extra reflection and a healthy glow.

If you want your bronzer to double as contour to lift and sculpt your face shape, concentrate on the hollows of your face, such as under the cheekbones, the temples, along the sides of the nose, and the jawline.

Blush and bronzer both have their own strengths, with blush adding a beautiful flush to the cheeks and bronzer warming up your skin, both lending themselves to a naturally glowing complexion. Blush comes in pink, peach, and berry tones to mimic the color that your cheeks naturally flush when you step out into the cold or go for a brisk jog. Bronzer is, well, bronze-hued and makes the skin look sun-kissed and tawny, like you've spent a day or two relaxing on the beach. When used together, they create a healthy, dimensional glow.

Yes, blush and bronzer are meant to be used together, but you can totally wear just one or the other. Blush is considered more of an everyday beauty product, bringing color into your face makeup and helping to perk up the complexion, so you don’t appear too flat or colorless. Bronzer can be used daily, but is sometimes preferred as a seasonal product to warm up winter-pale complexions, or to enhance a summer glow. We love the way the two work with one another to tie a look together, injecting your complexion with a radiant glow, adding dimension and lift.

If you think about it in the sense of color by number, blush and bronzer are complementary to each other, with blush going on the apples of your cheeks and up the cheekbones, and bronzer along the perimeter of the face– across the forehead, just below the blush, and along the jawline and nose.

For a more lifted, sculpted appearance on rounder face shapes, skip blush on the apples– or apply very lightly there– focusing on the tops of the cheekbones instead. This helps to draw the eye upward, creating the illusion of length. In contrast, to fill out and soften longer, more angular face shapes, focus your blush application on the apples of the cheeks.

Because bronzer can create shadows similar to contouring, when applied in the right areas, you can follow a similar application. For round faces, chisel out the cheeks by sweeping your bronzer from the hairline above the ear and angling it down below your cheekbones to the corners of the mouth. To balance a wider forehead and more angled chin on a heart-shaped face, apply bronzer to the temples and cheekbones with some on the chin and along the jaw. More angular face shapes don’t necessarily call for as much contouring to make bone structure appear sharper, but rather, you can use bronzer to soften features, focusing on softening angles by blending slightly above the natural cheekbones and across the hairline and jawline.

Yes, Maybelline does have a blush and highlighter palette. The Facestudio® Master Blush Color & Highlight Kit has everything that you need to create a warm, glowy look. Its blendable and buildable shades allow you to customize your look. And because there are three blush shades, from peach to berry, with a highlighter that pairs perfectly with all of them, you can create multiple blush and highlighter looks. This one, easy-to-use palette is great for on-the-go, allowing you to cut back on how many separate products you need. Plus, you can use the different blush shades as eye shadow, too, to get the most out of your palette.

To get the look of sun-kissed skin, the best places to put bronzer on your face are on the high points, where the sun would naturally hit. Think: across the forehead, from cheek to cheek, across the nose, and connect to the jawline to sculpt. If you want more of a bronzed-tour vibe, that’s more about sculpting than scoring a sun-kissed look, so focus on applying to the temples and the hollows of the cheeks.

Blush should go right on the cheekbones for a pop of color and lifted, sculpted look, including the apples of the cheeks for a natural flush. Bronzer and contour are more geared toward going under the cheekbone, as they add dimension. If you’re using a cream blush like our Cheek Heat Gel-Cream Blush, it can be helpful to stick with a cream bronzer or contour, too, as similar formulas play well together. Instant Age Rewind Concealer doubles as a good, cream contour product; just choose a shade 1-2 darker than your skin tone. For a powder duo of blush and bronzer, try our Fit Me Blush on the cheekbones and City Bronzer just below.

Blush makeup is typically a pink or rose-toned formula meant to add warmth to the cheeks, accentuating natural facial features. The rosy hues mimic the natural flush that the cheeks turn and help to create a youthful, perked-up complexion. Blush pairs well with foundation, concealer, bronzer, and highlighter for a full face of makeup that enhances bone structure and helps give you a healthy look.

Whether cream or powder blush is better depends on your skin type, along with your desired makeup look. Cream blush, such as Cheek Heat Gel-Cream Blush is great for creating dewy looks, especially for those with dry skin, whereas powder like Fit Me Blush will give you a matte, buildable look that plays well with oily skin types. The two also work really well when paired together for a more pigmented punch, lending longevity to your look, as the powder helps to lock the cream in place. If you want the silky feel of a cream blush, but with the sophisticated, diffused finish of a matte powder, you’ll love our Teddy Tint, which can be used on the lips, too.

Yes, it is OK to wear blush without foundation. Applying blush to bare skin will achieve a natural flush without any color correcting or skin tone evening. But, if all you’re after is a little color to perk up a pale complexion, a pop of blush on the cheeks can be just the thing to use. While you may not want to wear any other face makeup with your blush, it’s smart to pair it with proper skincare and maybe even a skin-loving primer like Grippy Serum Up To 24HR Hydrating Grip Primer, which hydrates, and will help keep your blush from disappearing, especially if it’s a cream formula, which sometimes melts a little too well into the skin.

Because aging skin tends to be on the drier side, opt for a cream blush that will hydrate and plump, but most importantly, won’t settle into fine lines. Our Cheek Heat is a great option for a youth-boosting, water-based blush formula that lends moisture to dry skin for a healthy finish.

You find your blush shade by considering your skin tone and undertone, but the easiest way is to pay attention to the color your cheeks naturally turn when you get flushed, either from exercise or embarrassment– that’s the kind of colors that will look most natural on your skin! For those with cool undertones, that means pinks, especially blue-based ones. And warm undertones will look best with more orange-y shades like coral. If you have neutral undertones, you can choose to lean into either cool or warm shades. For deeper skin tones, opt for richer shades such as berry and plum, so it doesn’t read too light or ashy on your skin. We have plenty of tips on how to choose your blush color here!

Yes, blush has the power to make you look younger because it adds color to the cheeks, making you appear more vibrant. Additionally, when blush is applied to the apples of the cheeks, it gives the illusion of a fuller face, which is an instant youth-booster. This is especially true when using radiant or dewy textures, which also give you a youthful glow.

Bronzer makes the skin appear sun-kissed, creating warmth along with the illusion of depth and dimension. Bronzer can transform your complexion, giving it a healthy glow and enhancing your natural facial features.

Yes, bronzer is great for mature skin because it helps bring some warmth to the face, giving a subtle youth boost. Opt for matte bronzers that will blend smoothly into the skin versus shimmer which can settle into and call attention to fine lines. Our City Bronzer is a finely-milled matte powder with cocoa butter that melts into the skin for a natural glow and a velvety finish.

No, you don’t put bronzer all over your face, but rather concentrate it on certain areas to define, lift and sculpt. Applying it to the high points of your face helps to make the sun-kissed color feel like it was actually brought on by sitting in the sun. Bronzer should be part of a full face routine, including foundation and concealer as a base to even out your skin tone with blush and highlighter to further accentuate facial features.

While both contour and bronzer are meant to be darker than your skintone and add dimension to the face, the difference between the two lies in their color and placement. Contour is typically cooler-toned to add shadows and depth to the hollow points of the face, like under the cheekbones and temples of the forehead. Bronzer is warmer-toned and goes on the highpoints like across the forehead and cheeks, to warm up the complexion. City Bronzer is a great matte, powder bronzer that could be used for contouring and bronzing, depending on where you place it. If using as a contour, it’s smart to use an angled brush to define. When using it as a bronzer, though, you’d want to go for a fluffy brush to give it more of a diffused look. Instant Age Rewind Eraser Multi-Use Concealer is another formula that can be used both ways, choosing a shade or two darker as your bronzer and maybe one shade darker than that for contour. Then, apply them strategically to create depth and a bronzey glow.

The purpose of blush is to add some color to the cheeks, instantly perking up the complexion, giving you a healthy, well-rested look. Blush comes in varying shades of pink, coral and berry, depending on your skin tone and enhances your facial features, injecting youthfulness into your skin.

The different types of blush include powder, cream, and liquid, and you should choose which formula to use based on your skin type. Cream and liquid formats melt seamlessly into the skin and give a dewy, radiant finish that’s especially great for those with dry or aging skin. Powder gives you more buildable coverage and is best suited for those with oily or combination skin.

You choose the right bronzer shade by going one to two shades darker than your natural skin tone. You can take your undertone into consideration, too, not going too cool in a shade if you have warm undertones and vice versa. But, because bronzer is meant to warm up the skin anyway, many bronzer shades will be on the warmer side with neutral to warm undertones, which is flattering across most skin tones.

Yes, bronzer can be used for contouring when applied in certain areas and with a more targeted applicator brush. If you’re applying your bronzer like bronzer, you’ll still get subtle sculpting, but not as noticeable as with a contour-specific product. The biggest difference lies in the tone of contour and bronzer products– contour formulas tend to be cooler and bronzers, warmer. Our City Bronzer and Instant Age Rewind Eraser Multi-Use Concealer can double as both when applied to areas like the high points of the face for bronzing and the hollows such as the temples and under the cheekbones for contouring.

The best bronzer for fair skin is one that’s on the lighter side and more neutral-toned, so it won’t look orange. Try City Bronzer in 100 (light), which is a good, light-toned bronzer that’ll still warm up your skin in a natural way, versus looking like a bad spray tan.

Whether a matte or shimmer bronzer is better is up to your personal preference and skin type. A matte bronzer will add natural definition and is good for more mature skin types, as shimmer can settle into fine lines. Shimmer, however, can be great for giving a radiant, sun-kissed finish, as it reflects light for even more glowiness, just with a little more pizzazz. Our Lifter Stix Multi-Use Face Stick is matte, but cream, so it melts seamlessly into the skin, leaving behind a bronzed, yet healthy finish, allowing it to be used as a bronzer or contour, depending on where you apply it on your face.

You can make your blush last longer in a few different ways. First, know that different blush formulas have different staying powers. Cream tends to melt into the skin and become more subtle throughout the day, while powder is buildable and can last longer. Another option: layer them! A cream blush first for a skin-like finish, and then a powder blush over top to add pigment, and set your cream blush for longer wear.

Using a primer first, before the rest of your makeup will make a big difference in the longevity of your look, too. Our Grippy Primer holds onto the makeup products you put over top, gripping them in place, and our Poreless Blurring Primer smooths the skin for a filter-like finish that also locks makeup in place. If you prefer a setting spray, you can incorporate one as your last step to create a shield over your makeup, preventing fading or transfer. For a more radiant finish, go for our Facestudio Glass-Skin Dewy Makeup Finishing Spray, or for matte, try our Facestudio Lasting Fix Makeup Matte Finishing Spray.

The best blush for oily skin is a long-wear powder blush with a matte finish like Fit Me Blush, which will control shine and won’t slip right off of your skin. To prolong the wear of your blush and not let greasiness ruin your look, go in with a matte setting spray like FaceStudio Lasting Fix Makeup Matte Finishing Spray as your last step.

First, identify your face shape. Do you have a round, oval, square, heart, or diamond face shape? For a more lifted, sculpted appearance on rounder face shapes, skip blush on the apples– or apply very lightly there– focusing on the tops of the cheekbones instead. This helps to draw the eye upward, creating the illusion of length. If you have a longer, more angular face shape, such as oval or square, applying blush to the apples and blending up and out will make your face look fuller and softer. For heart-shaped faces, try the blush draping technique, which calls for creating a backwards “C” shape around your eyes and down your cheeks to create more balance.