spring pinks

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Bobbi Brown Pink Coral (wearing here), Japonesque #3 (wearing here), Tom Ford Love Lust (wearing here)

Here are a few of the blushes I’m reaching for so far this spring. The Bobbi Brown blush I’ve mentioned before, it’s the brightest and the only non-shimmery blush in this crowd. The Japonesque blush is just a fraction darker, with some fine, subtle gold shimmer, and the Tom Ford blush is more muted and peachy with a comparable amount of gold shimmer, a sophisticated cousin of the Japonesque shade. With Love Lust I’m more likely to do a (subtle) 80s diva streak up the cheekbone rather than a pop on the apples of the cheeks. Milani blush in Luminoso is a great drugstore alternative, about $10 and with a similar effect on the cheeks in terms of the quality of the shimmer (high, fine). Though more distinctly coral/peach the shade is quite sheer (I can see this as a positive, easier not to put too much on in one go). I mention it here anyway because I reach for it under the same circumstances and for the same reasons I would reach for any of these pinks.

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Clockwise from the top: Tom Ford Love Lust, Milani Luminoso, Japonesque #3, Bobbi Brown Pink Coral

One of these blushes is often virtually the only makeup I use for the day, with perhaps a little highlighter and tinted lip balm (maybe some bronzer, mascara…OK, OK. Virtually).  If I only have time to do one thing, though, that thing is always adding a bit of blush. Blush, for me, gives the maximum payoff for the minimum effort, an instant infusion of life into the face.

These are great blushes at any time of year, really. Like any that suit you. A good pink blush will see you through all weather.

on the lips: this badass Givenchy lipstick

Allow me to introduce you to some of the most badass lipstick packaging around (yet still sleek, not studded within an inch of its structural integrity). Givenchy’s Le Rouge line has a gorgeous formula and this packaging, while not gold, is perhaps the next best thing: leather.

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Well, faux leather. Look at it! Extremely satisfying to interact with this packaging.

Sam from Pixiwoo was wearing and recommended this shade, Fuschia Irrésistable, in a video about favorite products and it went straight to the wishlist. It’s similar in color to NARS Funny Face (a semi-matte) but brighter and with a relatively glossy finish.

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Mmmhmm. Yes. We need that.

It’s light, pigmented, intensely creamy, packed with skincare benefits; it has all the strengths of the latest generation of lipsticks. This kind of creamy-yet-weightless formula is easier and easier to come by these days. Estee Lauder’s new Pure Color Envy line is incredibly creamy, too, and Urban Decay’s Revolution line. Japonesque, YSL, Tom Ford… I don’t care that it is Givenchy—in fact I don’t know a lot about Givenchy—but that many of the designer brands are coming through with stellar formulas cannot be denied.

Finally (over a year later!) picked it up in a recent Sephora promo. You know, becauseIt is beautiful. If you are wondering how I could possibly need any more lipstick, I am sorry to be the one to tell you: you may be in danger of missing the point entirely.