Culling My Bloated Indie Blush Collection

By AG

Purchased, Gifts, Swap with Brand Owner

Hey everyone! I'd like to share something a little different today. In the last couple of years I began a pretty serious love affair with indie blush. One thing led to another, and suddenly I woke up one day with an absurdly large collection, but 99% of my products weren't getting any attention. 

Fortunately, I stumbled on some of the awesome, supportive project pan communities online and got to work. I recently completed a blush challenge on my Instagram account during which I swatched, wore, and reviewed every blush I owned with the intention of paring down. And you know what I realized almost immediately? I totally didn't need all those blushes. In this post, I'd like to show you the results of my first cull. 

Disclosure notes: These blushes are a mix of items I purchased, items I received as gifts from friends or during an indie gift exchange, and items I received in a swap with the owner of DreamWorld Cosmetics (previously DreamWorld Hermetica). I'll note disclosure for each individual product.

Swatches for every blush means this will be pretty picture-heavy, so I'm putting the rest of this post under a jump.

Let's start with the easiest category...

The Purples

Somewhere along the line I went absolutely nuts for purple blushes, especially cool-toned ones. My tastes have since changed and I've come to accept that I just don't like how the cool-toned ones look on my warm-toned skin, even as contour shades. I've also noticed that most of my purple and pinky-purple blushes look nearly identical on, no matter how they look in the jar. So, this was the easiest category to purge and included the following:

Darling Girl
Yes, Virginia!

Disclosure: Purchased
Wear Time: Average (no precise number)
Comments: This one looks softly pink on my cheeks. It doesn't stand out from my other pinky-purple blushes once applied.

DreamWorld Cosmetics
Deeper Than Midnight

Disclosure: Swap with DreamWorld owner
Wear Time: Lasted through the work day with some fading
Comments: A light application reads as a soft fuchsia but it can be build up to purple. A work-appropriate application looks very similar to my other pinky-purple blushes.

Darling Girl Cosmetics
It Girl

Disclosure: Gift
Wear Time: Still looked good after 11-12 hours
Comments: A sheer application is an office-friendly pink, believe it or not. The wear time is great, but it's too similar to many of my other blushes to keep.

DreamWorld Cosmetics
Medea

Disclosure: Either purchased or swap with DreamWorld owner
Wear Time: Started fading at 10 hours, gone by 12
Comments: I love that DreamWorld goes way outside the box on blush colors, undertones, and finishes, but that means some of the colors are total misses on my skin tone. This is one of them. In my wear notes I described this as a lightly metallic cool-toned taupe-y plum, which is probably overly wordy but there you go. It went the dirty/bruised-looking route on my skin, so to the swap bag it goes.

Darling Girl Cosmetics
Angel Face

Disclosure: Gift
Wear Time: Gone by 10 hours (note: light application on a hot summer day)
Comments: This is a somewhat cool-toned purple with silver shimmer. I noted a number of strikes against it: the silver shimmer was pretty noticeable on my cheeks (at least up close), it was a little too cool-toned for my personal preferences, and I needed to warm up my face with some bronzer after applying this to feel comfortable wearing it out. I think a fair and cool-toned person will have more success with it.

Fyrinnae Cosmetics
Royalty

Disclosure: Purchased
Wear Time: Unknown (see comments)
Comments: This is a deep and cool-toned purple. It looks like a bruise on my fair and warm-toned skin. I didn't bother leaving it on long enough for a wear test. It was amazing to experiment with when I was going through my cool-toned purple phase, but now it needs a new home.

Little Sparrow Cosmetics
Lavender

Disclosure: Purchased
Wear Time: Lasted through the workday, gone by 13.5 hours post application
Comments: True to the name, a light application with a brush yields a color reminiscent of dried lavender buds. I need to apply it carefully to keep it a work appropriate color, and it doesn't make my heart sing, so that's two reasons to give it a new home.

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The Poor Performers

I have quite dry skin, so I can generally get an average of 10-12 hours of wear out of blush. I also expect smooth and easy application, since I'm pretty comfortable with loose blush at this point. A number of the blushes I owned couldn't live up to this standard, so into the destash pile they went!

Little Sparrow Cosmetics
Lilac

Disclosure: Purchased
Wear Time: Entirely faded by 6.5 hours
Comments: This pinky-purple didn't even last a full workday on me, which is so weird because another Little Sparrow blush is my reigning longevity champ. Since I have similar colors with much better wear, this one's a miss.

Little Sparrow Cosmetics
Coral Pink

Disclosure: Purchased
Wear Time: Somewhat faded by removal at 8.5 hours
Comments: This is a pink-leaning coral that went on a little patchy. I have similar colors that perform perfectly, so it's bound for the swap bag.

Darling Girl Cosmetics
Fantasia

Disclosure: Purchased
Wear Time: Average
Comments: This is a pretty true orange to my eyes. I had trouble with application; it applied heavily in some spots and was tough to blend out despite setting my base. I also felt the color made me look a little sallow.

DreamWorld Cosmetics
Need

Disclosure: Purchased (possibly free with collection purchase?)
Wear Time: Almost completely gone by 9 hours
Comments: This is a subdued coral, and I noted some minor bronzey tones in it. It's simultaneously natural and brightening, but the lower-than-average (for me) wear time is a dealbreaker.

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The Nudes

When I was first getting into blushes, I aimed for the nudes. Tarte Exposed was my first "real" blush purchase, and nudes/tans were my blush comfort zone for a while. My tastes have done a 180 and now it's almost painful to apply a blush that blends in with my skin tone so much! 

Darling Girl Cosmetics
Aloha

Disclosure: Purchased
Wear Time: Average
Comments: I've been recommending this blush as an indie alternative to Tarte Exposed for a long time, and it's been one of my favorites from Darling Girl. But as described above, I'm now reaching for other colors (mostly peachy shades) when I want a no-makeup-makeup look.

Femme Fatale Cosmetics
Fortune Cookie

Disclosure: Purchased
Wear Time: Unknown (see comments)
Comments: This color blends in almost perfectly with my skin tone. It's such a close match I couldn't do a longevity test. It'll make a better blush for lighter skin tones, or a matte highlight for deeper skin tones than mine.

Femme Fatale Cosmetics
Heaven Peach

Disclosure: Purchased
Wear Time: Lasted through the workday, gone by 14 hours
Comments: This is a peach-leaning nude. Don't let the weird finger swatches scare you off - it applies just fine on the cheeks. The color doesn't speak to me anymore so I'm passing it along.

Baroque Cosmetics
Mucha Ado About Nothing

Disclosure: Received in gift exchange
Wear Time: Noticeable fading by 14 hours
Comments: This shade is fairly similar to Tarte Exposed. No complaints about performance and the wear time is great, but the color's not a good fit for my tastes anymore.

Darling Girl Cosmetics
She-Bop

Disclosure: Purchased
Wear Time: Some fading by 11 hours
Comments: This is a soft pastel peach with a nice brightening effect on my cheeks. I have similar blushes which I reach for more often, so I'm passing this along.

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It's Not You, It's Me

Some blushes didn't have any performance dealbreakers, they just didn't line up with my personal preferences:

Little Sparrow Cosmetics
Schauss

Disclosure: Purchased
Wear Time: Almost completely gone by 9.5 hours
Comments: This mid-toned pink leans a little too bubblegum for my personal preferences, so I'm passing it along.

Silk Naturals
Afterglow

Disclosure: Purchased
Wear Time: Mostly faded by 13 hours
Comments: This is the brand's vegan dupe of cult favorite NARS Orgasm. It looks like a very natural reddened peach on my cheeks and has a subtle copper sheen. No problems with application or wear but the color didn't do much for me, so I'm letting it go.

Darling Girl Cosmetics
Living Dead Gurl

Disclosure: Purchased
Wear Time: Average
Comments: One of the heroes of the online destashing movement is Marie Kondo, whose advice is to only keep those items which spark joy for you. Living Dead Gurl is a beautiful soft pink on the cheeks and had no application problems for me, but it makes me sad to apply. That beautiful green sheen which you see in the swatch doesn't show up on the cheeks, and that bums me out. I recognize this is totally my own quirkiness, and it's not a fault of the product by any means, but it's enough that I'd rather see it go to someone who will appreciate it.

Darling Girl Cosmetics
Kandy Kouture

Disclosure: Gift
Wear Time: Average
Comments: This is a pretty bright pink. It's flattering on my warm-toned skin, but I tend not to reach for bright pink blush, so I'll find it a better home.

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Whew, that's a start! Let me know if this is an interesting or helpful post - if so, I'll post again next time I do a cull. And if you'd rather I stick to swatches and eye looks, I can totally do that too :)

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