Jealous of the healthy, sun-kissed glow celebrities seem to have all year round? Luckily, you don’t have to take a trip to the Mediterranean to achieve it. According to Bobbi Brown, founder of Jones Road, all you need is clever makeup—namely, the perfect blush and application technique.
“There are so many different blushes and so many formulas” now, Brown says, which can make it difficult to find the perfect match for you. For her, the best options have “strong pigment, staying power, and blendability,” all things she kept in mind when creating the new Jones Road Blushing Sticks.
“If I want to run to the supermarket or meet a friend for coffee, I’ll throw on the blush stick because I can literally just put it on my cheeks and lips and instantly look a little polished,” she explains. “Because I wear glasses, I can get away without wearing eye makeup—so it just makes my makeup routine very quick!”
Below, see Brown’s best blush hacks for cheeks of any age.
Start with the apples of your cheeks
Blush placement can be a tricky thing to master—especially when there’s a new blush trend every month. Brown says that the most seamless looks always start with the apples of your cheeks. While working the product in, “don’t just stop on the apple and create a circular shape,” she cautions. “Blend up into the hairline, which will help your blush look as natural as possible.”
To avoid the dreaded blush line—the clear demarcation between blush and cheek—Brown says to blend the blush downward gently, not so far as to reach your jawline, but just to diffuse the pigment.
You can also use a deeper blush shade to contour. Do so by applying a small amount to your forehead, décolletage, and sides of your nose, as you might with a contour stick. If you’re excited to give this a try, “choose a color that is one shade deeper than your go-to blush and use a bigger, fluffy brush to blend it all out,” Brown advises.
Diffuse gently
As we age, our skin naturally loses collagen and elasticity, which can make it feel dry at times. This dryness can cause makeup to collect in certain areas, leaving your skin looking blotchy. Blush is one of the easiest ways to bring back some radiance and bounce.
She likes to apply the Blushing Stick directly to her cheeks and lips with her fingers, using her “hands to warm and soften the blush, before diffusing it in tapping motions.” This method gives you more control over the product, making it even easier to blend. Plus, “it works well for days when you’re not wearing any base makeup or foundation and want a quick, long-lasting lift,” she says.
Pair a cream and powder blush
It may sound like overkill, but layering a powder blush over a cream blush is the key to stopping it from slipping throughout the day. It’s also a good hack for oily skin, as the combination helps absorb the excess oil that can cause a cream blush to disappear the longer you wear it.
Brown suggests finding a powder blush in the same hue as your cream blush and reapplying it throughout the day to stop it from settling into fine lines.
Try a berry blush
Deeper berry hues may seem like a winter go-to, but Brown says they look exceptionally chic in the warmer months as well. “And they work with all skin tones,” she says. “Women in my office love reaching for the darker Blushing Sticks because they’re very sheer and leave a subtle tinted effect,” she adds. If light pinks and succulent peach hues are more your style, don’t despair: Brown approves of those too.
