Blush hour.
10 of the best cream blushes for a gorgeous midlife glow to-go.
Call them the cream team. When you need an instant complexion pick me-up, cream blushes just deliver.
If I could have only one midlife makeup product, I’d be torn between bronzer and blush. But, in both cases, I’d pick a cream formula, 100% - how about you?
It didn’t used to be so. For years, up until my early forties, you couldn’t prise Bobbi Brown’s classic bronzing and blush powders out of my hands (that said, when the Pot Rouges came on the scene, my conversion began).
For midlife skin, buttery blushes, which are usually oil-based, are more moisturising than powders—a bonus if your skin is feeling drier. They deliver a flush of colour that doesn’t settle in lines, as powders can. For me, it’s all about the finish: I love that fresh, healthy-looking sheen you get with a cream formula.
The downside? Creams can lack staying power, but formulas are improving, and they’re easy to top-up on the go. I always keep a cream blush in my bag, to dab on when I need a lift, in the same way I do a tinted lip balm or gloss.
The right cream blush can be the makeup equivalent of a shot of espresso, giving you an instant dose of healthy-looking colour. In the same way, though, highly pigmented formulas pack a concentrated punch, so a little goes a long way, and placement matters.
Here are 10 of the best (including one of Cameron Diaz’s favourites), plus how and where to apply your glow.
Stila Convertible Color Dual Lip & Cheek Cream
This BLUSH. It’s incredible. Super-easy to dab on, blend and go, it delivers the most amazing flush of sheer, glowy—but in no way shimmery—colour. Neither is it overly shiny. I’ve come back to it time and time over, for maybe ten years. Or more. When people say I look well or glowy, I tell them it’s THIS (btw, this is not an affiliate link). It comes in six shades, and I’ll sometimes layer Peony over Camellia, for a fresh, bronze-y glow. Honestly, you could pretty much stop reading here, cream blush sorted. But that would make for a very short edition, and there’s so much other loveliness out there.
Merit Flush Balm
This swipe-on “cream tint”, which comes in 9 shades, has a devoted following—including Cameron Diaz— thanks to the smoothness of the formula, melting texture and subtle flush. Apply it straight from the (already iconic) dome, blend with fingers, and glow.
Also - NEW, and super-cute, The Mini Flush Balm Trio is a limited edition containing three mini flushes for almost the same price as one regular size, including a new shade, Bespoke.
Westman Atelier Baby Cheeks Blush Stick
I find I’m reaching for this every day, pretty much (sometimes, I’ll just wear my Jones Road Miracle Balm in Sunkissed, almost all over, and then add a touch of this on my cheeks. Instant wake-up call, and hydration, in roughly 15 seconds flat). Makeup artist Gucci Westman uses this all the time on her red carpet clients, too, to give them that fresh, French-looking glow, and it’s one of Michelle Pfeiffer’s picks. I love its velvety texture, which, again, isn’t shimmery, just glowy.
The twist-up case has a heavy, luxe-feeling magnetic ‘click’ closure. I literally dot it on, straight from the tube, and blend with fingers. (Westman Atelier has just unveiled its holiday collection, too.)