So many brands are releasing blush sticks this year! I wasn’t supposed to buy any, as I mentioned in my Project Pan, but Dior, Charlotte Tilbury, and Anastasia Beverly Hills made me cave! I am determined for these to be the last ones I buy, because I’m more of a powder girlie!

Charlotte Tilbury Unreal Glow Blush Sticks in Peachy Glow and Cherry Glow

I have no problem with Peachy Glow showing up on my skintone in person, but between my lights, cell phone, and the shiny finish, it’s harder to detect in photos. It’s at least visible in the picture where it’s unblended on my cheek. If I’m not wearing foundation, and I blend this color to my bare skin, it looks a little pearly and ashy. So, Peachy Glow doesn’t work as well on me on minimal makeup days.

Cherry Glow being the bolder color can be built up heavily, but I like how it looks when sheered out. It’s seamless on the skin, as most cream blushes are. This blush dries down to the point where it isn’t sticky, but I can still feel moisture on my cheeks.
If I don’t set this with powder, it looks a bit faded within six hours. It is still there in the eight hours the brand promises it will last, but what’s left is the barest flush of color. By 12 hours, there is nothing but mica/shimmer particles visible. The actual color is gone. Also, the dewy wet look disappears at some point earlier in the day. I would rather set my face with powder and top it with a highlighter, or use a glowy setting spray to bring back a dry kind of shine, so I don’t have to deal with a partly dewy cheek. Every touch to my cheek transfers when unset with powder, which is annoying.

When set with powder, the remaining luminosity eventually disappears too, but at least it’s dry, transfers less, and holds more color on the cheek by the end of 12 hours.

The blush sticks look so glowy that it makes adding highlighter seem unnecessary. I use Charlotte Tilbury’s Unreal Skin Tint as a highlighter. Adding the skin tint on top doesn’t make a big visual change in that moment, but since the shine of the blushes disappear on their own, having the tint on top makes a difference in the span of the whole day.

These blush sticks can be used on the lips, but they have a creamy surface, not a hydrating one. I can see the cracks of my dry lips underneath, along with my discolored spot since I can’t build the color to become fully opaque. Cherry Glow is better at hiding the flaws than Peachy Glow, but this is no surprise since it’s a darker color.

Because they launched so closely together, I can’t help but compare this to the Dior blush stick.
It seems like the majority of people have the opposite experience as me because Dior’s actually dries down on me without powder, unlike Charlotte’s. I like the packaging of both, but Charlotte’s is cuter whereas Dior’s feels more lux.
I don’t know if I would like Dior’s non-pearlescent blushes more than Charlotte’s, but the shine from Dior’s Candy lasts longer. Peachy Glow only looks wetter in the beginning.
Ultimately, I prefer the Dior formula, excluding the Dior Lip Addict scent someone thought was a good idea to add to the blushes. It is so off-putting!

This release from Charlotte Tilbury is nice, but it’s not a must- have product. It has less of a chance of becoming a staple in my collection than Dior’s blush stick.

Anastasia Beverly Hills Cream Blush Stick in Peach Caramel

This product has been out for a long time, but I waited ages to get it at a discount over 20 percent! The reason it was important to me is because I knew there was a chance it wouldn’t show up on my skin. I heard the colors in this range were not the most pigmented, that they were less saturated than many on the market, and that the orange-brown tones could blend in too much with my skin tone. This all turned out to be mostly true. Although I can see the blush on my cheeks, it’s very difficult to spot in photos. Ultimately, taking a picture of it unblended with a winter foundation shade on was the best way to see at least something on my cheeks!

What this has in common with Charlotte Tilbury’s blush is how long it lasts. Even though the ABH Blush Stick is less emollient and dries to a powdery finish, I can still feel it on my cheeks, it still transfers a little (on top of a hydrated base), and can fade. The finish is also matte. It lacking creaminess makes it stiffer in terms of spreadability, though it still blends out smoothly. I think ABH has prettier colors because they are more skin-native, but they are also severely lacking in depth. Peach Caramel is the deepest shade! At least Charlotte has options for those of us darker than tan.

When I have very saturated blushes from other brands, I have tried pairing this blush with them in order to help tone things down, but I was unimpressed by most of the combinations. The differences in the finish leads to them sometimes not blending together as smoothly.

Conceptually, I like that there is a brush on the other end of the stick (like the one from Makeup by Mario), but the surface area size is so small and doesn’t blend as well as my full-size brushes. So, it’s only useful if I wanted to bring this on-the-go and I was in some weird situation where I didn’t have access to my usual makeup tools.

Because this blush isn’t intended to be glowy, I have lower expectations, which this at least meets. I think it’s a nice formula, but not that special in the blush stick category. I think I even prefer Makeup by Mario’s Soft Pop Blush Stick over this one, but I could be biased because of how much I was in love with the shade Earthy Pink. If this blush was a little deeper and showed up better, I might be singing a different tune.
Within the realm of cream blushes as a whole, the ABH Cream Blush Stick is not something anyone needs to run out and buy. Both this and Charlotte Tilbury’s look completely different on the face because of their finishes, but they receive the same grade from me.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog post.

-Lili ❤