Solving the Mystery of Blush Placement
Of course there is no wrong or right way to put your blush on right? It's just personal preference. This is somewhat true but knowing some general pro artist guidelines never hurts!
First off you want to leave at least one or two fingers' width between the side of your nostrils and where your blush starts. Otherwise, when blush gets too close to the nose, it can really accentuate redness as if you have a cold. You can sweep blush across your nose for a sun-kissed look but keep it higher on the bridge not near the nostrils. It's also a good idea to use concealer around the nostrils where there might be redness. Otherwise your blush can accentuate it which is not the look we're going for ;) I really like how easy MACs Prep+Prime Highlighter pens are to use and use these on myself as well as clients. The color Light Boost works well on lighter skin tones and Bright Forecast can work on medium warm skin tones. A well matched slightly yellow/cool tone concealer that "stays put" works too. Yellow can cancel out red without being as dramatic as a green corrector. Of course this is personal preference with many variables and different for everyone. But I digress...
Secondly, blush should not sit any lower than the bottom of your nose. You can blend slightly below your nose but the main color focus should be higher. If your blush is too low on your face it can make you look older and as if your cheeks are "sagging". A little higher blush placement can give you the illusion of a face lift. Yay for inexpensive face lifts! Now I love love love my girl Katherine Heigl but her blush is too close to the nose, "muddy"/dark/wrong color and too far below her nostrils. The sweep of blush across her nose should be higher on the bridge as well. The ruddy countouring/bronzing is horrible. Please don't do this.
Blush too close to the nose, too dark and too low on the face.
Lastly if your blush is TOO high it can make you look "dollish" (which if that's what you're going for it looks beautiful on some :) Importantly if blush is too close to your eyes it can bring out redness in and around your eyes (similar to the redness on the nose). Having your blush too high can make a long lower face look even longer so be careful of that. But if you have a very large/long forehead placing the blush higher can minimize your forehead and balance out your face shape. I'm trying not to get into "face shape" on this post but will on a later post. Understanding the basics first is more important.
Blush too high, too much blush in general and too close to the nose. Also terrible terrible powder job but not the focus today ;)
I will also do a post later on BLUSH COLOR but would like to leave this tip. You want blush to look like your cheek color when you are "flushed". I don't think anyone has mud tones as their "flush" color. Below is a dramatic example of muddy blush. Also contouring under the cheeks with a pink/brown toned blush can work against you (blush too low).
Dramatically bad example of muddy, over done, over highlighted and terribly placed blush. Sorry Christina.
Click below to see what I think are beautiful examples of blush placement and color. I hope you learned something from my post and please comment with questions, ideas or any tips you have! I would love to hear from you!
