Essence Blush Lighter review

Whenever Essence releases new blushes I get excited. Why you may ask? Because Essence kills it in the blush department. That’s right: not just the affordable blush department, but blush department in general. Out of all my blushes, my Matt Touch blush by Essence is right up there in the top 10 for me alongside many more expensive blushes. So when Essence came out with the Blush Lighter for Spring/ Summer 2020, I knew I had to try them. Are these any good?

Review: Essence Blush Lighter Gradient Powder Blush 03 Cassis Sunburst & 04 Peachy Dawn

Of these new blushes I picked up two shades out of four: there is also a nude and a coral shade in this line, but both of those looked quite dark to me on the website. So I therefore went with the peach and mauve shades. What else is new? Peach and mauve are easily my two favorite blush shades and so I was happy to see such an affordable brand do them. One blush retails for €3.89, which is an absolutely steal for blush. Some of my other favorites are much more expensive and I love how Essence can give you a similar look for far less money.

Essence Blush Lighter 04 Peachy Dawn

So what might you expect from these Essence blushes? Well, for one they are a gradient blush with color on one side and a shimmering powder on the other. This has me suspect that you can either where the shades separately as a blush and highlight or swirled together for a glowy look. I like to wear these mainly swirled together and especially this peachy shade is pretty on the cheeks. The shade is very fair and therefore makes for a stunning glowy blush.

What is the shade Peachy Dawn like?

Peachy Dawn has to be my favorite of the two. Peach blush shades do not always look right on me as they can be too orange, but this is spot on. The effect this gives is that of a very healthy glow to the cheeks, but without any obvious glitter or a very high shine metallic effect. I used the highlighter side as a highlight in my first impression with the new Essence Spring/ Summer 2020 products and it worked, but if you like a very shiny highlight this will not work for you.

Essence Blush Lighter 03 Cassis Sunburst

Of the two shades I have, Cassis Sunburst is for sure the more pigmented blush of the two. This has more color than shine, whereas the peach shade has more shine than color. I love mauve toned blushes on me though: they make for a very wearable blush shade. They give off that barely there sort of color and I like that in a blush. This was on my cheeks for two consecutive weeks at the start of April. I was obsessed!

What does the shade Cassis Sunburst look like?

First of all, can we take a moment to appreciate the shade name? I think that Cassis Sunburst is a very apt name for this shade. If you look carefully at the pan you can also see that the shade of shimmer is also slightly more rosy toned than the one that comes in the peach shade. At first I was afraid that the shimmer might be overspray, but after using both of these blushes for 2 weeks in a row each, I have not yet seen the shimmer part wear down to wear it becomes invisible. This truly seems to be a gradient blush through and through.

How does the Blush Lighter swatch?

For these swatches I have swirled the two shades in each compact together. As I knew that was how I would be wearing them, I figured it would make sense to also swatch them that way. As you can see, the peach shade has a lot of glow, but less color to it. The mauve shade has a deeper tone to it, but because of the glow it still looks very wearable and natural. What you have to know about these is that both of these shades are a bit on the powdery side. Especially the peachy shade has a lot of kick up once you stick a brush in. Not to the point where it is difficult to use, but just good to know. These blend on easily and on me these blushes stay put all day.

What do these blushes look like on the face?

I tried my best to get good pictures of these on my cheeks, but their beauty was difficult to capture on camera. The minute my camera shutter clicked that lovely glow these blushes has just disappeared. You can therefore see much better what these look like on in videos where I am wearing/ applying these. You can see the peach shade in my most recent Get Ready With Me. The mauve shade is on my cheeks on pretty much every video I posted at the start of April. For instance, the Colourpop Monochromatic palette review I posted. I wore that blush continously when I was doing those looks.

My final thoughts

These Essence Blush Lighter blushes took me by surprise, but in hindsight I think they shouldn’t have. Essence does some amazing blushes and they have been for years. So why I was so pleased with these and still surprised, I don’t know. What I do know is that for that price point these just can’t be beat. They remind me a lot of the Too Faced Fruit Cocktail duos, but then less sparkly and a lot more subtle. And that is a good thing, because I struggled finding a shade that worked for me in that Too Faced line. These are wearable, pretty blushes that do exactly what I like my blush to do.

Would I recommend the Essence Blush Lighter blushes?

Yes! You just can’t go wrong with an Essence blush. So I don’t care which one you try, as long as you try them. The only problem with Essence is that they are continuously taking products out of there range to replace them with new ones. So when you find one that you like, you may want to grab it asap because you just never know how long it may be around for.

What do you think of these blushes?