Try This: Tint Your Highlighter

Being on a low buy or a no buy can be very tough, especially when you have direct deposit set up. The money hits your account, a Valentine's Day sale springs to your attention, and all you can think is, "Yeah, I have $50 extra to spend right now." This happened to me this past week with a product that has been tempting me for about a year now, the Becca Beach Tint Shimmer Souffles. These little pots swatch beautifully and look amazing in others bloggers' photographs; they look like the most perfect, glowy blush-highlighter hybrids.

I managed to resist by reminding myself that I have tons of products already, most of them are liquids and creams (which mix easily), and I used to play Makeup Mixologist on the back of my hand all the time. So let's just go back to my roots and save $27!

Daylight on left, flash on right.

Here are two of the combinations I really fell in love with. The first is equal parts MAC Strobe Cream and Becca Beach Tint in Dragonfruit; it creates a glowing coral shade that looks--surprise surprise--a lot like the swatches I've seen of Becca's Lychee/Opal mix, just less golden. If you wanted to create more of a soft pink highlighter, you could easily add a far smaller amount of the Beach Tint to your white highlighter for that effect.

I also wanted to see if I could add a smaller amount of highlighter to a cream blush to make it softer and more dewy. The BBIA Downy Cheek blushes are already quite creamy, but if you want a more pastel shade with even more glow, you can add a dab of MAC Strobe Cream, blend the two, and get the effect.

If you really want to add a powder to a highlighter and see the results, you can, but one of the products should still be a cream or liquid, and loose powders are obviously easier to use. Also, you don't have to use flat white highlighters; other shades can work.

Here's an example using Kismet Cosmetics Toasty highlighter (top left) mixed with MAC Jardin Aires pigment (top right--squint to see it). Mixing the two makes the highlighter more golden and reflective. The bottom left shows the mixture swatched heavily, which I think would make a gorgeous eye color, and the bottom right shows the mixture sheered out, which is a slightly lighter, more glowing, and more golden cheek or brow highlight than Toasty is on its own.

Obviously, you can still apply your blush, then top it with a bit of highlighter. That's a stand-by routine that I'll probably use for most of my makeup wearing days. But mixing the two products together, than applying, really can give you a different effect and provide you with a wider range of colors to choose from. As an added bonus, if you really enjoy a mixture you make, you can pre-mix it and save it in an airtight container from a store like TKBTrading.com.

REVIEW: BBIA Downy Cheek

While much of the Korean makeup look is not up my alley (no matte lips, wuuuuut?!), other parts are absolutely My Bag. This includes the focus on youthful, glowy skin, which prompts Korean companies to produce dozens and dozens of lush cream blush formulas. (They produce a lot of nice powder blushes as well, but alas, I don't use powder blush.) I was particularly drawn to the BBIA Downy Cheek blushes, though, because:

1. They're super cheap; I paid about $6 for each one at F2Plus1.
2. The colors are right up my alley: pretty peaches, bright pinks, and soft pastels.
3. There's no shimmer! So many pastel products are glittery or frosty, but these are absolutely shimmer-free.

So I maybe went a bit crazy and bought four of the five shades. Oops.

The Downy Cheek blushes come in 3.5 gram pans, housed in simple plastic compacts. I'll be the first to admit it: the compacts are cheap-looking, and they certainly don't give the product a luxe feel. They're surprisingly sturdy, however, and they snap shut very tightly, so I won't bitch about it too much.

The formula has an especially emollient feel: rub your finger across one of these and it practically turns to liquid. The one exception is the Lavender shade, which is still very creamy, but has a slightly waxier feel than the other shades. I find that these are (like most cream blushes) best applied with fingers to prevent streaking and get a seamless look. However, you can certainly blend them out with a small synthetic foundation brush.

The thin texture of these blushes means you can layer them for stronger and stronger color. I personally tend to do two thin layers, which provides plenty of pigment on my fair skin; darker skinned folks may need to add a bit more to get real color pay off. The staying power on my dry skin is also decently impressive: I get about 6 hours of wear.

Here are the slew o' shades! The first two I purchased were #01 Pink and #02 Peach. Pink is (as the name suggests) a bright, cool-toned, bubblegum pink. Peach is a cooler peach with some pink in it. This has quickly become my favorite shade of the bunch; it reminds me of Kevyn Aucoin Tansoleil, but slightly brighter and "girlier."

I then ordered two more and decided to go for the "odd" shades you can't usually find in western brand line-ups: #03 Apricot and #04 Lavender. Apricot is that very yellow peach shade that never ever EVER looks right on me, but I keep buying it because Reasons. Lavender is one of the few true lavender blushes I've seen, and while it's lovely on pale skin, I think the strong white base will render this worthless on medium to dark skintones. (I swatched it on NC30ish skin and it looked very chalky.)

I've seen a review or two describe the BBIA Downy Cheek blushes as "matte," and I have to say I'm surprised by the idea. My skin is dry and I've been wearing these during the fall/winter season, and these definitely apply dewy and glowy on my skin. They do dry down to a more satin finish throughout the day, but they're definitely not matte on me. I'm therefore lead to believe that, between the emollient texture and dewy finish, these aren't the best option for oily skin.

To demonstrate the shine, the picture above shows #03 Apricot on my cheeks about 30 minutes after I applied it. There is no highlighter on my cheeks at all, but oooh, shiny! Also, yes, I am aware that this shade does not work on me at all, but I wanted to demonstrate the finish.

I am truly, truly loving these blushes. Except for Apricot (which looks awful on me), these have become a winter staple for me. If you're looking for a cheap but effective Korean cream blush, give these guys a try!

RATING: 4 out of 5