Yoohoo~! How was your weekend gais? Sorry for the slight hiatus again – I zoomed over to Hong Kong for a weekend jaunt (will blog about that very soon!), and it was such a fast and furious thing that I’m all red-faced now from the flurry of activities. In fact, the flush I got from all the rushing was pretty similar to this natural and new cushion blusher from Lancome (whom I must say I’m having a newfound level of respect for, cos they’re recognising the makeup trends and adopting them sooner than their western counterparts). After being one of the first western brands to launch a cushion foundation, they are now one of the first western brands to launch a cushion blusher, and in an amayzingly wide rage of 7 colours too!
I say…
The Packaging: A mini version of the usual cushion foundation compact, about 6cm across and 2cm tall. It comes complete with the inbuilt mirror, sponge tray/airlock and a mini puff that fits about2 fingers at most into its ribbon strap. It has the same packaging as the IOPE’s cushion blusher. As with all new cushion-type products, this also comes with the seal to ensure that moisture is not lost, and I must give props to Lancome for its very good quality of plastic used. For someone like me who lives in an Alibaba cave with tonnes of makeup and rotates using them, this seal is reusable and helps to keep it moist for a longer period of time in storage.
The Scent: It has a nice fragrance that’s not particularly overwhelming.
The Texture/Finish: The cushion portion holding the blush is soft and rather “juicy” – there’s no need to press the puff too hard to pick up the product. It is indeed cooling, and very moistfull (7g of product), and goes onto the skin super easily. In fact, I find it a “waste” to use the puff to pick up the product because I have this odd mindset that the product will be absorbed into the puff, when it can be put to better use (i.e. making me look purdee). Heh. Anyhoos, I like using my fingers (after disinfecting them butofcourse), and just patting them onto my cheeks. Because it’s quite “wet”, they’re super blendable, and yet doesn’t streak. It settles onto the skin easily and has a nice glowy dewy finish.
The Verdict: I’m a sucker for cushion-type products, and I find that this actually performs better than IOPE’s Cushion Blusher because Lancome’s pigments are stronger , and the cushion is “juicier”. I’d call this a cheek tint – the color stays on for a pretty long time (I’m going 7 hours and counting, and it hasn’t faded much). Even though it comes in a compact little casing that makes it convenient for carrying around, I didn’t see much need to touch up (unless you’re using it as a lip colour, but it doesn’t quite show up against my naturally darker lip colour). It doesn’t settle much into the enlarged pores of the skin, and gives a nice dewy glowy finish, which helps highlight the cheekbones. The one downside I have is its price tag – at $55, there’s no denying that it is pricey and could buy you 3 of Pony’s blusher. Worth a try if you’ve got some extra monies to spend.