Blush and Bronzer

Let’s turn our attention from the fascist takeover of the United States government and to really important issues, such as how to appear as though we are not grey and ashy with exhaustion and despair!

PeaceBang loves rouge for its association with painted ladies and scandalous professions such as ACTING. She owns many blushes and rouges because nothing pops the bone structure and brightens the face like that final application, when the face is all done, of color to the apples of the cheeks, the tip of the nose, the top of the forehead near the hairline, and the pointiest part of the chin.

Right now, bronze tones are IN, but not very many faces really look that good with bronze tones, not to mention all those ridiculous contouring products that the make-up mavens are pushing. Yes, PeaceBang owns contouring make-up and tools and knows how to do it, but that isn’t an endorsement. Contouring is best saved for very dim lighting (eg all those glamorous parties we clergy attend), the camera for professional industry lighting or the stage. Skip it, babies.

What you want is a pretty flush of color that matches your skin tone.
This can take awhile to find, and also depends on what else you use on your face.

It’s not worth your time or money to apply rouge on a bare face; blush ideally needs something to stick to. If you’re not a foundation-wearing gal, a light application of tinted moisturizer will even out the blotchies and provide a nice surface for the rouge to work with.

The key to effective blush is to apply it lightly on the apples of your cheeks and blend, blend, blend up and out, carefully avoiding going too high up near the eye, too far in near the nose and making sure the color sheers out as it approaches the temple. A “buildable formula” is simply one that allows you to apply layers of the product to get to the pigmentation that you want.

In my own blush “wardrobe,” I have sheer cream formulas that make me look fresh-faced, like I’ve been building a snowman out in the cold. I have shimmery very light bronze formulas that I use as highlighter. I have peachy tones that I hardly ever use (Nars “Orgasm” is one industry favorite) unless I have a tan and am wearing a brown-peachy lip tone. I do have some bronzers but they just make my face look dirty, so I increasingly wonder if I should just dump them.

I am a fair-skinned with a lot of pink undertones, so I have realized that I much prefer cool make-up colors to warm. Most make-up artists will go right to the warm, peachy, bronzey colors for clients — including brides — which frustrates me no end!! Bronzey tones are NOT universally flattering. They wash a lot of women out, and that includes lots of women of color. I saw a make-over victim contestant done over on the Kathie Lee and Hoda show a couple of weeks ago (I don’t know what it’s called, it was on at my friend’s house when I was visiting NYC) and was stomping mad that the make-up and hair people colored over this woman’s fabulous cool tones of white and grey and warmed her up so she looked entirely generic and old, not at all playing to her Nordic Winter Goddess coloring. Get out of here, make-up and hair people! I would have given her more white and silver, contrasted it with dark ashy brown, and made her up in cool tones. The bronzey browns make everyone look like a big talking apricot. I can’t TELL you how many brides’ faces I have fixed before they walked down the aisle. They arrive at the church looking like a big blank terra cotta pitcher with no discernible bone structure or lips (just a bunch of gooey glossy mess) and I know they’re going to hate their photos. I always carry make-up bag with me for this purpose, having rescued countless cheekbones from bronzed oblivion.

After years of keeping my eyes open for a light, flattering, not-shimmery or garish PINK blush for myself, I found this Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush and I am loving it:

Too many blushes look like they’re just sitting on top of the skin. This is satiny and blends beautifully well. It also stays on a long time. I wasn’t wearing as much product as it looks like in this photo: I was very hot when I took it.

Cheekbones, ahoy!

Don’t listen to make-up artists who want to dust a bunch of bronzer all over your face. It only works for some complexions (Kardashians, for example) and you are very likely going to look better in something else. You’ll know when you see it: your smile will light the room.