When Black Girls Blush.

By show of hands, who loves blush but is scared to wear it because she is dark skinned or who loves blush and has actually worn it but the minute you step your friends are like, ‘What is that blush on your cheeks? Girl, seriously.’ ‘Oh do black people blush now? Hahaha!’

Wow, so many hands. Okay hands down. This only goes to confirm the conservative belief people have that blush would look horrible on black girls or worse, that black people don’t blush. My question is, since when?

Let me first start by unmystifying these silly myths.

Truth number one: EVERYONE blushes. Dark  tones just prevents you from seeing the pink pigmentation under some people’s skin when they blush. Which is a good thing if you’re trying to mask your emotions but let’s not get into that now.

Secondly, EVERYONE can wear blush. If you’ve got a cheek, there’s a blush out there waiting to sit on it.

Thirdly, if you are dark, colour is your friend. The darker you are, the brighter/more colourful your blush. As sick as that sounds, it is the truth. Light skinned girls do not need to use a lot of colour on their cheeks because even the nudest tones will be very visible on them. So if you are light skinned, you want to use light shades of pink or even nude blushes. Dark girls on the other hand should embrace colour. Coral hues and bright peach are what you should go for.

That’s about as many myths as I can unmystify for you today.

The million dollar question now is, which blush is perfect for who?

 Blushes come in different textures. There is the compact which is a powder. It is more preferable, to use the compact OVER your foundation as it will sit better on tour cheek. Powder blushes should be applied very lightly. A little goes a long way. Too much will tend to look heavy. You do not want your blusher to look like an extra heavy layer of powder on your face. There is also a matte blush or a liquid/gel blush. These can be applied either under your foundation if you are going for a light touch look or over your foundation if you’re going for a more dramatic look.

Another method is using a bronzer as blush which does amazing tricks for your face. It highlights your cheek bones and makes light reflect off your face. In fact you achieve that ‘sculpted effect’ on your face. Bronzers are good because even though they will almost match your skin tone, because they are shimmery you will have that constant glow about your face.  Only be sure you apply the right bronzer on the right spot.

1. Light Skin ( Think Beyonce, Chanel Iman or Cassie)

Like I said earlier, nude blushes are perfect for light skin tones.

Light skinned girls can also wear very soft pink tones perfectly. The blush colour needs to be more on a subtle than bright side.

Light brown bronzers would look perfect on light skinned girls.

2. Caramel/Medium/Deep Skin (Think Gabrielle Union, Ciara, Jennifer Hudson or Naomi Campbell)

Girls with this skin colour should go a shade or two brighter than those with light skin. A stronger pink, peach or raspberry would be perfect.

With deep skin, the bronzer should be a darker gold hue that would match their tan look.

3. Dark Skin (Think Kelly Rowland, Estelle, Alek Wek, Tika Sumpter).

This is where colour comes in. The darker you are the brighter your blush. Many people when they think of blush they immediately think pink. Which is cliche. These days blushes come in several different colours that I cannot begin to enumerate. If you are really dark skinned then your best bet would be something like coral, fuschia or a deep rose red.

This gel blush by MAC is perfect for dark skinned girls. This colour is called Rose Romance. It has a gel texture which means that a little goes a long way. Also you choose to apply it under or over your foundation depending on how loud you want your cheeks.

Bronzers for dark skin could be gold, or shimmery dark brown so as to really highlight a strong cheek bone.

Quiet please! Yep, that’s me. Permit me to use myself as demonstration even though this photo is kind of dated. But yes, as you can see I was feeling a bit rosy that evening (flower in my hair explained) so I went with my coral blush. I am wearing Sleek Make Up Blush, Colour Number 935 called Flushed. Coral is one of my favourite colours so I try to use it as much as I can.

TIPS

-Make sure to use the right brush to apply your blush.

-Do NOT apply blush directly under your eyes. Blush is applied on the cheeks. If you want to hit the right spot suck in your cheeks, the hard bone just below the sides of your eyes is where you should apply your blush.

FIND OF THE DAY.

If you are blusher girl, I found this amazing blusher/bronzer combo that you absolutely have to try. It is a trio of colours and also has a bronzer in it. What more could a cheek ask for?

Hope you found this post helpful and inspiring as well.

If you tried something bold and would like to flaunt, please send to my email artbecomesyou@yahoo.com

Holla 🙂