The Best Cream Blushes, According to Experts

To say that blush is making a comeback is to suggest that blush ever went anywhere in the first place — but it is having a moment. My feed is currently filled with cheekbones awash in berry and orangey hues, and I can’t walk more than a few feet in Bed-Stuy without seeing an arresting shade of red running from cheek to temple. But unlike blushes of yesteryear, which tended toward the ultrapigmented and powdery, the blush I’m seeing is punchy yet natural and moves with the skin. The resulting look is your-skin-but-better that may make passersby wonder: Did you just come back from vacation or is that Glossier Cloud Paint?

The obsession with cream blush has been building for a while now. In 2018, Rio reported that it was the most-asked question by her beauty-obsessed Instagram followers, and since then, the momentum has only continued to grow, as makeup trends tend toward skin-focused, glowy looks. “Everyone wants that sun-kissed glow,” says Brooke Devard, a product marketing manager at Instagram and host of the Naked Beauty Podcast. “Cream blush gives you a dewy finish and feels more modern than powder blush.” Makeup artist Karol Rodriguez describes them as a “highlighter and blush in one.” This is due to the emollient texture of the formulas, which Rodriguez likes because it “reflects light and gives the skin an unbelievable skin-like, lit-from-within glow that powders simply can’t achieve.” Cream blushes are also more forgiving. Because of the texture, cream blush sinks into the skin rather than sitting on top of it like a powder, meaning it won’t cling to dry patches or acne or emphasize skin texture.

In addition to giving skin a naturally flushed glow, cream blushes are notoriously easy to apply and difficult to mess up. All you need are your fingers and a sense of where to place the product. The one downside to cream blush is that it’s, well, cream. That means it’s subject to sliding and fading over time, especially if your skin is oily. Luckily, it’s easily fixed. To make it last longer, Rodriguez recommends setting the blush with a matching powder blush or translucent setting powder. Then, to really lock it in, they recommend using a finishing spray to give the powder a skin-like finish.

Now that cream blushes are popular, it seems that there are endless options to choose from. To find the best ones we asked Devard, Rodriguez, and 12 more experts about their favorites, which we’ve rounded up, below.

Best cream blush for fair skin tones

Jane Iredale Glow Time Blush Stick

Makeup artist Min Min Ma says she uses cream blush about “95 percent of the time,” and she often reaches for this Jane Iredale stick. “The consistency of the blush stick is right on, not too oily or dry, and gives the right amount of glow,” she says.

Her favorite shade is Mist, a shimmery, cool-toned pink, which she says looks great on fair-to-medium skin tones and can be used as a highlighter on deeper skin.