Every single day (there truly isn't a day that goes by) I see women with their blush applied horrendously. They've either got on entirely too much, so much it looks like stripes on their cheeks, or so little that they look tired and blah. Here are a few examples of how NOT to wear your blush!
Christina Aguilera - LOVE the red lips, HATE that blush! What could possibly be considered flattering about that? If it were about ten shades lighter, she'd look amazing.
Hayden Panettiere - she's so pretty with such a lovely complexion, but those dark cheeks distort her face!
I'm not going to point out everything wrong with Lil Kim's look here (trust me, it's more than just the blush, but that should be obvious), but that blush - really??
I get a lot of ladies asking me where exactly on their face are they supposed to even put their blush. I see women with it on right on the apples of their cheeks 98% of the time, with can work for some face shapes, but not all.
If you have a round shaped face, you want to apply your blush diagonally from the outer corner of your mouth up towards the top of the ear. This will visibly thin the face, making it look a little longer instead of so round. Below are some pictures of good blush application for a round face.
If you have a square-shaped face, you'll want to soften the jawline by starting your blush on the cheekbones at about the center of the eye, and blend back up toward the temples. If you add a little brush of your blush across the forehead and down the chin, very, very softly, it will also round out the jawline a little.
For a rectangular face, you want to put the blush on similar to the square-shaped face, except instead of starting at the center of the eyes, you'll want to start at the outer edge of the eyes and blend back to the temples. This will give the illusion of a slightly wider face.
If you have an oval-shaped face, you're kind of lucky because just about any way you put on your blush (or wear your hair) is going to look pretty good. I'm oval-shaped, and I like to apply my blush similar to the round-shaped face should (from the corner of the mouth, diagonally up towards the top of the ear) but I do something a little different - I apply it just underneath the cheekbone instead of actually on the cheekbones. This gives the illusion of slightly sunken-in cheeks, instantly taking five pounds off my face.
I swear I'm not naked in this picture - I have on a strapless bridesmaid dress.
For a long face, the idea is to try to widen it. Applying the blush on the apples of the cheeks, straight back in a horizontal line to the ear will widen the face perfectly.
And finally, we come to the heart-shaped (if you have a widow's peak) or upside-down triangle-shaped face. Women with this shape seem to have the most difficult time applying their blush. For this shape, you'll want to apply your blush just like the round shape - start at the apples on the cheekbones and apply diagonally back toward the tops of the ears. Then, you'll want to sweep the blush softly up the temples and even slightly over the eyebrows. This sounds nuts, but try it out - it will help balance the wideness of your forehead against your narrow jawline and pointy chin.
If you're really not sure what exactly your face shape is, push your hair back with a headband so you can see the entire outline of your face. Grab a tube of lipstick you don't wear very often, and stand directly in front of the mirror and draw the outline you see reflected. Take a step back - that should give you a better idea as to what face shape you are and help figure out how you need to apply your blush.
I'll make my next post on what colors I recommend for each skin tone, and which ones I really love, so be sure to check back in the next few days for that one!
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