Canmake Cream Cheek Tint

Being a loyal fan of Canmake Cream Cheeks, I dutifully tried and love the Lip & Cheek Gels as well. So when these Cream Cheek Tints came out, I had to give them a try too. I have the first three colors, 01 Fresh Pop Melon, 02 Happy Strawberry, and the LE 03 Peony Mellow.

There's also a new color I don't have, 04 Plum Cherry. I'm not sure if it's permanent or LE because it isn't listed on Canmake's official site. Either way, I'm not too sad because I'll be skipping it. Yes, I'm skipping it, and I should have skipped the first three also :(

All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

You can probably sense my frustration. At 1.9g product content these Cream Cheek Tints are bigger than the 1.5g Lip & Cheek Gels and smaller than the original 2.2g Cream Cheeks, and yet out of all three the original Cream Cheeks are cheapest. As for these tints, for an additional 20yen I got a tiny, quarter-sized sponge applicator that I'd rather not have. I'd prefer saving the 20yen because that sponge is as useful to me as wet toilet paper. Urgh.

The original Cream Cheeks versus Lip & Cheek Gels versus the newest Cream Cheek Tints. 

And yet that stupid sponge even got its own compartment within the compact! Sure, I get it. These Cream Cheek Tints are supposed to stain. Citrine correctly pointed out that while we understand "tints" as just a hint of color, in Japan "tint" seems to mean "stain". Canmake wants to make sure I don't get my fingertips stained applying their cheek tints. I appreciate the consideration, I really do. The problem is that other than my fingertips, I find these tints don't really stain. 

These feel just like the Lip & Cheek Gels in texture, and I like that they're shimmer free. However, pigmentation-wise they're totally transparent and have little color, a far cry from both the original Cream Cheeks and the Lip & Cheek Gels. These wouldn't even stain the back of my hands naked without any hand creams, much less my moisturized cheeks with sunscreen and possibly sunscreen powder. And there's no way I'm skipping moisturizer or sunscreen, even the easy-on-easy-off stuff, just to wear cheek color. That's just silly. 

They did stain my naked lips though but I hated the thin, silicone-y feel and desperately needed some moisture. Of course, applying lip balm underneath would prevent the staining and applying lip balm on top would fade the stain fast. So sad to say but these Cream Cheek Tints are totally useless to me.

- 01 Fresh Pop Melon: coral.

- 02 Happy Strawberry: pink-red.

- 03 Peony Mellow: pink.

From left to right: 01 Fresh Pop Melon, 02 Happy Strawberry, and 03 Peony Mellow. All three look so similar I can barely tell the swatches apart and had to take a comparison photo for reference. Can you see much color after blending? No? Me neither!