Stila Make Me Blush Cheek Color

Hopping countries every few months, sometimes I get frustrated that my favorite things are scattered all around. Of course I can always ask my parents or my sister to send me my stuff, but I don't like bothering my them with my frivolity. And of course I can get more too, but I always stop myself with the thought, well, what are am I going to do with the ones I already have at home, especially when I'll be visiting in a few months?

Well, those few months turned into two years, and this Stila Make Me Blush Cheek Color is one of those favorite things that were left behind. It was a Valentines 2011 limited edition that arrived at my parents' after I had already returned to Japan, and here I am finally getting to it T.T

Stila Make Me Blush Cheek Color. All pictures taken in natural light without flash. I accidentally threw out the box prior to taking pictures of it. Sorry!

I'm actually quite surprise this blush went for a mere $14. As you can see, it's a gorgeous mosaic of warm peach, pink, and red in heart shape, with the gold being a thin sprayed-on layer. It's very pigmented, finely milled and is thus soft and silky, almost creamy to the touch. And you get a whole lot of it - 9.9g/0.34oz.! Each time, I only need to gently dab my current go-to blush brush (the Stila 24A Blush Brush) onto the bottom edge of the pan, under the hearts, shaking off the extras, to get a beautiful reddish coral glow. So it's pretty clear that I will never ever hit pan with this thing, even if I tried. Good thing I have been keeping up with Stila limited editions in the past 2 years. I love this blush to death, and I can't wait to get to the others!

- 24-karat gold: this color is only a thin layer that was sprayed on, and while I'm glad it isn't an actual part of the blush, I truly wish it's available as an eye shadow. I don't care if Stila put it in an individual pan or a palette or a set, I will buy whatever that has it. In fact, the moment I swatched it, I regretted dearly wasting however much of it on the back of my hand. It's a jaw-dropping metallic and super pigmented 24-karat gold that belongs on the eyes and not the cheeks. The reason I'm only using the bottom edge of this blush is that I want to save the rest of it to use as eye shadow ^.^ In addition, because it was sprayed over the coral and the pinks, picking it up (with my favorite Stila #33 Complexion Brush) means picking up a tiny little of bit those colors too, which only add more of a reddish-pinky dimension and depth to the already red-tinged gold. I don't wear this color on my entire lid. However, dabbing it onto the center of my eyes, directly above my iris, will make my whole eyes pop, probably due to my dark eyes. So yes, I love, love, love this gold overspray so much! Stila, please make this into an eye shadow, please?
- Peach: a warm and fluffy (yes, fluffy) peach with pink undertone.
- Pink: a medium petal pink that's still leaning warm. Whenever I don't want red on my cheeks, I squeeze around until I can pick up just the peach and the pink for a pretty and flattering pink flush. This is the reason I'm loving the Stila #24A Blush Brush too as its flattened pointy crown makes easier to pick up trickier colors like this.
- Red: a bright, bold, and sometimes screaming, orangey red. I have to tiptoe around this one as a gentlest dab of the brush will pick up more than enough pigment to turn my cheeks red. Despite that, I love this color and the warmth it adds to my (sometimes colorless) face.

Clockwise from top right: 24K gold, peach, red, and pink. This is actually a terrible swatch, because it's too bright and washed out to distinguish between the peach and the pink. Please refer to the pan picture, these are two different colors that swatch true to how they appear in the pan.