A well-placed blush can give you a healthy glow, but poorly placed it makes the features heavier. On social networks, a technique validated by make-up artists now promises to lift the face with a simple blush. The principle: play on the layout rather than the quantity of product.
At the heart of this trend, Dominic Skinner, Senior Make-up Artist at MAC Cosmetics, with more than 25 years of experience. He revealed a tip that he believes is capable of providing an instantly lifted face: a method called “down blushing”, based on two shades of blush applied in strategic strips.
Why blush placement changes everything
Placing the blush too low brings the color closer to the natural shadows around the nose and mouth, which can accentuate signs of fatigue. When the color starts higher, at ear level, the eye follows an ascending line and the upper part of the face appears highlighted.
Down blushing uses just this pattern. By drawing an oblique strip of light blush from the top of the ear to the bottom of the cheekbone, then adding a slightly darker shade higher up, we recreate a play of volumes that gives the impression of raised cheekbones.
The down blushing technique explained step by step
First step: choose two blushes, one light, the other a little darker. Dominic Skinner first applies the light blush from the top of the ears to the bottom of the cheekbones, with a brush that follows a gentle diagonal towards the center of the face.
Second gesture, he deposits the dark shade in a thin horizontal line from the top of the ear, without completely covering the first layer, to add depth and contrast. Finally, he slides the brush from the top of the ear to the root of the forehead in order to diffuse the material and blend the two colors.
Down blushing, blush draping, Igari: different effects
Blush draping is closer to contouring. We start on the temple and the top of the cheek, then we go down the face to the level of the nose, before adding blush to the tip. The desired effect is a healthy, sun-kissed glow, which colors the entire center of the face.
Igari blush, designed by makeup artist Igari Shinobu, comes from Japan and covers a large area from one ear to the other, including the top of the cheeks and the nose. Inspired by the rosy cheeks of geishas and Japanese anime, it gives a marked boost of pep and also helps to camouflage a dull complexion or redness, where down blushing mainly targets the lifting effect of the cheekbones.
How to do down blushing?
We apply a light blush diagonally, then a darker strip above.
What products are needed for this technique?
Two blushes, one light and the other slightly darker, and a brush.
Down blushing or blush draping?
The first accentuates the lifting effect, the second especially gives a sun halo.
