IIIAMASQUA CREAM BLUSHERS IN RAVISH AND CRUSH

Hold up, I have a new obsession. I love Illamasqua cream blushers in Ravish and Crush, £16 each, www.illamasqua.com (their decadent names are very appropriate as they will do just that). The Ravish shade is a delicious bright raspberry red and the Crush is a deeper cooler raspberry.

I know a lot of black girls are scared of a blush but I love it. It makes the skin come alive, it gives a glow and it lifts your whole make up look. One of my cousins was a model and really should have known better because of all the make up she had to wear for shoots but had that black girl fear of The blush. “Oh it doesn’t look natural, it’s not for us”, is what she would say until one day I literally sat on her and I ain’t easy to budge off and dusted one side of her cheek with a warm deep pink blush. I then said to her, “ look in the mirror, you tell me which side looks better?” She was like, “ohhhh” and she has worn blush ever since. I think in the past people could get overexcited on dark skin and do a nasty angry old fashion brick red blush, as a one size fits all on black girls, which is aging and really 80s in a bad way.

However, Illamasqua’s Ravish and Crush cream blushers are both brilliant as they are packed full of pigment, which is so important for all skin tones, especially darker skin tones as it shows up really well on the skin and looks expensive and not washed out or ashy. You can also use these on the lip as a sexy lip stain. I love the packaging and texture, which is whisper light as it looks like proper rouge from the 18^th Century, which I love and echoes that womanly look seen in some of my favourite films like ‘Dangerous Liaisons’ and  Monica Bellucci (she is ridiculously sexy and womanly isn’t she) in ‘Brotherhood of the Wolf’.

When it comes to blush it’s all about getting the right shade for your skin tone. If you are honey toned like Chanel Iman above or Beyonce warm peaches and golden bronzers will look amazing on you. If you are more like naughty Naomi, although I really doubt you could be as she is being “’inconvenienced” by having to give evidence in the Hague for accepting dirty looking rocks AKA uncut diamonds –bush -from an alleged African dictator who is said to have raped, pillaged, had slaves and child soldiers errrr red deeper toned shades will look fab on you. You can see in the pictures what blush does for her skin as the image where she is going solo looks quite flat and washed out and the other image with the blush adds radiance to her face.

With cream blush, a little goes a long way, make sure to dab on the blush to the apples of the cheek and blend, blend, blend like you have never blended before. Buffing the cream blusher into your skin will make it look natural and like light and vitality are trying to explode out of your pores. This is good. Go on give it a go and you’ll be amazed how you ever did without it.