Color Your Glow Up With This Idiot Proof Cheek Stain

I am a big blush fan. If you ask me, the solution to your tired look isn’t industrial strength undereye concealer, it’s a good blush. I was using Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush which is heavenly, if expensive (I wrote about how I use the travel size to save some money here). I was running low on that gorgeous, fabulous Hourglass blush and I went to Sephora thinking, “Maybe I’ll buy the full size - after all, I am infatuated with it.” But when I got to the Hourglass display and saw that a full size Ambient Lighting Blush is $38 I broke into a cold sweat. I knew that all Hourglass products are expensive, and I’m sure I’ve checked the price of a full size blush in the past, but I just wasn’t prepared for that. I decided then and there that I needed to find an alternate.

I’d like to note that my Sephora store has a very obvious security guard stationed in the store at all times, and each and every one of the guards I’ve seen has been humorless and intimidating. I have never shoplifted a single thing, yet this security makes me itchy. Just me walking up aisle after aisle, sometimes coming back and looking at something again, made me feel like a suspicious shopper who would be kicked out any minute.

Despite the constant fear and anxiety of swatching makeup with a body builder breaking down my neck, I managed to decide to try Milk Makeup’s Lip + Cheek. I can’t believe that’s the whole name. Not Lip + Cheek Stain? Lip + Cheek Color? APPARENTLY NOT.

I used to use Tarte’s Cheek Stain almost 20 years ago (yeesh) and that formula was a gel. It was NOT suitable for an oily faced individual like myself, and would be gone in an hour or two. (Tarte still sells two shades of Cheek Stain on their website, and it’s no longer a gel.) I think that was my last foray into cheek stains instead of powder blush, but I’ve heard great things about Milk Makeup and this formula is a cream instead of a gel. I chose Perk, a coral shade, and was instantly in love.

I’ve started skipping setting powder (something I thought I’d NEVER do) and just using oil blotting sheets when I feel a little too slick. Wearing CC cream, concealer, and this cream blush is so quick and easy, and the coral color really suits my complexion (which, in case you don’t know, is the color of an unopened box of printer paper). I feel pretty but low maintenance. Like how a magazine would breathlessly describe the mythical French Girl.

With a gorgeous blush that’s easy to use, I think I might be tempted to explore other Milk Makeup offerings. Milk also makes sticks of cream bronzer and highlighter, and if there were ever something to make me want to spend time on bronzer and highlighter it’s this no-nonsense packaging. They even make skincare in a stick! Genius.

If you, like me, are embracing a simple, dewy look, you absolutely must try Milk Makeup’s Lip + Cheek. It’s (compared to Hourglass) affordable, easy to use, and makes you feel like a cool French Girl in a beauty feature.