We adore blush because, sweep some soft pink (or vivid coral, or toasty brown) onto our cheeks and our face instantly takes on a healthy, rosy radiance. That’s… until lipsticks come into the picture.
Trying to pair our lipsticks and blushes is where the challenge lies. Sometimes, the lip and cheek colours just don’t work together, and instead of a fresh flush, the strange lipstick-blush duo gives our complexions a pale or yellowish tint.
Matching blush to lipstick seems to come down almost to a science: we’re analysing undertones, tapping into colour theory, and trying to decide if the shades we’re using are warm, cool, or neutral.
The thing is, finding the perfect lipstick-blush pair can be simple – in fact, a two-step type of simple. All you need is just a lippie of choice and a hint of foundation; you can even take blush out of the picture entirely for the ‘mo (maybe even forever)!
Mix foundation with lipstick for the perfect blush shade
TikTok creator @victorialyn demonstrated the blush hack with ease. You choose any lipstick shade, apply it to your lips (as usual), and then swipe some on the back of your hand or a makeup palette.
The magic happens when you add a teensy bit of foundation and blend.
Suddenly, a bright red lipstick turns into a warm coral blush pink, a pinky nude melts into an even creamier beige pink, and a deep brown dissolves into a milky nude blush. Lipstick and blush, with this hack, go together always.
@victorialyn How to match your blush to your lipstick EVERY TIME‼️& make endless amounts of cream blushes🥰💕#makeup #beauty #blush #lipstick
Since monochromatic makeup looks have been trending, this isn’t truly the first time we’ve used lipsticks to rosy up the cheeks. The familiar routine goes: apply the lippie you’ve used on your pout onto your cheeks (too) and blend.
The difference that adding a dash of foundation makes is you get creamier, natural, more blush-worthy shades than ever before.
We know because we’ve already gone ahead and tried this blush hack for ourselves. Grabbing all of the lipsticks we had in our arsenal, we put this trick to the test, and this was our reward.
We try the lippie-blush hack for ourselves
@dailyvanity Can we throw out all our blush now?! 🤯 #blushhack #matchblushtolipstick #blushtutorial #lipsticks #lipstickcolour #tiktoksingapore #tiktokmalaysia ib: @Victoria Lyn 💄
The first lipstick that I grabbed was Sephora’s Lip Blush in Pillow Fight, a plush coral hue. Swiping the tip of the applicator on the back of my hand, I then added just a teensy dot of foundation and blended. The vibrant deep coral melted into a lovely softer pinkish hue.
@victorialyn used a makeup brush to transfer the rosy colours onto her cheekbones, but I used my fingers instead and turned to my go-to beauty blender to spread the lipstick-turned-blush out. The result was a radiant, healthy pink flush, and one that matched my lips completely.
Rosy coral hues – sure. But even a poor lippie-blush pairing in coral won’t totally drain the colour from the face – definitely not as much as a pastel, nude shade would.
Since that was the ultimate test, I picked up M.A.C’s Versicolour Stain in Energy Shot, a cool-toned, almost pale pink on my lips. Often, I find that the ultra-light colour washes out my complexion, which is why this lipstick often remains at the bottom of my makeup bag.
I swept the sheer pink tint over my lips, then onto the back of my hand. After adding a tiny pump of foundation, I blended and watched it turn into an even lighter beige pink.
Dramatic, I know, I braced myself for a mannequin-pale, washed-out complexion. Instead, I was surprised to find that, although the “blush” was a bland pinkish nude shade, it brightened my face just like that, giving it a soft but glowy flush.
An effortless complement to my nude lipstick, my concocted blush shade gave me a reason to bump the lippie much higher up my list of favourite pout-sticks.
Equipped with this TikTok blush hack, I was on a roll. The next product I snatched up wasn’t lipstick but a limited-edition high-shine lip gloss from Fenty Beauty: the Gloss Bomb Cream in Candy Milk.
The warm-toned, deep coral hue glided like honey onto my lips and, the usual, swipe, squeeze, and blend – this time, when I tapped the lighter pink “blush” onto my cheeks, it was sticky and gave my complexion a nice, dewy glow.
Lesson? Matte liquid lipsticks bump up a rosy flush, but lip glosses, they’re here to give your cheeks a real supple glow.
Finally, to make sure that a lipstick-blush blend would work even with a cream lipstick, I reached for the Maybelline Colour Sensational Inti-Mattes in Toasted Brown and smeared it on my skin, mixing it in with the foundation.
Sure enough, it was blendable, though harder to pick up and transfer with my fingers. To speed things up, I pressed the back of my hand directly onto my cheeks, tapping it lightly with my fingers afterwards.
The warm brick red on my lips and toastier brownish-brick colour on my cheeks made this monochrome combination my favourite of all.
Verdict: Does the blush-lipstick hack really work?
Heck yeah, this hack is a game-changer when it comes to choosing the perfect shades for a truly radiant glow no matter the colours on your pout.
Having tried this trick, we recommend using liquid lipsticks for longer staying power (both on my lips and cheeks) and lip glosses should you want to flaunt a dewy, supple shine.
For the ultimate long-lasting blush, lip stains are your best bet. Their colours melt into the skin and stain the cheeks, so your healthy glow will last you through midday and into the late hours of the night.
Really, you’ll never have to worry about matching your blush to lipstick. Plus, if you’re a die-hard fan of this TikTok hack, think of it this way: you won’t need to purchase another blush ever again!
