Spring is here and while a lot of life remains rather depressing in these apocalyptic times, I will happily take any opportunity I can get to feel just that little bit happier. Brand new cream blush offerings from basically every brand under the sun make me happy. Is that fleeting joy? Possibly. Is it enough? These days, a hundred percent, yes. This post is an edit of of my favourites so far - so that you too, can get your moment of fleeting joy (I hope!). Here we go.

Manasi 7 – All Over Color: Dianthus, Fuschsine

If a pharmacy and an art supply store had a baby, it would probably look like these little pots of color. Manasi 7’s All Over Color is a multi-use cream color that feels like a pigmented ointment housed in a small, perfectly made, tiny white pot with a lid that screws on and off very satisfyingly. In art supply stores, when I have to buy a larger amount of paint, it usually comes in a jar or a pot and some of them feel exactly like these Manasi offerings. Scale those art supply store pots down by a lot and fill it with pigment that is equally bright but that you can finger paint onto your face and that somehow blends into a flushed wash, and you have the perfect little pot of color to throw into your purse to use basically everywhere. The texture is creamy and emollient, a touch waxy so they don’t go on too slip-ey on the cheeks, and while they don’t last forever, they are pigmented enough to hold their own in the court of balmy blush formulas. I have these in the colors Dianthus – a perfect pale, baby pink – and Fuschsine, an incredibly bright, punchy fuschia. I have bought pots of creams and ointments that looked exactly like these from pharmacies in Vienna and I can vouch for the same fleeting taste of magic that I encounter when I pull one of these pots out of my purse, unscrew the lid, and dip my fingers into the luscious pink goodness inside.

From L to R: Dianthus, Fuchsine

Hourglass Vanish Blush Stick: Sacred, Wonder, Adore

Hourglass’ entire Vanish line is exquisitely formulated. Already a fan of their Vanish Stick Foundation and highlighters, I was more than excited for these new cream blush offerings. I am happy to report that they do not disappoint – deliciously creamy and pigmented, these slide on like butter, spread like a dream, and impart an almost ethereal luminosity to the skin even though after blending they mattify a little – and they last and last. Sacred is the perfect peachy-pink, Wonder is a pale peach, and Adore is a scarlet-berry that transforms into a cool-toned berry-pink on the skin (an unexpected favorite). The bullets are in standard Hourglass makeup stick style – triangular cylinders of shiny, reflective gold that feel weighty and luxurious in my hand and would do any countertop proud. Like many other Hourglass products, these blushes are impeccable, and I am pretty sure that I will soon succumb to buying all the other colors that I don’t currently own as well.

From Top to Bottom: Wonder, Adore, Sacred. From LtoR - Swatches: Sacred, Wonder, Adore

Tower28 Beach Please Tinted Balm for Lips + Cheeks: Rush Hour, After Hours

Tower28 is quite the favorite child of makeup artists and Instagram enthusiasts these days and I can see why – these tinted balms look and feel incredibly modern. Tower 28 knows how to design things and you can see that in every product in the tight lineup of makeup it puts out under its banner. These tinted balms are essentially two pieces of thick, clear, high-quality plastic that close with an ergonomic efficiency and smoothness that is not as easy to design as it may look. Enclosed within the razor-sharp lines of these thick, clear squares, is a juxtaposition of shape – a perfectly round circle of creamy, balmy, emollient color – as shiny as the clear glass that holds it. If you haven’t already encountered this formula, you should know that this is one of the seemingly balmiest cream blushes to the touch and yet, when I tap it onto my skin, it adheres almost like a sticky, waxy cream, blends out like a cheek stain, and does not feel tacky after. These new colors for Spring 2021 include Rush Hour – another perfect peachy-pink that is a little more peach than pink; and After Hours, a berry with the hint of cool brown. It lasts too. And your cheeks look like a hundred dollars – what more can a girl ask for.

From LtoR: Rush Hour, After Hours

Rare Beauty Melting Blush: Nearly Rose, Nearly Mauve

With these blushes, before anything, we must first discuss the packaging with which I am utterly enamored. These are small, pink pebbles of cream blush, all smooth, and rounded and pebbly – deliciously satisfying to look at and to hold in the palm of your hand. I would hesitate to call this pink the famous ‘Glossier’ pink because it is slightly cooler in tone and because I may actually prefer this shade to Glossier’s version. The cream inside is a circle of pigment that looks like someone slightly squashed and flattened a ball of color to press it into the pan. They look like they would be heavy, they are actually quite light and in that there is a modern sculptural quality to them – things are not what they appear to be, a pebble is not a pebble, you get the drift. The blush inside is wonderful – creamy but thin, goes on feather-light and dries down to a semi-matte finish. Nearly Rose is a bright fuchsia pink, and Nearly Mauve is more of a dusty-rose with a hint of berry. These blushes make great gifts because they look so damn perfect and I would totally throw a bunch of these in a glass bowl on a coffee table as an accent.

From L to R: Nearly Mauve, Nearly Rose

Melt Cosmetics Cream Blushlight: Honey Thief

This was my first Melt Cosmetics purchase ever (I know, shocker!) and as soon as I dipped my finger into this blush, my first thought was – yes, you can finally throw away your very old Bobbi Brown Pot Rouges because here is finally a formula that is as close to them as you can get. And that, ladies and gentlemen (and all other genders), is my one-line summary of this new offering from Melt Cosmetics. Thin, super emollient, and shiny, this formula is a little less tacky than Bobbi Brown’s but the finish and the feel is very similar to those long-forgotten pot rouges and this shade, Honey Thief – a beautiful coral-peach-pink – is almost an exact dupe for BB’s Calypso Coral, an old favorite that I just couldn’t bring myself to throw out. If you are like me, and if you too, were clutching on to your BB Pot Rouges for dear life, unclench those fingers – because Melt has done it. While I would have liked a few shades of non-pearlescent cool pinks, I am just glad for this new range and hope that it grows and expands its color range. Shiny, glow-y, happy cheeks? Oh yes.