e.l.f. Baked Blush Review & Swatches

I feel like I'm the only person in the world that hasn't tried e.l.f.'s Studio Baked Blush ($3), so I bought all four shades during a recent e.l.f. haul. I was surprised when they showed up and looked more like highlighters than blushes! They're super shimmery and two of the shades are actually light enough that they could easily pass for highlighters. But hey, I'm a highlighter junkie so this didn't bother me one bit! Let's take a look...

These slightly dome-shaped blushes are swirled with two different shades that look so pretty when they blend together. The compacts they come in are pretty lightweight and cheap-feeling, but I don't expect much for $3...besides, it's what's inside that really counts.

On a side note, one thing that really bothered me was the sloppy packing job by e.l.f. employees at their warehouse. I ordered 12 different products and they were just thrown into a bubble-lined mailing envelope, so they were all banging around together inside. One of these blushes, Rich Rose (the bronze-looking shade) is loose inside the compact, which makes it difficult to pick up any color. I have to try to hold it still with one hand and swirl my brush around with the other. I also ordered some of their Baked Highlighters and one came completely shattered in a thousand pieces. So that's two products that were ruined during shipping...ugh!

These are just beautiful to look at and they do contain a lot of shimmer, so if shimmery blushes/highlights aren't your thing, you probably won't like these. I have really dry skin, which has a tendency to look dull, so I like shimmery formulas because they add light to my face. Just as long as they're not too glittery, I'm good.

Pinktastic seems to be the shade that everyone always talks about when it comes to the Baked Blushes. I kind of laughed at the name, because while it does have a few pink veins running through it, it's primarily a golden shade! A lot of people say that this is a dupe for MAC's Mineralize Skinfinish in Soft & Gentle...I haven't tried that one, so I can't confirm that. I swatched this against my other highlighters but didn't find a dupe in my collection.

Pinktastic

Peachy Cheeky is a light golden peach shade that could also pass for a highlighter on me. It's such a beautiful shade and it adds a warm glow to my cheekbones.

Peachy Cheeky

Passion Pink is probably my favorite of all the shades to wear as a blush. It's the perfect flush of pink on my fair skin and I just love it!

Passion Pink

Rich Rose actually looks bronze with coral running through it in the pan but swatches sort of a rosy bronze shade. This one doesn't seem to pick up quite as well as the others when I use a brush or my finger...it feels drier somehow. But this is also the one that's broken so I'm not pressing quite as hard due to it sliding around a lot in the compact.

Rich Rose

When I first played with these, they felt dry and like they had an shimmery overspray coating on them. But after a few uses, they felt much softer and I was able to pick them up easily with my e.l.f. blush brush. I find that these sheer out too much if I try to use a fluffy brush, so ones with shorter or stiffer bristles seem to apply them the best. These can also be used wet or dry! Here, I swatched them dry and they go on pretty sheer...

Then I applied them wet and they really pop! I used them with a damp Beauty Blender and also spritzed my brush with a setting spray and it worked well both ways. 

Overall, these are really beautiful shimmery blushes to add to my collection. I've been buying a lot of matte blushes lately so this was a nice change and now that we're heading into the Winter (aka dry skin season) these will give my skin a much-needed glow. 

Have you tried the e.l.f. Baked Blushes yet?