Wishlist #1: Cheek Products

Cheek products are probably my favourite category in makeup. I love a good bright blush and a bronze highlighter but as a full-time broke person, I have to resist the urge to buy every orange blush I see. So naturally, I quickly amassed a mental wishlist of all the cheek products I wish I owned. And that's what I want to share with you today

NIP+FAB Make Up Liquid Blush in Berry Bomb (£12.95)

Every time I'm at Superdrug  I swatch this, it is the most beautiful liquid blush I've ever seen, it is a metallic hot pink that will pop on darker skin. I've swatched it so many times but I  haven't bought it yet as Nip + Fabs prices are a bit out there. As soon as I can find it for half price, she will be mine.

Clarins Glow 2 Go Duo Stick in 02 Golden Peach (£26)

This seemed like a modern product for Clarins, a brand I associate with my mother's highly perfumed skincare. Nevertheless, it really is a gorgeous product, one end is a warm orange blush and the other is a bronze highlight. Right up my alley.

Glossier Play Niteshine in Molten Umber (£17)

So ever since I watched Mariah Leonard's iconic glossy highlighter video I've been fascinated with the concept of a "glossy highlighter", Mariah attributes the wet sheen some powder highlights create to their formula but I think she fails to mention the importance of the colour of the highlight. All the highlighters she mentions are light and peachy, close colours her skin tone. So where am I going with this?  Okay hear me out: To achieve a glass-like glow on dark skin you would need to find a highlighter that leans more brown, not gold, not too bronze or too red just brown. And this has been insanely difficult to find however the new Glossier Play Niteshine looks very promising.

Stila Heaven's Hue Highlighter in Magnificence (£29)

I swatched this formula in M&S a while back and it was beautiful. It has this creamy but very light and thin consistency one that would work well as an aforementioned glossy highlight. I recently ordered the Shine Bright Heaven's Dew Palette on Beauty Bay but I'm still lusting the bronze shade Magnificence and the rosey shade Incandescence.

Natasha Denona All Over Glow Face & Body Shimmer In Powder in 03 Dark (£33)

Natasha gets it. This is a brown highlighter! Which of course much more than anything I've paid for a highlighter but for Natasha, I might just have to give in. I'm not making excuses for the eye-watering price here but this is pretty cheap for her and the product is 10g! I'm also in love with her £51 Bloom Blush & Glow Palette but I'm respecting my dignity by not including it in this list.

Nabla Glow Trip Highlighter Divinizer (£16.75)

I will never truly forgive myself for missing out on the Vlada and Smashbox's collab highlighters especially the shade Prismatic Petal (Similar in shade is MAC Extra Dimension Skinfinish in Snowflushed. This was also another limited edition miss). I loved the whole concept of them- baseless with a pink and peach reflect. Nabla came out with something pretty close for their limited (Seeing a pattern here?) Holiday collection, fortunately, they are still with us and have recently gone on sale on Beauty Bay but I'm waiting to see if they'll go any lower.

e.l.f.  Luminous Blush Brilliant Mauve (£7.50)

I know the beauty community will never reach a consensus on what mauve really is (to me in the context of beauty it seems to be anything that has/pulls purple without actually being purple) but this really ain't it e.l.f.! From swatches, the colour appears to be an orange with a strong gold shift and it has me swooning rn

Note: e.l.f. initially had picture swatches of the orange blush labelled Brilliant Mauve and a more mauve-y blush labelled Radiant Peach. It seems they have switched the labels of the swatches on their website but according to this video, the real blush colour corresponds to their original labels despite inaccurate colour descriptions unless they have made new batches with corrected names.

OFRA Glow Baby, Glow! Highlighter Blind The Haters ($30)

For some reason the name has been changed to Beam the Haters I wonder if they caught some flack for the original name. Anyways I'm not sure about this highlight, on one hand, this has been hailed the best hight formula in the world on the other I don't think I'm on that extremely pigmented highlighter kick especially one that would meld seamlessly with my skin but its been on my wishlists for so long I really want to try it.

Benefit Hoola Toasted Box o’ Powder (£26)

Fun fact: Benefit created the Hoola bronzer in 2001; 18 years ago. And only got round to make a lighter shade in 2017 and deeper shades in 2019. Bronzers, in general, aren't diverse and they are still a confusing product for people with dark skin as we are really just getting options BUT Benefit had 18 years to think " Hey doesn't the concept of one shade of bronzer to suit only a handful of people seem a bit I don't know... thoughtless, inconsiderate maybe too exclusive?". All this to say really I still want to try this bronzer and I want to help solidify that yes there is a market of black women that would like to add bronzer to their makeup routine.

Lunar Beauty Moon Prism Powder Highlighter in Jupiter (£27)

First things first any enemy of He Who Will Not Be Named is a friend of mine. Secondly, the packaging for this highlighter is beyond beautiful! MannyMUA's package design for his products is on another level. Thirdly, this product is gorgeous in and of itself! Manny himself admits the shade has tiny glitter particles while this may repel some it has me even more intrigued.

Special Mentions (I want a lot of things okay?): UOMA Double Take Contour Stick,  PIXI From Head to Toe Glow-y Powder, Daniel Sandler Watercolour Liquid Blush, ohii Soft Glow Highlighter, NYX Sweet Cheeks Creamy Powder Blush Glow, H&M Colour Stick, L'Oreal Paris Glowtion ,  Nabla Skin Glazing Highlighter, Cover FX Monochromatic Blush Duo, Melt Digital Dust, Melt Blushlight, Burt's Bees All Aglow Lip & Cheek Stick.