Undereye concealer may be dead, but blush is still having its best summer ever. In particular, cream and liquid formulas seem to be reigning supreme. The latest launch to join that royal court is Hourglass Unreal Liquid Blush, and, folks? I am pledging my loyalty to its crown.
If I’m being honest, this wasn’t a hard sell. Liquid is my preferred blush format and Hourglass remains one of my favorite luxury makeup brands. But the product far exceeded my already-high expectations.
There are, in my opinion, two intertwined “best parts” of this blush: the sheer formula and the unique packaging. It comes in seven shades—Scene (warm pink), Whim (bright pink), Vision (rose), Moment (a peachy beige), Future (coral), Imagine (terracotta), and Craft (a deep berry)— and, as promised by the press release, this stuff is truly buildable. The first swipe of color (I’m partial to Whim) goes on so sheer that it truly looks like I just stepped out into the sun for a minute and got a little flushed. By swipe two, the color is much more concentrated. There’s no question that I’m wearing blush, but it still blends seamlessly into the rest of my makeup.
“This formula is incredible,” says New York City-based makeup artist Karol Rodriguez. “The finish is similar to the texture of a blurred lip; it’s soft and velvety.” They were also impressed with how evenly the formula goes on, despite being “such a pigmented and liquidy blush.”
The packaging plays a huge role in why this blush is so easy to layer. The small glass bottle—almost the shape of a diner salt shaker—it comes in has a soft bottom that you press to dispense the blush a single drop at a time. Rodriguez concurs that the component makes this extra special. “Rare Beauty’s blushes have been criticized for being too hard to use because they’re ‘too pigmented,’ when in actuality it’s the amount of product that the doe-foot dispenses,” they tell me. “Consumers tend to over-apply so it’s super smart to have a liquid blush that dispenses such a small amount to begin with. You’d have to intentionally press and hold down on that soft bottom to release more than a face worth of blush, which is perfect for those who tend to be heavy-handed.”
I plop those drops directly onto my cheek, then blend it out using the brand’s No. 15 Blush Brush (primarily because Hourglass sent it along with the blush samples; it’s a nice brush, but I think any angled, stippling brush would do the trick). Rodriguez says they would use a brush to apply the blush to their clients, but “it can also be applied gorgeously with the fingers, as it works in and sheers out evenly.” Rodriguez also loves that the precise dispenser allows them to create custom shades by blending a few colors together with the ratio of each totally under their control.
As a liquid formula, this doesn’t stand a chance for being the longest-lasting blush you’ve ever tried—but the longevity is quite good, all things considered. It’s become my go-to for high heat and humidity days, because I find it stays in place for longer than any of the other cream or liquid formulas in my current collection. The brand claims it lasts 12 hours; I’d definitely give it a solid six before the color shows any signs of fading.
I’m not the only Allure staffer who’s a fan of this blush. Hannah Brower, associate content manager, also says the blush is her new go-to, specifically the shade Imagine. “The pigment lasts all day and its lightweight formula blends super seamlessly into the skin,” Brower tells me.
Associate beauty editor Annie Blay was “taken aback by how pigmented this formula is.” She uses just two drops of the shade Deep Berry to give her cheeks a bright wash of color. “I wore the blush to work and an event later in the day, and by the time I got home, I could still see the pretty purple tint, though it had faded a little,” she says. “If you really want the color to stay vibrant all day, topping it with a powder blush is your best bet.”
Edward Horgan, beauty associate, is a fan of how well it goes with just about any makeup look. “It blends out beautifully and leaves the perfect diffusion of color with a slight dewy effect to add just the right amount of life back into my base makeup,” he says.
At $36 for .34 ounces, this is definitely a pricier blush. That said, a little goes quite a long way; I’ve been using the stuff at least three times a week for almost a month and have barely made a visible dent in the amount of product in the packaging. You can get your own tube (or a few, if you want to mix like Rodriguez) at Sephora and Hourglass.
More products Allure editors are loving right now:
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Now watch blush icon Sabrina Carpenter's makeup routine:
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