The cheeks are extremely important in modern beauty. According to world-famous plastic surgeon Dr. Francis Palmer they account for 75% of facial beauty. He claims that the ideal cheeks on a woman are “full, round and low to the face”. Unlike him, I don’t think the cheeks matter that much – Cat Eyes, balanced face shape and good-looking eyebrows are just as important, but you should definitely put down some effort here if you don’t have Hollywood-perfect cheeks already.
Apply blush - general tips
All other make-up sites on the Internet and in magazines are offering about the same advice for applying blush to the cheeks:
Apply foundation, eye-color and lipstick before blush.
Keep your blush in the same color family as your lipstick.
Use a big, round brush for application.
Other guides always say: "smile so that the apple of the cheek gets visible – this is where you should place the blush". I do not entirely agree with this. Many women have their "apples" too close to the nose to put the blush there. I would rather recommend you apply the blush from the middle of the cheek, under the cheekbone and outwards. You want to create a shadow, not a big red dot. For more blush application tips, see below.
These tips are really good – if you already have perfectly round and full cheeks. But what if you don’t? If the cheeks are that important and nature haven’t given you this gift, how do you deal with it? Cheek implants? God no! We want to know a magic way!
I searched for weeks but I couldn’t find a single tip on how to actually alter the shape of the cheeks. So I had to figure out my own.
Get fabulous cheeks
Like I said, if you already have round and clearly visible cheeks, follow the general tips above. But if you have a flat face, try this:
First of all, make sure you have applied foundation to eliminate any red marks on your cheeks.
Find the highest point of your cheek, the tip of the cheekbone. Look at where the highlight appears in different lights. Imagine a highlighted line across your cheek.
Apply blush right below this line upwards and outwards. Start on the middle of the cheek (horizontally). Make the line thicker until you have a half-moon shape.
Leave the highlight area uncolored and make another line right above it, parallel to the lower line. Don’t apply any blush to the circle under your eye. If you’re very close to it, make the line thin.
Remove any excess from the brush and use it to smoothen out the highlighted, uncolored area. The transition between the highlight and the half-moon and upper line should be very discreet. If the highlighted area is still uncolored, apply a small amount of blush to it, just so that it remains brighter than the upper and lower line.
The final result should look something like this:
Learn how to apply blush according to face shape here.