NARS blushes revisited! #8 - Cactus Flower

this series is just for better pics&swatches. my opinion about the blushes stays the same, take a look at older posts.

NARS blushes contain 4.5 - 4.8g each for the powder blushes, and 5.5g each for the cream blushes.
they cost 29€/19.50£/26$.

Cactus Flower is a cream blush. it's a coral red with gold shimmer which blends out as a natural hot coral pink flush shade on me. the fine gold sparkles are only visible in sunlight, but makes it looking even more summery.
the texture is quite dry and waxy, but it blends out easily and melts into your skin without being too silicony dry or greasy. the pigmentation is rather high, so i only need one dab with my brush (i usually use a dense synthetic brush like the Sigma F82 or Illamasqua Blush Brush #1) to achieve a nice blushed cheek.
with this shade i often experience a little bit of fading throughout the day, about 4 hours after application it starts to fade, it doesn't melt or make me too oily, it just disappears. but this happens more visibly when i apply it on a powdered cheek. if i leave my foundation un-setted, it usually keeps the colour (but then i become a grease-ball quite early, so that's no serious solution for me). this is the reason why i hesitate to get more shades of NARS' cream blushes.
i have no direct comparison for you right now (at the time i made the pics, a possible look-alike, a cream blusher by Max Factor (#18 Soft Cardinal), just didn't come to my mind. i realized it right now, just in the moment i'm writing this post. it's late night and so i can't do photos now, but i will edit this post with a direct comparison pic soon. the Max Factor blush lacks the gold shimmers. if you want to see separate swatches of it, click here.).

NARS Cactus Flower

NARS Cactus Flower: in an angle you can see the gold sparkles better.

NARS Cactus Flower in different natural lightings: swatched heavily & blended out.

this is how Cactus Flower looks applied.

EDIT: sorry i had to re-publish this post, something went wrong.