Jul 12, 2012

Beauty Is Life Blushes x20.



this is a monster post on blushes for all you fellow blushaholics out there ;) prepare for 80 (!!!) photos of blushy goodness and take your time.
in a haul post of centuries ago i showcased these two Beauty Is Life Blush Palettes and sparked your interest in them, but since i've become such a bad blogger, i procrastinated and never came 'round to finish making photos of/with them to show you. now to make up for it, BAM! all 20 packed in a huge overview post. hope you'll forgive me and take me back :) here, i also made some bribery cookies for you...

if you haven't heard of this brand before, i'll quote a crisp self-description from their website:

"THE COMPANY

BEAUTY IS LIFE has been established in 1978 by Beatrix Isabel Lied and is market leader in image consultation ever since.
BEAUTY IS LIFE bundles unique know-how and an unequaled product portfolio for make-up art and image & color consultation in its four business units:

- innovative, extensive make up line
- equipment for color & image consultants
- make up artist - International Academy
- workshop

BEAUTY IS LIFE is based in a former factory in the district Eilbek in Hamburg
"

i knew about the line since forever and a year, but because the consumer products are quite expensive and the marketing not very present, i never dove into them. not until about 5 or 6 months ago, when i read an article by one of my make up goddesses (find most of them on my sidebar) about a BIL blush and she said something in the line of "best texture ever" that clicked in my brain and carved a big ol' lemming into my gyruses. darn! can't seem to find that post again...

immediately i checked out where and what to get. where: in germany, in store - don't ask me where - but definitely also at their own online shop (about 5€ for shipping, orders of 80€+ are delivered for free within germany, they also ship worldwide for a varying fee). in the US, BIL is available at Barneys New York.
what: for me, definitely the blushes. and since i'm quite into matte neutrals these days, also lots of the eyeshadows are appealing. 
definitely check the pro palettes if you want to buy multiples. the packaging is rubbish (looks is like cheap children's watercolour palettes, hard to open (nail killers!), the insert is quite cheaply made. anyhow, kudos for them to nicely align the embossing of the blush pans rather than sticking the pans irregularly in there.) - BUT you get 10 full sized pans for the price of less than 4 singles: the big palette costs 89€ while each blush alone would cost 23€. well, maybe i'll depot them into some nice UNII palettes someday... 
as i couldn't decide anyways and needed some soul relieve from studying, i went big and got 2 of their 3 blush palettes. i opted for the "Cold" and the "Warm-Cold" versions since they both seemed to work for me (the "Warm" one looks extremely warm toned, so i passed)


closed, they look quite lame, but open them and you'll get eye candy deluxe. a cloud of stage-make-up scent included (totally reminds me of Kryolan products. i hope they are not the same, just re-packaged and up-priced.)




let's start with the Powder Blush Professional Kit in warm-cold.


a palette contains of 10 blushes, each 3.5g. the warm-cold palette houses matte blushes only and offers a selection of peach, tan, coral shades to even a scarlet red. i find most shades to be rather warm, no real mixture here or typical mix-colours of peachy pinks or pinky peaches. i wonder how warm the actual "warm" palette must be. although there seemed to be the one or other odd shade in this palette, eventually all of them worked out for me really fine.
by first impression, i favoured the shades Close Up and Soft Glow but after usage, i think Poesie suits me best as it contains some cool undertones that are more flattering on my yellow skin. at the moment, my personal favourite is Almond.

i swatched all of them unblended with the finger on bare dry skin. please tell me in the comments if you wish to see specific comparisons (you know my stash ;)) or blended-swatches.

each of the 20 Beauty Is Life blushes i own is heavily pigmented and especially the bold shades need an experienced hand for proper application. these aren't beginner blushes and can make you rather frustrated when you're just starting out.
they have an incredibly fine and creamy smooth texture, if blended in, they melt with my skin almost like a cream blush or cheek stain. i can imagine that the blushes may appear dusty if you scratch on their surface with a coarse goat hair brush, i always use squirrel brushes on mine. i highly rate the texture, not exceptional though, but definitely comparable to some Guerlain or NARS textures (of the matte shades, that is) and very similar to the more affordable Kryolan blushes i've tried.
really like this matte formula, with the right application it conceals uneven skin texture in your cheek area really well, gives a nice contour to your face and makes you appear glowy in an absolutely non-greasy way.
if buffed in nicely, the staying power is phenomenal. they don't fade, get blotchy, collect in your pores, change in colour or anything at all over a whole hot and humid day. just like freshly applied.
i think the consistency of the good quality throughout such a large selection is just amazing and speaks for itself.



Palace - Close Up - Tibet - Almond - Soft Glow
Poesie - Chelsea - Denver - Bolero - Opera

Palace - Close Up - Tibet - Almond - Soft Glow - Poesie - Chelsea - Denver - Bolero - Opera

Palace - Close Up - Tibet - Almond - Soft Glow - Poesie - Chelsea - Denver - Bolero - Opera

with flash: Palace - Close Up - Tibet - Almond - Soft Glow - Poesie - Chelsea - Denver - Bolero - Opera


a few words on my top tip for a soft and even application:

1. soft fluffy brush, rather a small size (for all my pictures i used the Chikuhodo Z4 Cheek/Highlight Brush or in case the blush was used as a contour colour, the Chikuhodo Z2 Highlight Brush)
&
2. make sure that the product is evenly distributed on your whole brush head. with concentrated blushes like these, it's a bold venture to smoosh your brush into the pan and then directly on the cheeks. rather load up the brush and then swirl it on a fine cosmetic tissue to evenly disperse the pigment onto each  brush hair for a blotch-free flush (given you apply on powdered skin). excess blush is left on the tissue and only really little product should remain on the brush, invisible to the eye, so you can work more efficiently with your tool and blend in the product without the risk of over-application but with a longer lasting, soft and sheer result. you can gradually build up the colour as intensely as you wish. the back of your hand could be used as a swirling palette as well, but i prefer clean hands and i believe a dry tissue distributes the powder better.





now on to the actual blushes. each with close up of the pan and both before and after pictures.


Palace


Palace is a true coral. thankfully it applies quite true to color as most red and peachy shades turn out pink on me.





Close Up


a muted light pastel peach. great "nude" blush and one of the few rather fool-proof shades.





Tibet


Tibet's like a very red-toned bronzer. i postponed to try this intimidating colour, but in the end i really liked the warm and peachy look. not too brown at all.





Almond


Almond looks very similar to Tibet, but in fact it's a bit lighter and more yellow toned than the latter. it looks like a typical orange-toned bronzer in the pan, not very appealing and i suspected to turn into oompa-loompa. funnily enough it appears quite soft and nude and radiant and amazing once applied and the yellow in my skin brings out some hidden pink in this shade. my favourite of this palette!





Soft Glow


is a milky but bright peach with a slight pink tinge. beautiful shade, very universally flattering but also a bit predictable and it doesn't feel new and exciting like Almond, for example.





Poesie


a rosewood with bit of plum and brown in it. despite that my skin looks slightly too pink in these pics (thank you, red blazer!), this colour works really well with my overall colouring. it makes my skin look glowy and contoured and is prominent but subdued at the same time.





Chelsea


Chelsea looks quite scary to me, a deep terracotta brown and absolutely nothing i would go for. it doesn't make me look like the solarium-lady and works somehow, but not too well. i think it's a bit ruddy on me an emphasizes on the redness of my blemishes.





Denver


looks very similar to Palace but it is actually a smidgen lighter and contains a tad bit more white in it when directly compared. this is rather a watermelon red than a coral like Palace is. creates a very natural flush on me.





Bolero


odd shade in the palette. a cool toned greyish mauve-purple that is perfect for contouring though. it's also a good neutral purple used as eyeshadow.





Opera


is a scarlet red. quite scary when you look at it but i've had some similar colours before. with an ultra light hand very natural and flattering. somehow i want to try it as an eyeshadow, i think it would make an impressive red eyeliner when used wet.






Powder Blush Professional Kit in cold


just as its name implies, the "Cool" palette contains two hands full of rose and pink in many variations. if you like pink blush, this one will make you really happy. other than the "Warm-Cold" palette there are also shimmery blushes included and together with the odd corpse-like purple in the upper left corner, these 3 blushes are the ones i liked the least when i first opened and swatched this palette. turns out they are the most effective of these 10, though! why? read on!


Stage - Swing - Joy - Vendetta - Lido
Scarlet - Baroque - Sugar - Cassis - Geisha

Stage - Swing - Joy - Vendetta - Lido - Scarlet - Baroque - Sugar - Cassis - Geisha

Stage - Swing - Joy - Vendetta - Lido - Scarlet - Baroque - Sugar - Cassis - Geisha

with flash: Stage - Swing - Joy - Vendetta - Lido - Scarlet - Baroque - Sugar - Cassis - Geisha




Stage


the odd shade first: Stage is just like MAC's eyeshadow in Shale, just without the shimmer. it's a greyish plummy purple, with even more grey in it than in Bolero from the "Warm-Cold" palette. i wouldn't want to wear this as a blush, unless i'm dressing as a zombie for halloween. but it is a fantastic shade for contouring, i like it even better than Bolero for that purpose and it starts to supersede my other regular contour powders (Burberry Earthy Blush, NYX Taupe). looks very natural and authentic, my yellow undertone absorbs the purple in it and makes it look like a taupe shade. Stage is a good eyeshadow colour as well.





Swing


the close up looks a bit bright here but in real Swing is a classic rose colour that leans on the warm side.





Joy


Joy is a very clear, cool toned bright hot pink. the camera picks up lots of its blue undertone and makes it appear even louder on screen. applied sheerly, it looks a bit warmer on my skin, but still bright and noticeable. very girly, not my favourite at the moment.





Vendetta


is an intense reddish rose colour. such colours look quite natural and flattering on my skin. Vendetta is a fairly deep shade so i have to be careful, but it would be beautiful on darker olive toned skin.





Lido


uhh, i was cringing from this blush at the first sight. is there any less modern colour than a dark cool pink infused with silver and blue shimmer? i thought colours like this were a faux pas of the 90ies, ousted and forgotten today. but well, it was not too painful wearing it, the shimmer is less apparent than i feared and it's more pigmented than i thought (so no need to pack it on and have the shimmer emphasizing on enlarged pores etc.). and the colour was not too bad either!
what makes this shade so impressive though is its unmodern blue sheen, it enables this blush to be a perfect topping on other (matte) shades and casts a blueish veil onto the colours to create a cool toned effect. so you can customize your colours at the whim, tone down a shade that seems too warm for you and intensify the purple tinge of blushes that you want to be even "cooler" or spice it up with some shimmer and sheen. the effect is most interesting when layered on a warm, peachy blush (like Almond or Tibet from the other palette)





Scarlet


this is just the opposite of Lido. it's a candy pink with iridescent pink and gold shimmer, not comparable to NARS Orgasm though, as its base colour is more cool toned than Orgasm and the shimmer a bit more intense. it's sheerer than the other blushes and translates to my cheeks as a beautiful transparent pink with golden veil. worn as a layering-multi-tasker, the pink base melts into other blushes and the shimmer adds an up-warming gold nuance. with Lido and Scarlet as blush toppers, this palette offers a lot more variety than normal, the possibility to mix and layer the matte shades with each other aside.





Baroque


a deep purply rose colour, darker and more muted than in my close up. like the cool version of Vendetta. easy to sport and universally flattering.





Sugar


blue based medium pink. this is like the cool version of Swing. very basic colour that looks nice with many make ups and shouldn't be missing in any collection.





Cassis


your typical baby pink. rather light so one doesn't need to be as careful as with the other shades. adjusts itself with any make up look and makes one look soft and youthful.





Geisha


Geisha is a very light warm pink, like a piggy pink. it shows up nicely on pale-medium skin but could appear chalky on deep skin tones. light and fool-proof everyday-shade.





to sum it up, i'm really happy with the purchase of these blushes. they are not ground-breaking but i realise that it's fairly difficult to surprise and amaze an old blush junkie like me. although i'm not d'accord with the packaging and most definitely have a few similar blushes (especially the very basic shades) in my drawers already, i think these palettes are a great extension for my blush collection. i could already skip some limited edition blushes since i have these, for example the NARS summer one (as if it's something to be overly proud of, haha).
the intense pigmentation makes these not exactly goof-proof, but the smooth and creamy texture allows to sheer them out as desired. the staying power leaves no room for complaints.
no doubt they would be perfectly suitable for pros (i'd recommend to also take a look at the Kryolan range for smooth and pigmented matte blushes), the variety and value for money makes them attractive for the blush-addicted consumer as well.



54 comments:

  1. Wow, was für ein toller, ausführlicher Post - vielen Dank dafür! :)
    Die Paletten gefallen mir beide sehr gut, die Nuancen sind hübsch. ♥

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  2. Beeindruckend :D
    Ich bin jetzt erstmal reizüberflutet.
    ;)

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    1. :) kann ich mir vorstellen! hab den post auch als eine meiner vielen blush-übersichten in die sidebar gepackt ;)

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  3. Wow! You're back with your swatches and photos :D
    I like the warm-cold palette the best :)

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    1. hehe, i hope so, my leisure/fitness/healthy plan was too consuming these days ;) but i have sooo so many already drafted posts, will need to type them down finally. i also like the warm/cold palette better, especially since it's summer.

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  4. Oh god. This is some serious blush porn. I love it. I do think that 23€ for 3.5g its a little overpriced but the palette seem to be really good value.
    Thanks for the hard work!
    Xx

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    1. yes, welcome to the cosmetic porn site ;) (oh god, hope i don't get funny google-visitors now ;P)
      i think 8.90€ per blush from a supposed to be mid-end brand is not too bad! one needs to be willing to invest for 10, though ;)

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  5. Very very very nice blushes! I love blushes! so I will check it out for sure! thanks for sharing!

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  6. They look lovely. Really nice color range too. Price is a little high. But the product looks great

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    1. yes, the whole palette is quite whopping, but if you really look for a basic variety and have opted for multiple of the colours contained, the value for money is not too bad. (for example a MAC blush also costs sth. around 23€ but their refills still cost 18€ or sth. while here you pay 23€ for a single but "only" 9€ for each pan if you get the palette.)

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  7. What a pretty color range! I loved Almond and Chelsea!

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    1. haha, Almond is also my most favourite but Chelsea i actually like least ;)

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  8. Loved the blushes!
    The colors are amazing.

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  9. I don't even wear blush, but still couldn't help looking at all these beautiful pictures!

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    1. wow, thank you! that honours me ;) why don't you wear/(like?) blush? WHY? how can you? ;)

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  10. wow they look absoloutely gorgeous. how do u manage to take so many shots but in the same position...you must have had a time to kill day lol im too lazy for that lol.

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    1. haha, definitely this is not the work of one single day but i continuosly used one blush each day and photographed it (from the first photo of the palettes to the last ones it took me over 3 months! o_O ) otherwise my skin wouldn't survive all the cleaning and changing colour etc in only 1 day. i also wouldn't put so much effort that i change outfits all the time (mostly in my chilly T's here ;)) or the eye make up. and with the consistency of the position: it's a beauty-blogger's aptitude, you just learn about your photogenity/non-photogenity with the time and self-shots and do it automatically ^^
      hehe

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  11. Um...wow. This post is AMAZING. Thank you so much for your detailed photos and reviews––I've been wanting to see swatches of BIL for awhile now, and your photos are so helpful! Onto my wishlist they go...

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    1. thank you! i will pack this post onto the sidebar to keep it more available.

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  12. I do sooooooooooooo LOVE your posts!!
    I thought you'd done a disappearing act Dr Delicatehummingbird.
    I have these palettes. Why do they need to be so extremely PERFUMED?!
    Strong perfume always makes me think someone's trying to hide something. Think Boroque - not too much bathing but profuse amounts of perfume:))
    Kryolan = BIL? What do you think?
    Nice is the Nars A/W blush or did you get it first time round?

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    1. that's such a sweet comment, thank you Buggsiebee!
      yes, the scent is so strong, right? can you tell what it is? i tried to describe but in the end it's just the epitome of stage-makeup-scent to me ;)
      yeah, will dust this onto my head if i'm too lazy to wash my hair hahaha and i predict cool and lazy uni students will establish pink armpits as the new trend ;D
      i hope the equation Kryolan=BIL isn't right, feels like we've paid too much, then! #*&$!
      yes, i also heard about the repromote of Outlaw! (why does it feel like you're talking about MAC when typing the word "repromote"?)i kind of totally want it... drool.

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    2. LOL over the pink armpits & hair!! That's such a crazy thought:)) It would certainly make the world a more colorful place.
      I'm really happy about Outlaw. In fact I like the Nars A/W collection in general. I also can't wait to see Guerlain's Blush duos.

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    3. oh no, don't speak about the guerlain blush duos! they'll be my sweetest downfall ;)

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  13. oh thank you very much for giving so much time and effort doing this post so we can have a 'guide' for this beauty of life blushes..
    I'm such a blush sucker and all blushes look sooooo pretty I couldnt decide which one is my fave..hehe ^^

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    Replies
    1. thanks for your appreciation! i wanted to provide a good guide since i found that there is not too much about this brand out there.

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  14. This is fantastic! I wanna try the one with all the pinks...I think they all look good on you haha you're very lucky to be able to pull off any color! ;)

    <3

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    Replies
    1. thank you, Maddi3! i think if one wears it sheerly enough, colours which doesn't usually suit can be pulled off.

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  15. Here I was thinking I have enough blush now to last me a while. I had put myself on a blush-buy-ban and then I saw this post. Wow that warm palette is amazing. Making a mental note that when I can get myself to a Barneys that I must take a look at these. Your review is awesome! I love the attention to detail and all the lovely photos. Thank you for all your work!

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    Replies
    1. oops, hope i didn't lure you in too much ;) thank you for appreciating my effort ^^

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  16. Oh mein Gott - ich hab bei den Bildern wirklich Schnappatmung bekommen! Die sind ja alle wunderschön... Ich darf aber keine Blushes mehr kaufen, ich hab eh schon viel zu viele. Aber wenn ich das jetzt so sehe! Oh je.... ;-)

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    1. hehe, so geht es uns doch allen, bei allem ;) "davon hab ich doch schon so viel! hach, aber das ist sooo schön! na gut, noch eins, aber dann war's das aber auch!!!"

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  17. Fantastic review and pics, thanks a lot! I'm very tempted now!

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  18. My gosh that is a LOT of blush! Heaven!!! I must say though, I was most surprised at how *perfectly* you applied each shade (I have a tendency to overapply cheek products, so I am always in awe when people can apply it so perfectly! :P) and how amazingly, each and every one of them looked so great on you! Literally, NONE of them looked bad. How on earth did you do that, woman?!? Lol! A few of my (surprising) favorites were Tibet, Almond, and Close Up. Lovely and very natural looking!

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    1. *thank you!!!*
      definitely try the swirling-in-tissue-method, i think this helps me a lot with the even application, soft edges etc.
      i don't know how to describe the other steps of how i apply blush, i think it's so hard if you don't see a vid or so. i just use the tips of the brush and apply in circular motions, then feather out and down with what's left on the brush to blend it with my bronzer/contour. hth ^^

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  19. Ein wirklich toller Post, bei dem sehr viel Aufwand dahinter steckt! Ich finde es schon irgendwie seltsam, dass ein Blush für 23 € verkauft wird, aber 10 Stück dann nur 89 € kosten

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    1. Danke, Cream! Ich find' den Preisunterschied auch krass, aber ich denke, weil das angebot halt wirklich an die "professionellen" nutzer gerichtet ist. bei Barneys NY hab ich z.b. die paletten noch nicht gefunden. ob es dann auch noch einen pro-discount gibt wie bei MAC, MUFE usw (was den preisunterschied bei diesen marken ja auch vergrößert)?

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  20. Wow, warm-cold palette could take care of everything for me as far as the blush goes. Thanks for awesome review and all the swatches!

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  21. milktea said... I'm gonna bookmark this page to come back and admire once in a while! All the blushers look beautiful in their pans and swatched on your cheeks. Personally, I prefer the Cold Palette... nicer soft pinks there.

    Do you think Bolero (warm-cold) or Stage (cold) could be dupes for Tarte's Exposed?

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    1. thank you!
      i haven't tried Tarte's Exposed yet or any of the Amazonian Clay ones, so i can't compare colour- or texture-wise. from the swatches i've seen though, Exposed seems to be lighter contains more mauve/rose undertones and less grey&purple. Exposed can actually be used as a blusher while i would use Bolero or Stage only as contour colours.

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  22. Whoa, this is a very long post! Thank you for your great effort to write this long post :) Blush palette is gorgeous and they're so versatile. Buying this doesn't give me excuse anymore to shop for more blushes so I am in a love-hate relationship with blush palette :)

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    1. thank you for your appreciation! that's exactly how i feel - i really love these blushes i have but somehow it's taking the excuse from me to buy sth. because i didn't had a colour like it. don't know if is a good feeling for the long term. now my wallet can take a little break ;)

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  23. This is an amazing post... And I'm hella tempted to pick these up from Barney's for myself. What is it about blush that makes me want want want them?!

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    Replies
    1. thank you! yes, this blush-lemming is so irrational, right? i mean it's not like eyeshadows where you really have lots of colours to choose from. but still, i can't get enough blush, even if there are just these tiny differences of the peach/coral/pink/red/mauve/etc.-nuances :)

      Delete
  24. I'm still thanking you for the RMK Cheek Brush recommendation! My favorite blush...also my biggest single cosmetics splurge ever...is Armani #10. Do you know it? Perfect on the line between pink and peach, with a little gold glow. $45 for blush is crazy but I'm glad I have it.

    But...I was having trouble with it going on too strong with my Hakuhodo 210 blush brush. The RMK brush makes it perfect so I like it even better.

    If I had a doctor who I knew had such a fun hobby I think it would make her so much easier to talk to. More human and friendly. Your posts sure show the ability to study and examine in great detail so that will make you a good doctor too.

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    1. oh, it makes me so happy if someone likes a brush recommendation so much! i know the GA #10, i also have it. it's sooo nice, right? i have to use it today as you're reminding me!

      and thank you so much for your nice words! i hope i will get the same positive feedback from my patients as i got from you.

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  25. GREATTTTTTTT! JOB!!! patient!!
    You are really good.

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  26. Thank you thank you thank you for taking the time to show all of these to us! I like the first palette more, but the second one has some real standouts as well.

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    1. thanks so much for your appreciation! i feel exactly as you, i prefer the warmer palette but would love to pick out some standout colours of the pinkish palette to mix them two.

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