Cheek Stains!

I need my cheek colour to last as long into the day as possible, as I hate to look pale.  While i'll always love powder blushes for their ease of use it's undeniable that a stain is always going to outlast a powder. However they aren't the easiest thing to use so it's a fine balancing act... First world problems ladies!

My first foray into stains was Benetint; I don't even recall buying it, which you'd think I would cos it's flipping expensive! 

I used it pretty much exclusively for about a year - apart from those days I forgot to apply it either before or after my foundation and ended up powdering before I realised I'd forgotten. It definitely doesn't work over powder. As my patchily pink cheeks could have testified aaaall day that day!ooops.

Benetint basically looks like a very dark-pink water; It's really runny. It gives a lovely rosy glow, and I like the colour it gives my lips took although you will need a lip balm cos it drains all moisture from the vicinity after a couple of hours.

After trying the dotting method I established that for me the best and easiest method of application was to instead draw a line up each cheek bone. Making dots instead, as directed, made it too hard to blend as the dots dried super quickly leaving obvious splodges on my face like a rash. Not cool.

Whichever way you apply it's a race against the clock to blend it in - probably with your fingers - as fast as is humanly possible. In fact I don't even have time to put the brush back in first, it's every man for himself.

Once you've mastered the technique of application you'll be fine and will be left with beautifully rosy cheeks that will stay put all day.

However: it's £24.50. For pink water. The world has gone mad. Although I should probably say that it lasts me around 6 months with daily use. But that's still £50 a year.

I then acquired Cheek Mate from Soap and Glory. This is a gel stain rather than a liquid and it comes in a little squeezey tube. The colour is again beautifully rosy and it stays on all day without smudging or becoming patchy.

What gives this the edge over Benetint is that it doesn't dry upon contact with skin so it's possible to actually blend it out

 so there's no dots or harsh lines.

The only real negative I can find is that you use more product  because it's a thicker formula and the tube probably won't last as long as Benetint. However for ease of use and quality of finish this product definitely wins. If that weren't enough then the cherry on top is that the price is £8. So you can have 3 tubes of this for every Benetint. And Benetint it's certainly not 3x better, so it's an easy choice for me really.

Which is your favourite cheek stain?

Suzy 

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