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The best liquid blush can do it all: an oh-so-natural flush or a super-vibrant romantic cheek à la Sabrina Carpenter. “In terms of longevity I find liquid and cream formulas tend to last longer,” pro makeup artist Kasey Spickard tells Vogue. It’s dealer’s choice as far as how bold you go—simply layer on a few more dots of product and blend. Boasting buildable, lightweight formulas (many of which are skincare-makeup hybrids), liquid blushes blend easily, melting right into the skin whether you use your fingers, a makeup sponge, or a fluffy brush.
Vogue’s Favorite Liquid Blush
- Best Flush: Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Dewy Flush, $25
- Best Vibrant: Armani Beauty Luminous Silk Cheek Tint, $39
- Best Clean Beauty: Saie Dew Blush, $25
- Best Matte: Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk Matte Beauty Blush Wand, $42
- Best Drugstore: E.L.F. Cosmetics Camo Liquid Blush, $7
In This Story
- How to Choose a Liquid Blush
- How to Apply a Liquid Blush
- Meet the Experts
Still need a bit more convincing? For celebrity makeup artist Carolina Gonzalez, liquid formulas are the only way to go for all products, especially blushes, thanks to how easy they make it to blend and do touch-ups without patchiness or caking. “I just love to work with all cream and liquids because the lightweight texture gives a more skinlike finish,” Gonzalez tells Vogue. In terms of blush Gonzalez is known for giving her clients a watercolored romantic cheek inspired by Alberto Vargas’s pinup girl paintings. The result? A bold wash of color with perfectly buffed-out edges—all achieved with liquid blushes. Below, shop the 12 best liquid blushes for every skin tone.
Best Clean Beauty: Saie Dew Blush
- Why we love it: Saie’s Dew Blush offers eight buildable shades, all of which offer a vibrant color payoff and subtle glow. Best of all, its noncomedogenic formula means you won’t clog your pores when layering on your blush look. Antioxidant-rich, plant-derived ingredients such as mulberry, elderberry, and evening primrose extracts brighten up your complexion.
- Key ingredients: Glycerin, elderberry fruit extract, licorice extract, white mulberry root extract, comfrey leaf extract, evening primrose root extract
- Finish: Natural
- Shades: Eight
- How to apply: Using the applicator, dot along the cheek twice on each side of your face, then blend with your fingers or favorite brush.
Best Drugstore: E.L.F. Cosmetics Camo Liquid Blush
- Why we love it: This drugstore alternative gives its prestige beauty competitors a run for their money with its long-wearing formulation, which is also vegan and cruelty-free. Available in a highly pigmented range of 12 shades that pair well with every skin tone and undertone, the product provides a dewy, vibrant finish. A blend of rose flower water, hibiscus flower extract, and hyaluronic acid ensures the texture of this blush is lightweight and nonsticky.
- Key ingredients: Dimethicone, propylene glycol, butylene glycol, rose flower water, hibiscus flower extract, hyaluronic acid
- Finish: Dewy
- Shades: 12
- How to apply: Using the applicator wand, apply one to two dots of product to each cheek. For best results blend out in a stippling motion with either a makeup sponge or flat blush brush.
Best Vibrant: Armani Beauty Luminous Silk Cheek Tint
- Why we love it: Ah, yes, the iconic Armani liquid blush reigns supreme as a celebrity-loved prestige beauty option for a bold blush look—even Oscar-winning actress Mikey Madison recently sported it for her old Hollywood glam at the recent Academy Awards. The vibrantly pigmented liquid blush boasts up to 12 hours of wear without smudges or slippage.
- Key ingredients: Dimethicone, isododecane, butylene glycol, vitamin E, mica
- Finish: Luminous
- Shades: Six
- How to apply: Using the precision applicator, start with just one dot on each cheek. Then use your favorite brush or beauty sponge to blend. Repeat as needed until you achieve your desired blush boldness.
Best Flush: Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Dewy Flush
- Why we love it: Glow Recipe knows a thing or two about crafting an enviably glowy skin-care routine—and now the company’s ventured into ultraluminous color cosmetics with the same host of nourishing ingredients, including niacinamide, watermelon extract, and Centella asiatic. Dubbed by the brand as a “tinted cheek serum,” the product will give you more of a natural flush than an obvious blush. When you want to wear nothing but a skin tint in the heat of summer, these dewy flush drops will be the perfect pairing, giving you a hint of cheek color with skin serum benefits that calm and moisturize.
- Key ingredients: 3% niacinamide, jojoba-oil-coated pigments, watermelon extract, Centella asiatica
- Finish: Natural
- Shades: Two
- How to apply: Tap onto each cheek, and blend with your fingertips. Repeat as needed until desired coverage is achieved.
Best Hydrating: Hourglass Unreal Liquid Blush
- Why we love it: Hourglass’s liquid blush is a no-brainer for those with dry skin. Its nourishing formulation is powered by hyaluronic acid and features nourishing plant-derived extracts such as lupin seed for a serum-like texture. Thanks to its lightweight feel, you can experiment with your coverage: Go for a natural flush or super-bold cheek.
- Key ingredients: Hyaluronic acid, sunflower seed oil, castor seed oil, lupin-seed extract, vitamin E
- Finish: Radiant
- Shades: Seven
- How to apply:According to Hourglass, applying this blush is a three-step process: Shake, press, blend. Shake the mini bottle well (with the cap on) before using. Treating your hand as an artist’s palette, press the soft button dispenser to release one drop of product. Then stipple a blush brush’s bristles into the product and buff onto your cheeks.
Best Matte: Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk Matte Beauty Blush Wand
- Why we love it: For those who love Charlotte Tilbury’s highlight and contour wands, there’s a matte blush you need to add to your arsenal. Suppose you prefer a pop of color sans shine. In that case Charlotte Tilbury offers four universally flattering shades that blend with ease and create a soft-focus matte finish. Plus, this formula’s blend of polymers blurs the appearance of pores. Meanwhile, film formers ensure long-wearing color payoff for up to 12 hours of wear.
- Key ingredients: Caprylyl glycol, mica, silica
- Finish: Matte
- Shades: Four
- How to apply: According to Charlotte Tilbury, there’s a fail-proof (and catchy) application method: Using the cushion applicator, simply dot, dot, and blend on each cheek.
Best Luminous: Surratt Beauty Artistique Liquid Blush
- Why we love it: Surratt’s powder blush was already a bestseller for the brand—and now there’s a long-wearing liquid blush to match. This blush boasts a luminous finish and a plethora of makeup-skincare hybrid ingredients like niacinamide and jojoba-coated pigments. But there’s something else unique about it: The bingo-dauber-like applicator both applies the product and blends it effortlessly (so there’s no need to use a brush or get your fingertips messy).
- Key ingredients: 3% niacinamide, jojoba-oil-coated pigments
- Finish: Luminous
- Shades: Four
- How to apply: Using the sponge-tip applicator, apply and blend simultaneously with a bouncing stippling motion.
Best K-Beauty: House of Hur Moist Ampoule Blusher
- Why we love it: If you love Korean skin care, it’s time to add Korean makeup to your beauty—and blush is a fun place to start. Formulated with more than 50% skin-loving ingredients, this blush plumps skin with hydration in just one pump while leaving an easily blended pop of color. Plus, with nine shades to pick from, you can sport a soft-focus matte blush look in neutrals, pinks, peaches, or berry tones.
- Key ingredients: Dimethicone, glycerin, algae extract, vitamin E, strawberry fruit extract
- Finish: Soft-focus matte
- Shades: Nine
- How to apply: First, shake the bottle lightly. Then, apply one pump to the back of your hand, dotting product on each cheek and patting to blend.
Best Radiance: Nars Afterglow Liquid Blush
- Why we love it: Super hydrating and radiant, Nars liquid blush proves that you don’t have to choose between a dewy finish and long-wearing results. The silky formula uses a blend of sodium hyaluronate and vegan collagen to nourish your complexion, while coated pigments add a soft wash of color for up to eight hours of wear. Go for a sheer flush or layer for a bold, rosy cheek.
- Key ingredients: Sodium hyaluronate, vitamin E, vegan collagen
- Finish: Radiant
- Shades: Eight
- How to apply: For a natural look, Nars recommends applying the product to the back of your hand and using your fingers to tap onto your cheeks. For a bolder look tap two dots directly onto each cheek and blend.
Best Classic: Rare Beauty Soft Pinch Liquid Blush
- Why we love it: We’d argue that Rare Beauty’s Soft Pinch blush is likely a canon event that ushered in the craze for liquid blush in recent years—and that beauty trend isn’t going anywhere. It’s no secret that a little goes a long way with this formula. Just one dot on each cheek blends out to a vibrantly pigmented wash of color—simply tap your fingers to blend the product.
- Key ingredients: Dimethicone, sunflower seed oil, gardenia florida fruit extract, sacred lotus flower extract, Nymphaea odorata root extract
- Finish: Matte/Radiant
- Shades: 13
- How to apply: Apply one dot on each cheek and use your fingertips to gently pat the blush into the skin.
Best Lightweight: Anastasia Beverly Hills Blurring Serum Blush
- Why we love it: Anastasia Beverly Hills’ serum blush features a gel-like texture that grips the skin, squeezing out from an ultraprecise long tube applicator—it looks like something you’d find in a posh dermatologist’s office. Speaking of, this dermatologist-tested formula is enriched with niacinamide and pomegranate-peel extract to deliver skin-balancing benefits while still providing buildable cheek color.
- Key ingredients: Niacinamide, pomegranate-peel extract
- Finish: Radiant
- Shades: Five
- How to apply: Squeeze directly onto your cheeks, applying one to two dots on each. Then, use your fingertips to blend in a tapping motion.
Best Newcomer: Addiction Tokyo The Liquid Blush Foggy
- Why we love it: Have you ever heard of foggy blush? We hadn’t either—until, of course, Diotima’s fall-winter 2025 show, where Addiction Tokyo’s liquid blush was a key player in the overall beauty look. “When you blend it, it goes soft matte and foggy,” makeup artist Kanako Takase previously told senior beauty writer Kiana Murden. The result? A diffused yet vibrant cheek.
- Key Ingredients: Peptides, niacinamide, jojoba seed oil, squalane
- Finish: Soft matte
- Shades: Eight
- How to apply: Using the precision applicator gently apply one to two dots onto each cheek. Blend with your fingertips or a fluffy brush for a seamlessly diffused look.
Everything you need to know
How to Choose a Liquid Blush
When you’re choosing a liquid blush, the process isn’t different from any other formulation, whether you typically use powders or creams—stick to the same rules about prioritizing the level of pigmentation and finish you’re after.
- Finish: The pros suggest aligning your blush finish with the type of look you’re seeking. For glowy skin pick a dewy- or radiant-finish blush. For something sans shine opt for a matte blush. Seeking a happy medium? A natural finish will have the most skin-like results.
- Pigmentation: Sheer coverage tints like Glow Recipe’s Dewy Flush provide the most natural flush, while products with stronger pigments like Armani Beauty’s Luminous Silk Cheek Tint provide a bold wash of color. Regardless, both kinds of formulas allow for buildable coverage. “A well-formulated blush should layer effortlessly, allowing for both a sheer wash of color and a bold, sculpted effect,” says Spickard, noting that deeper complexions should seek stronger blush pigments so their flush appears true to color and vibrant.
How to Apply a Liquid Blush
Gonzalez applies blush after concealer, only going in with a liquid blush after her client’s face base is complete. Then comes the fun part: Whether you’re mixing different shades or sticking to one tried-and-true favorite, Gonzalez suggests dispensing blush onto a makeup palette or the back of your hand, then loading up a beauty sponge (she prefers makeup squares) with the product. Apply from cheeks to temples in a buffing, blending motion.
Celebrity makeup artist Mia Hawkswell takes a similar approach, previously telling Vogue that blush should always be blended upward, giving cheekbones the appearance of being higher and toned. Of course, if you’re in a pinch and want to avoid using any tools, you can always dot liquid blush directly onto your cheeks and tap out with your fingers to blend.
Are you in need of some extra assurance that your blush look will last all day? Spickard has a solution. “My holy grail application method is to do a blush sandwich,” he says, explaining that setting a liquid formula with a powder blush will extend its wear time even further.
Meet The Experts
- Carolina Gonzalez is a celebrity makeup artist whose clients include Sabrina Carpenter, Alessandra Ambrosio, Ashley Park, Camila Mendes, and more.
- Kasey Spickard is a professional makeup artist based in New York and Los Angeles with more than 10 years of experience in the beauty industry. Spickard has worked with clients such as Jenna Lyons, Kamie Crawford, and Brynn Whitfield.
- Kanako Takase is a professional makeup artist and the global creative director of Addiction Tokyo.
- Mia Hawkswell is a celebrity hair and makeup artist based in Sydney. Hawkswell has worked with Pamela Anderson, Rose Byrne, and more.
