Top Favourite Lilac and Purple Blushes (2021)

Important Note: this post has been updated in 2023 with even more available shades!

Makeup trends come and go, I know. But with such a saturated industry it was to be expected that here and there a few unique shades of blush would make it to the permanent line of a handful of cosmetic brands, right?! And I think there was a moment when this was true. Newly launched blush lines would have their purple, orange or bright red pop of colour. And it’s 2021 and nearly all have been discontinued.

I could rant about it until I get purple in the face, but instead I’m going to show you some (still available!) options for you to get purple in your face.

I’ll start with the blushes that are still permanent, but I’ll also show some of my favourites that you might yet still find some stock at a few retailers, even though they’re gone. Here’s my selection:

Top Favourite Lilac and Purple Blushes

Excuse all the beiges and the peaches in the photo, but every lilac and purple blush that I have that’s not discontinued happens to be in a palette. Don’t worry, all of them are sold individually as well.

Swatches comparing all of the blushes are at the end of this post.

La Femme Blushes: Mulberry, Purple Passion, Mauve Sparkle

I first heard about La Femme from Wayne Goss (that video is ten years old!). I believe La Femme is very well known around makeup artists, which makes sense, because their blushes are inexpensive, obscenely pigmented, and there’s a large and interesting range. I used to see this brand being used by and recommend for people with darker skintones or who had a harder time getting blush to show up on them in general.

Having a fair to light skintone myself I can tell you from experience that these can be hard to work with precisely due to the pigment. “Naturally flushed” can turn into “you need an ointment for that” in 0.2 seconds. But you can get around that with a lighter hand and a flimsier brush, and the shades are worth it. They have three that I consider purple/lilac: Mulberry, which is an orchid-like lavender colour, Purple Passion, a mid tone purple with a bit of shimmer, and Mauve Sparkle, a cool toned mauve with a lot of grey in it, which makes this such an interesting shade (and surprisingly wearable – it’s almost a contour).

Top Favourite Lilac and Purple Blushes

La Femme blushes are still available for sale at the same website I bought them years ago, Camera Ready Cosmetics (this is not an affiliate link), but there are other websites, usually ones that cater to professionals, that stock them as well.

Clinique Pansy Pop

My Pansy Pop is in a palette, but it’s permanent and in a pot for purchase. And Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

This was a Holiday 2020 limited edition palette, and I had none of the three shades in it, so it seemed only right to get it. Also, not all retailers carry the full Clinique blush line, which is annoying because the lavender shade is always left out of the selection, so when I saw an opportunity to get it, I took it. If you’re in the US, you’re lucky, because Sephora carries it. I got mine online, at Selfridges.

Top Favourite Lilac and Purple Blushes

The Clinique Cheek Pop blush line is fantastic – it’s that dense, creamy, powder-gelée formula that looks very natural on the skin, even if it’s lilac. It blurs skin texture, it has a soft luminosity to it and never looks like a powder. This shade in particular is one of the most “natural” lavender shades you can wear if you have really warm toned skin, like me.

Discontinued Favourites in case you can still find them

Why is MAC Full of Joy discontinued? Why?

I’m not an idiot, I know why these shades keep getting dropped. These are not easy to pull off. Lilac and purple on the skin can look like a bruise. You have to balance it with the rest of the makeup look, and even then, it’s likely not going to look good for a lot of people. So people don’t buy them as much. And like with foundation shades, when they sell less, retailers stop carrying them, and we end up with less variety and less diversity.

I know the business case is not on my side on this, but come on, what’s one fun, unsellable colour here and there? There’s a limit to how many pink blush one can have, right?! (says the b*tch with 50 shades of peach. I’m a hypocrite).

Sigh. Anyway, if you find the last of any of the following specimens, snatch them, ’cause they’re gone.

Mac Full of Joy

Top Favourite Lilac and Purple Blushes

My favourite lilac blush, ever. It’s very light and cool toned, and I can not wear it when I’m too tan, but in the winter it’s the cutest “porcelain doll cheeks” shade ever. It’s a frost finish so there’s a lot of shine too, making this an almost blush-highlighter hybrid.

MAC is a brand that in spite of their popularity amidst the average consumer, is very geared towards makeup artists, so it should have some out-of-the-box, editorial style shades in it’s permanent line. I don’t get why they got rid of Full of Joy. I’m filled with resentment.

Illamasqua Thrust

True story, I remember Illamasqua being born. I was already an avid beauty content consumer when the brand launched over 10 years ago. They were very artistry-oriented, avant-garde, theatrical, and colour-driven. The products were solid. They had the most intense blush colours: blood-red, purple, bright coral, and this gorgeous cool toned orchid magenta. Some of the names rivalled the Nars’ blush names and would make you blush before the brush touched your cheek.

And then they sell out. And every new launch started getting more and more mainstream. What happened to you, Illamasqua? There was a point in time when you were my favourite makeup brand. Ever.

Thrust has been discontinued for so long that I honestly don’t think you’ll be able to find one, but I could not make this post without an ode to what once was, in my opinion, the most innovative brand on the market. There is, however, a dupe for this shade in this post. Look at the swatches below.

Milani Fantastico Mauve

Look at a drugstore brand, venturing out to make unconventional blush shades! Now there’s a rare occasion! It would be more commendable if it was still around. It’s also been discontinued for a long time but it’s the only drugstore and the only baked blush in this post, so I wanted to include it. The texture is powdery but smooth and blends easily, but the shade is surprisingly less purple than what it looks like in the pan. It ends up being a lot more mauve than purple, at least on my skin.

Comparison swatches

Mind you, if the swatches look more mauve or plum than lilac or purple is because my skintone is really, really warm. These are very cool toned shades, trust me.

Top Favourite Lilac and Purple Blushes

Mac’s Full of Joy is 100% lilac, and no other shade compares to it. It’s so cool toned that it makes the other shades look pink by comparison. It’s the lightest and most shimmery of the bunch. Clinique’s Pansy Pop is very cool toned as well, but has a lot more pink in it.

Illamasqua’s Thrust and La Femme’s Mulberry are pretty similar! Thrust is a bit darker and more neutral toned, but honestly, on the cheeks, you’ll struggle to see the difference. And their performance is pretty similar too: they’re both very pigmented, matte, and with a soft powdery texture.

La Femme’s Purple Passion is undoubtedly purple and the darkest on the selection. You don’t see this violet shade in blushes very often. Mauve Sparkle is genuinely one of my favourites. I never found anything else like it. The texture is a bit different from the typical La Femme formula: it’s drier and less pigmented, but that makes it easier to work with, and it’s a great everyday shade.

Poor Fantastico Mauve. It looks lost in there. I guess it’s more mauve than purple. By itself, and on the cheeks, it’s definitely more purple than what it appears in the swatch. It’s just that all the others are so cool.

Anyway, today in age, it’ll probably be easier to find a lilac or purple blush in a indie brand. I know Lethal Cosmetics has at least one. If you know of more lilac/purple blushes that are currently available and I haven’t mentioned here, please comment down below, so that this can become a reference page for people who might be looking for this type of shade. I would really appreciate it 🙂

You may also like

15 Comments

  1. I love purple blush! I have some of those you’ve listed and the clinique one is a fav. Another that I really have wanted for years was the etude house lovely cookie blusher in lavender chiffon cake-just tried to find it but looks like that too has been discontinued. 🙁

    1. Thank you for your comment, I didn’t know about that one! Just went to look for swatches online, it looks lovely! It’s fate with purple blushes, getting discontinued :/

    2. Love lilac, lavender, purple blushes!!! Can you please tell me the brand and name of shade in the picture. It’s the lilac blush with darker heart in middle. Look like MAC packaging but a Laura Geller project ie, Baked Heart Blush And Highlighter. Unable to find by Google, didn’t see info in article. Thank you for so much for your help! Love the story on these blushes!

      1. Hi! Sorry it took me so long to answer, that blush is a limited edition MAC in the shade Sakura. The collection was a while ago… it’s a baked formula, that’s why it looks like Laura Geller 🙂

  2. Great selection of lilac and purple blushes! As much as I love purple and lilac, I can’t make them work as a blush. I can wear lilac as an eyeshadow, lilac pairs really well with green eyes -I actually wore lilac eyeshadow for my wedding makeup- but it looks totally wrong on me as a blush.

    1. It’s a tricky look, I know. I’m sure I’ve looked like my cheeks have hypothermia more than once from using purple blush. I’m imagining your wedding makeup was wonderful, green eyes look amazing with lilac!

      1. I wish I could wear purple blush and look good, but I think the problem is that it clashes with my warm hair tone.

        It´s ten years since I got married and if I was to get married now, I would go for the same makeup look. I would change my hair color though, it was far too blonde back then!

        1. That’s so good to hear. One of my fears was that I opted for a look that makes sense now but would look outdated in a few years. I hope I won’t have that feeling in the future. Hey, at least I really enjoyed it the day of.

  3. Illamasqua has another unique purple blush, kind of between the Mac and the Clinique in shade. It’s Color Veil gel blush in Frisson. And the texture is really fun – kind of bouncy and slippery. You just need to build it up in thinner layers so that you get even color and don’t disturb your base. Another favorite that I just discovered is Danessa Myricks Vision Flush in Grape. Both have a bit of a learning curve for perfect application but once you get the hang of them they are really easy and quick to apply.

    1. Thank you for your suggestions! I’ve been wanting to try an Illamasqua color veil, they look so appealing, I just never noticed there was a purple shade. I’m not a super fan of cream blushes in general but I had a good experience with Illamasqua’s, probably my favourite that I’ve tried, so maybe I’ll have a good time with the veils too.

  4. I’ve been looking for a purple blush but I haven’t really found one I like. Sometimes it’s easier to stick with basic colors and purple is so out of my comfort zone, I’m not sure if I can make it work. Mac’s Full of Joy looks so beautiful! I’ve never seen a shade like it and I’m really tempted to pick it up.

    1. Yes, it’s a tricky type of shade, but Full of Joy is a safe choice – it does not look stark and contrasting on the skin, and it’s very highlight-y, which is always flattering 🙂

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *