I’m never tired of baked blushes. I blame the Mineralize Skinfinish frenzy the world was going through when I first got interested in makeup and MAC was the sh*t. I’ll forever be attracted to the domed, shimmery, multicoloured beauty powders. This time I’m reviewing a blush from a Greek makeup brand, Erre Due (not affiliated); they have a website and ship worldwide, so no need to wait for a trip to Greece to get your hands on their stuff.
The Sparkling Powders come in multiple shades, and where you’ll use them will depend on your skintone and what shade you got. I, obviously, chose the shade that would be more wearable as a blush. Bursting Lava is a warm, shimmery, muted rose-copper shade.
Texture and application: this is a baked powder that feels almost a bit dry to the touch, but it’s not hard to pick up either with a finger or brush. It’s not powdery at all, and it’s very easy to control the amount upon application: if you use a lighter hand you’ll get a wash of colour, but you can build it up quite intensely. I recommend a layered application, that way looks better on the skin and doesn’t take any effort to blend out, while a heavier hand right off the bat will make it harder to blend and even out.
Pigmentation and finish: pigmentation is soft but easily buildable. You can get it to look very intense, but it’ll always have some translucency to it, which is very characteristic of baked powders. It has some shine but it’s like that from a traditional shimmer powder, it does not have the typical, almost wet looking sheen that baked products have that make them look like part of the skin. This behaves more like a traditional pressed powder.
Longevity: depending on how little you touch your face, it can last a really long time. Over a powdered, long wearing foundation, it lasted 12 hours with minimal fading. But that was on the cheek I hardly touch. On my other cheek (the “phone cheek”) I saw fading a lot sooner (after about 9 hours). At least it faded evenly, without turning patchy.
Packaging & Other Info: This comes in a sturdy compact with a see-trough lid, and for a domed product, it has one of the least bulky compacts I’ve seen. This contains 8 grams of product and costs 26€.
Final thoughts: not the product I reach for when I want that glow-from-within baked blush look, but not a bad blush by any means. It looks good on the skin and is easy to apply, so no regrets here. Erre Due is not really an affordable brand, price wise it sits on that mid tier that might not be worth it for some people to risk and buy blindly, so if you are not visiting Greece and can’t test it for yourself before buying, at least know it delivers and performs well enough (it’s just not necessarily outstanding).
