All Eyes On Her

In the spirit of doing some more long-awaited 100% Pure reviews, here are my first impressions on their Fruit Pigmented Cheek and Lip Tints (in Sugar Plum).

Personally, I’m not much of a lipstick girl, so this didn’t do much for me in that arena. And oddly enough, the color looks totally weird on my lips — way more coral, and opaque enough to look weird but sheer enough to not quite pull off a lipstick-like look. For whatever reason, it just didn’t do it for me in that context, but I like it as a blush stick.

I only got this color for cheek use because at the time, it was the only shade on the 100% Pure website that wasn’t shimmery. (I already got hooked on Too Faced Pink Leopard Bronzer for my shimmery blush.) They sell more colors on QVC that aren’t shimmery, but they only sell them in trios, and I didn’t want to buy three. (Plus, they only had certain items on QVC and certain other ones on 100% Pure — still so frustrating! — and 100% Pure had more things I wanted, plus a free shipping minimum.)

I got lucky in the shade I picked, because it’s just like my natural flush color. I wouldn’t say it’s similar to Benetint on everyone, necessarily, but the end result looks the same for me, and this stuff is easier to apply. However, I do find that it goes on best if your skin is freshly moisturized, and I sometimes find that I like to blot with a tissue after applying it. I also don’t think it has fabulous lasting power, so a bit of loose powder on top is necessary to help set it. I also sometimes use it underneath my Too Faced blush for a look that’s both flushed and shimmery.

I’m a *tiny* bit worried that the cocoa butter in it clogs my pores or makes me a bit more prone to breaking out on my cheeks. But since I’m theoretically using both Retin-A and my Clarisonic, I should be fine — I think it’s only a problem when I’m not consistent about those two items.

All in all, I like this item — it’s the most natural-looking blush I’ve ever found, and it never has any risk of looking unnatural or dry (which are my main objections to most powder blush formulations). And after I started using Retin-A, Benetint had a weird way of sticking to my skin right where I first applied it — I think it clung to the dead skin cells that Retin-A left behind, so it would always look blotchy no matter how quickly or thoroughly I blended it. But that never seems to happen with my Sugar Plum stuff, so I’m a happy camper!