I’m having one hell of a moment with blush lately! First there was the Laura Geller Vivid Swirl blush in Guava, then there was the Blush Tag, quickly followed by me professing my undying lover for the Smashbox Culver City Coral trio and now… this Urban Decay Afterglow blush in Bittersweet.

In my April haul post, I pointed out that I didn’t really have a purple blush in my collection (not that many people do) and I had been eyeballing the one Natalie had reviewed several months back over on Ivory Avenue. I waited until the recent 15% off sale at Sephora and then snatched it right up.

I’ve heard a few back and forth comments on the packaging for these blushes, but personally I’m a fan. I think it’s quite sleek and I like the gunmetal colour of it. The lid could really do with a mirror in it, but hey, you can’t win ’em all! I think the colour of the blush is supposed to show through the meshing in the lid, but it doesn’t really work in practice since you can’t really see much of the colour coming through. What DOES work though is how each sticker on the bottom is colour coded to match the blush. It may not be easy for large blush collections, but it does help makes the colours stand out a bit more when you’re trying to rifle through your collection.

Bear with me here – I’ve got a few thoughts tumbling around in my brain that I want to get out and it’s kind of amusing that it’s the result of this blush.

I’ve got a lot of products in my collection (makeup collection video here!) – from items I’ve bought myself and from items I’ve been sent as a result of having a blog and having some kind of an influential voice on the internet. As my collection has grown as a result of all of this, I’ve started to become more and more selective of the items I purchase. There’s always something new and exciting out there (and my god do I ever fall prey to the hype as much as anyone else), but often the products that are being put out there are a reformulation of the same shades of pink we’ve been seeing for years. Or shades of coral. Or rosy taupe. And those are all wonderful shades, but like any devout beauty addict, I’ve ended up with an awful lot of near identical colours in my blush collection.

So THAT’s why I wanted this blush because, for once, I own nothing like it and I can actually say that without it being a tongue in cheek comment. (I still want every shade of coral ever created though… just saying.)

The other thought I had after buying this blush was “Am I even a person that WEARS purple blush?”, quickly followed by a fearful one: “Is this the one product that I finally decide that *I* can’t wear???”

But hell no it’s not! I LOVE THIS FREAKING BLUSH! When I first applied it my eyeballs kind of popped out of their sockets because it was just SO MUCH PURPLE on my cheeks. I blended it out with my foundation sponge to decrease the intensity, but I quickly found myself applying more and more. In these shots, it actually ended up looking quite pink on my cheeks in comparison to my eyeshadow, but rest assured – it is PURPLE.

Bittersweet shocked me because there’s some sort of weirdass ethereal quality going on with it. It looks totally otherworldly/corpse-like (I’m sure that’ll turn a LOT of people on… haha) to me in person but maybe that’s just because I’m not used to seeing myself wear purple blush?

Final Thoughts

I suppose there are some of you out there that want a real review out of this post! So here’s the run down: Urban Decay‘s Bittersweet blush is only billed as an 8 hour blush (weird time frame – that barely even covers a day at the office!), but it lasts far closer to 10-12 hours on me. It may last even longer, but I haven’t put it to the test. It is relatively easy to blend although not the easiest. That may possibly be due to the colour being rather incongruous to my skin colour when compared with pink or coral. On me, I find Bittersweet oddly flattering. It doesn’t look natural at all because obviously no one flushes purple, but I think that’s what makes it unique. It’s *oddly* flattering on my skin tone and honestly? It makes me smile. And any makeup product that makes you smile when you’re wearing it is well worth the money.

I’m curious to hear your thoughts on this particular shade of blush. Is this a shade you would wear or want to try? Do you like the idea of it being slightly odd looking? Or is that too much of a turnoff for you? Let me know!

Urban Decay‘s Bittersweet blush (along with other shades!) can be purchased on sephora.ca for $32 CAD or on sephora.com for $26 USD.