I think I’ll begin by admitting that I’ve never been a fan of cream blush on myself. I don’t have oily skin - it’s normal to dry - but I’ve still always disliked the fact that the previous ones I’ve tried have left me looking too greasy, feeling sticky, or just didn’t give my cheeks enough dimension.
So I’m sure you’re wondering why I went and bought a whole palette of cream blush?! Well as a make-up artist I have to have a bit of everything in my kit and some products which I dislike on myself I love to use on others. The Graftobian blush palette was therefore ideal for me as it has shades to suit a whole host of skin colours.
What surprised me the most, however, was that I actually really love how this cream blush looks on myself! They’re definitely not gloopy or sticky in any way but actually very smooth and easy to blend. They do dry down quite a bit so they’re not overly-shiny or dewy but still leave a nice healthy glow. The fact that they do dry down also means that they don’t move around. It doesn’t budge all day on me and I had to cleanse my arm twice to remove the swatches! For this reason I can see them working well for oily skins and also being ideal for brides. The pigmentation is fantastic as you can see in the swatches. They can be built up or sheered out as much as you want. I like to apply them with my MAC 109 brush and a tiny bit on the brush goes a very long way.
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| From left to right: Peach Blush, Vienna Rose, Raspberry Wine, Autumn Breeze, Cherry Glaze |
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| Swatched in same order as above (natural light - no flash) |
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| 'Peach Blush' swatched heavy and sheer |
The one fault I will mention is with the darkest shade - Cherry Glaze. Now I don’t know if it’s just a dud in my palette but it’s not very pigmented like the others. It feels almost ‘wet’ and doesn’t adhere to the skin very well. I'm wondering if the 'glaze' in the name also reflects the texture of this one? It’s not a shade I would have ever used much so I don’t mind and like I said it could just be my palette.
Unfortunately, being an industry brand, Graftobian is not widely available to buy in shops. I bought the palette from ‘crcmakeup’ on ebay and it cost me £13.82 before postage so roughly €16. With postage it was approx €25 which I think is very good.
Pros: Great texture, great pigmentation, long-wearing, not too expensive
Cons: Not widely available, problem with darkest shade
Mark out of 10: 7
Would I buy again: I'm not sure if I'd buy the whole palette again as I just don't use the darker shades. If they came in individual pots I would most definitely buy a couple of the lighter shades on their own.
