Review: Milani Rose Powder Blush in Tea Rose

I picked this up a few weeks ago, because more blushes is exactly what I need, right? But I’m a sucker for pretty patterns, and I like Milani’s baked blushes aside from the overabundance of shimmer. A matte blush from them though? I thought that could be well worth checking you.

Packaging

Sad to say, the packaging for this blush falls very firmly into the ‘value-price’ arena. The compact is a sort of flimsy-feeling acrylic, with a gold-painted base that I just find really unappealing (that’s just my own aesthetic preference, though). The case snaps closed, but the closure doesn’t feel all that firm. I fully expect that it will wear out before I get anywhere close to seeing pan on this. The packaging isn’t all bad though. The clear lid makes it easy to find, and also shows off the gorgeous rose-petal design. It’s pretty flat, but very much on the large side – the pan holds .6oz/17g, which is a lot by pretty much any standard.

Color

Tea Rose is a medium neutral pink with just a hint of warmth to it. Not quite what I’d call an adventurous color (ok, not at all, really) but one that could be a staple in pretty much anyone’s collection. There are also three other colors available (Milani’s descriptions):

• Coral Cove – bright coral
• Lady Rouge – hot red
• Love Potion – dark rose

I didn’t have anything exactly like this in my collection, but there were a couple that came pretty close.

Milani Tea Rose, Hourglass Luminous Flush, Burberry Rose

Left to right: Milani Tea Rose, Hourglass Luminous Flush, Burberry Rose

Hourglass Luminous Flush is cooler and has more of a sheen, while Burberry Rose is deeper,  a bit more red and not as matte.

Texture, application & wear

I’ll give it to you straight – I have really mixed feelings about this blush. On the one hand, the pigmentation is really nice (the swatch above is one heavy finger swipe over bare skin) and it lacks the shimmer that I hated so much in the baked blushes. The thing is, it’s matte almost to the point of flatness; worn over a natural/dewy foundation or with a finishing powder that’s fine, but with a matte foundation and powder it ends up making my skin look a little tired. The texture is a mixed bag too. It’s very very dry and a little powdery, so it took a little bit of testing to figure out which brush is the best to use with it. A dense brush kicked up a ton of powder and the rose petal pattern kept the product from being distributed evenly on the brush. It also went on a little bit splotchy, in that case. A fluffy squirrel brush worked much better since it kicked up less powder and blended much more nicely; it did require a bit of building up though. It fades noticeably after about six hours, though it doesn’t get patchy or cakey. Based on the texture and wear time for me (over foundation on normal/combo skin) I’m going to guess this won’t last long at all on bare or extremely dry skin. It also has a faintly chemical smell in the compact, which I don’t notice at all once I get it onto my face.

In Short: I don’t hate it, but I don’t love it unreservedly either.

Milani Rose Powder Blush in Tea Rose (limited edition, $7.99) is available at milanicosmetics.com