Choosing make-up as someone who has pale skin can be difficult. Whether it’s finding the best foundation to match your lighter skin tones or a bronzer that won’t look orange, there’s a certain amount of trial and error when it comes to finding the best make-up for pale skin. And the same goes for blusher. As a beauty editor with a fair complexion, I love wearing lots of colour—whether it’s a bright lipstick or a burgundy mascara—but there’s one product in particular that brings me more joy than most and that’s a great blusher. But how do you know what makes the best blusher for pale skin?
“For paler skin tones, blush is a powerful tool to brighten the complexion,” says Ana Klein, Co-founder of concept make-up store Beam. However, for a great blusher to “enhance your features and not overpower them” Ana suggests seeking out a specific palette of colours to “mimic the natural flush of the skin and make the complexion look fresh and radiant”. Soft pinks, peaches and light corals are all great options for an everyday make-up look but, worry not, there are great blushers in a spectrum of colours that will look incredible on pale skin.
Ahead, the six best blushers for pale skin as recommended by make-up artists, and some of my personal favourites.
1. Merit Flush Balm in Stockholm
(Image credit: Mica Ricketts)
(Image credit: Merit)
This is the cream blusher that I wear every single day as a beauty editor with pale skin so I was happy to learn that make-up artist Lisa Caldognetto swears by it too. “Stockholm is a baby pink that has a little bit of white in there to give it an almost pastel shade that looks really fresh on pale skin,” says Lisa. “It lights the complexion really nicely without being too much, and just gives a really cute clean-girl aesthetic.” As someone with pale skin I also love personally how sheer and lightweight these blushers are—it blends out effortlessly with fingers so you can never apply too much.
2. Ruby Hammer Cheek Colour in Red
(Image credit: Ruby Hammer)
Red blush might sound scary—especially if you have pale skin—but Lisa assures me that this one won’t leave you looking like a clown. “Red blush really shouldn’t be sniffed at for pale skin, and this Ruby Hammer blush can be mixed with highlighters and other make-up products to change the texture of the product if you want something a little more sheer,” says Lisa. “If you’re looking for really healthy-looking skin that doesn’t look like blush then just warming this up and applying a very thin veil will leave skin looking so fresh and thriving.”
3. Kosas Blush is Life Baked Dimensional + Brightening Blush in Adrenaline
(Image credit: Kosas)
I’m a huge fan of Kosas products in general and my favourite baked blushes also come make-up artist-approved. “Adrenaline gives you a really nice berry vibe that looks very cosy on the skin and really polished,” explains Lisa. “Although they are baked blushes they’re not like your traditional baked powder that can look quite strong on the skin, they blend out really seamlessly and have a lovely low level luminosity too.”
4. Rare Beauty Soft Pinch Liquid Blush in Bliss
(Image credit: Rare Beauty)
These days it seems that no blusher round-up is complete without a mention of Rare Beauty—their liquid formulation is one of the best on the market and make-up artists always recommend it to me. Lisa swears by the shade Bliss for pale skin. A lot has been said online about how pigmented these products, and they definitely are impactful, but if you dot the teeniest amount onto the apples of your cheeks then they really do blend out beautifully to create a really soft, natural-looking flush of colour.
5. Milk Makeup Lip + Cheek in Dash
(Image credit: Mica Ricketts)
(Image credit: Milk Makeup)
Some of the most versatile blushers on the market come via Milk Makeup’s multipurpose cream sticks which offer buildable, blendable colours in a variety of shades. “We love using the Milk Lip + Cheek colours in our make-up services at Beam as the entire range is buildable so you can ensure that you achieve a nice subtle hue for pale skin,” says Ana.
6. BareMinerals Gen Nude Blonzer in Kiss of Rose
(Image credit: BareMinerals)
I was recently devastated to drop this beautiful blush all over my bathroom floor because it’s one of the few powder blushes that I think looks genuinely fresh and natural on the skin. Described as a ‘blonzer’, it’s effectively a powder pigment with all the colour of a blush with the sun-kissed glow of a bronzer. Dusted over pale skin with a large fluffy brush, it diffuses the colour so evenly and naturally onto the skin that people will just think you look naturally radiant