There are three new cream blushes in the Chanel Les Beiges collection called Healthy Glow Sheer Colour Sticks ($45 each for 8 g / 0.28 oz). All three have this soft texture that feels cool to the touch. The sticks are easy to swipe on the cheeks and blend flawlessly. Coverage and pigment is quite sheer compared to what you see in the tubes, but they layer nicely to give the face a very natural glow with a hint of color. These blush sticks give the skin a youthful glow with the perfect amount of soft color. If you like color you might want to skip these although I do think they make a good base for powder blush. If you have super oily skin I think these are probably going to also be a skip for you. They stay put for a few hours on normal/combination skin but if you get oily and find blush tends to disappear on you, these will probably do the same.
The three shades have a very tiny hint of shimmer in them. On the skin the shimmer disappears but rather gives the cheeks a glow-from-within kind of luminous look:
No. 20 is a soft bronze with golden shimmer
No. 21 is a warm rose pink with shimmer
No. 22 is a coral with a hint of shimmer
I photographed and swatched these back in May before I left for vacation. Back then my skin was light to medium ranging from a Chanel Beige 20 to 30. Living in sunny Southern California means there is sun everywhere – there’s no avoiding it and I tan easily even with a high SPF sunscreen. On our Europe trip both my husband and I were in the sun a lot with tons of walking, outside tours, and the cruise. We both made the extra effort to re-apply sunscreen constantly, wore hats, and on some occasions I tried to wear long-sleeved tees to cover my arms but it was extremely hot and many days tanks and tees were the only option for me. I got quite a bit darker and went from a Chanel Beige 20/30 to the darker end of Chanel Beige 40.
Back in May, all three were perfect for my light/medium skin. Weather here was moderate but warm so lasting power was really good since my skin didn’t get oily. I went back and forth debating whether to bring one with me on the trip but opted for Tom Ford Pink Sand instead. Now that I’m a few shades darker I tested these again for the past two weeks to see how they wear on darker skin. I also wanted to see how long they would last on the skin now that the temperatures are warmer and a bit more humid. On my Chanel 40 skin, the Bronze No. 20 disappears on me after 1 minute of wear. It gives the cheeks a very soft contour but after I blend I can’t see much of anything. The Pink No. 21 and Coral No. 22 still show up on my skin, but I find I need to apply + blend + let sit, then repeat with one more layer for the color to show up. The effect is still similar – you get that very natural glow with a hint of color. Now that I’m darker the colors have more of a glow finish versus color. I have them swatched below and blended out on Chanel Beige 30 skin (from last month). To see how these look on fair skin you might want to check out Café Makeup for swatches of the pink and bronze.
Close ups of each shade:
Ingredients:
Comparison swatches to the Charlotte Tilbury Beach Sticks in Las Salinas and Ibiza (currently on Chanel Beige 40 skin). Below you can see the Chanel and Charlotte Tilbury colors are different. Concept is similar in the way they give the skin a natural glow. Charlotte Tilbury’s have a sweeter vanilla scent and more visible shimmer flecks. Chanel’s smells like their UV Essential Sunscreen and has a more natural glow with finely milled shimmer.
One last shot:
In warmer humid weather I find these fade within 2-3 hours on the cheeks. In hot summer weather I have a hard time finding any makeup that is truly sweat-proof (some eyeliners and mascaras have exceptionally good lasting power). In moderately warm weather they last at least 5 hours without fading. All three give a really pretty soft glow. They are easy to apply and if you’re timid with blush these are goof proof. I truly believe these are impossible to overdo because they blend out so nicely on the cheeks. My take is that the pink and coral are musts for me. I’ve been wearing the pink one a lot. The bronze performed better when I was lighter in skintone. Right now I’m too tan for it to show up. On fairer skins these will perform more like a regular blush.
You can find the Chanel Les Beiges Healthy Glow Sheer Colour Sticks at all Chanel counters now. I bought all three of mine from Saks Fifth Avenue. Also online at Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdales and Chanel.com.
Have you tried these yet? Did they work for you? If yes or no, please chime in with your skintone!
