Quarter Life Challenge - Blush 4

Revlon Golden Affair Sculpting Blush - Merlot At Midnight

I picked this blush up on a whim one day in Duane Reade while waiting for my train. What can I say? It was 50% off and pretty - a deadly combination.

Now, Revlon is one cosmetics giant that has been on the outs with consumers for the past few years. Its market share has fallen drastically as competitors have evolved their product lines, while Revlon still reminds me of the lipsticks in my mother's makeup bag. Classic? Yes. Always appealing? Not so much.

To that effect, they've been releasing Limited Editions of cosmetics for the past few seasons, in an effort to appeal to a younger and hipper demographic. The Golden Affair Sculpting Blush was a part of the Winter LE collection.

This blush in the compact is just plain gorgeous. It is embossed with a golden curlicue star-burst that is brushed with golden shimmer. Extremely eye-catching, and I couldn't help but pick it up.

You have to be careful with the first few applications of this blush, because the golden design is just an overlay of shimmer, and it can all come off in one quick swipe when you dip your brush into it. That's a little disappointing, because the blush underneath is not quite as shimmery on its own. To balance this, the 5 circles on the tip of the curlicue design are pure gold blush all the way through - although not as shimmery as the overlay.

The blush itself is pretty smooth and pigmented - a surprise from a mass-market brand like Revlon. The color, Merlot at Midnight, is what you would expect from a blush called Merlot - it's a deep and wine-ey.

I like the way this blush applies; there is definitely a "sculpting" effect there, although that might be more of a testament to the darker colors they chose for the collection, rather than the amount of shimmer that is included. It's difficult to to isolate the shimmery color, as each circle is only about the size of a pencil eraser - hardly enough to apply independently of the blush. But swirled together, I do like the effect.

Golden Affair blush is reasonably long-wearing. Definitely not a 8-hour kind of blush, but close. Under optimal weather conditions (read: no humidity or sweating) you can get a full day's wear out of it.

All in all, I like this as a good dependable blush, although maybe not an everyday staple due to the shimmer.

$12.80 @ Drugstore.com

NOTE: Many drugstores have been clearing out the winter LE stock, so go out and grab one now if you can. It originally retailed for $12.99, but I've seen it in many places from 50-75% off. I also grabbed another color -- Berry Darling -- from discount retailer Big Lots, where they were selling for $2.00.