Phytosurgence Skin Spark Blush Balms

The joy of orange blush

Well, well, well! What do we have here? These cream blushes from Phytosurgence are among my very favorite purchases of 2023.

I bought them as my annual blush purchase, and I’ve been using them almost daily since then. Creamy and intensely pigmented, these are such a joy to apply. I like to dip a finger in the pot, once for each check, stipple and blend with my finger, then finish with a brush (I like e.l.f.’s Small Stipple Brush).

The blushes and the brush are influencer favorites, beloved by many a beauty YouTuber. I was definitely influenced to buy them! I was pretty late and reluctant to jump on the cream blush train. I love my powder blushes; I find them to be easier to apply and control, and their formulation means they aren’t sticky or balmy on the face. Powders also tend to have a longer shelf life than cream products, which is something I think about every time I consider buying any kind of cream cosmetic. It’s not worth it to me to buy a cream product unless I use it frequently.

I also think cream blushes can be tricky to control on the face. Typically, blush is a product we apply and then sheer out to give us a veil of color. I’ve bought very expensive cream blushes that sheered out to nothing but a shiny cheek. I’ve bought inexpensive cream blush that turned out to be almost pure glitter. And I’ve had drugstore-priced cream blush that always looked like I was wearing too much blush or none at all. I just couldn’t get the blend right.

As I ran through the options that didn’t work for me, I started to learn what might work for me. I wanted a cream blush that was pigmented, blendable, but—and here’s the funny part—not too blendable. I wanted it to sheer out without disappearing. This is a balancing act, and clearly, not all formulations can pull this off. The Phytosurgence Skin Spark blushes can and do pull it off very elegantly.

Here are the swatches. The top two are Smolder (juicy swatch on top, sheered out swatch on bottom); the bottom two are Evaporate (same deal). The top photo was taken in direct sunlight; the bottom photo was taken inside during daylight hours.

The original Skin Spark line comes in nine rich shades, and its muted cousin, the “Toasted” line, comes in four colors. I hemmed and hawed over which shades to get. I wanted a peach cream blush, but I also really wanted to try the Toasted line, which just looked so lovely with its “muted, earthy, ‘nude’ tones” (as Phytosurgence describes them). It was hard to find reviews on the peachier shades in the lineup. I really wanted a blush that was firmly on the orange side of peach rather than the pink side.

I settled on Smolder, a peachy-brown shade, and its Toasted cousin, Evaporate. They’re both just so lovely—I’m happy to have them in my collection. Let’s start with Smolder. This is a VERY pigmented product. I love orange and orange-leaning blushes, and I know that not everyone does. I always feel like I’ve been kissed by sunshine when I’m wearing Smolder, the way that it brightens my face and adds color to my cheeks. That being said, it’s easy for Smolder to get out of control! When I apply too much, there’s no fixing that amount of orange blush except to wipe it off and start over. I’ve done it before. So maybe it’s not foolproof, but it’s worth it.

Here’s me wearing Smolder.

Unlike Smolder, Evaporate is basically foolproof for me. Evaporate is a neutral, mid-tone brown, and because my undertone is also neutral, Evaporate looks really natural on me. It’s not exactly the color I turn if I get too much sun—I’m more of a pinky-brown color in that situation—but it’s easy to imagine Evaporate as my “suntan” shade.

Here’s me wearing Evaporate.

I don’t think we should feel beholden to wear only makeup that looks “natural” on us. I rather like that Smolder is a little punchier than any shade that looks natural on me, and I think orange blush in general looks gorgeous across a wide spectrum of skin tones. Wearing makeup that looks like makeup is letting yourself be a little artsy and creative. It widens your horizons. It’s letting yourself be seen as a makeup wearer. There is great joy to be found when you feel free to wear what you want to wear. Not everything has to be “flattering."

Product Details: Phytosurgence Skin Spark Blush Balm in “Smolder” and Skin Spark “The Toasted Blushes” in “Evaporate”

Sold: Only on the Phytosurgence website, to my knowledge

Price: $21 Canadian (approximately $15.71 USD as of this writing) for 4g of product

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I wanted to include a quick update on my life outside of cream blush. We bought our house! We closed on the house on March 23rd, and my partner Paul has been painting, redoing one of the floors, and supervising service providers as they fix and update things. I’ve been busy picking out paint colors and dreaming of the herbs I am going to grow this summer.

Life has been good. In addition to everything house-related and our upcoming move, I completed some grant-writing work, bought Alison Roman’s new cookbook (Sweet Enough, which I absolutely love), and have been thinking a lot about writing, the internet, and who we are as people. I read this piece from Holly Whitaker—her thoughts on “how to be lost”—and something about it just gripped me. I know it’s behind a Substack paywall, but it was definitely worth it to me to pay for access. I think we’ve all had times in life when we felt lost or directionless or lacking in purpose. Holly’s piece made me feel all the feels about my own sense of loss and being lost.

Have a great week, y’all! I hope to see you back here next week.