The Blushes Behind Your Favorite On-Screen Romances
Beauty
Beauty trends come and go, but the orgasm blush lingers, whether it be in its original NARS form or in one of the many formulas built to elicit the same flushed glow. Below, find the best products to feign the perfect flush.
Sex sells, and so do rosy blush shades that elicit it. Just ask Hollywood’s most acclaimed MUAs, who have increasingly resorted to cream blush to depict sexual excitement on screen. Call it peony, call it orgasm, call it “sexual flushtration” (as Euphoria’s makeup artist Donni Davy did for her blush line in Half Magic Beauty), flushed pink powders and creams are shaping the biggest trend in onscreen beauty. The look typically consists of a heavy-pigmented cream blush made to imitate a certain type of rosiness from within. Because who wouldn't want to look as good as an orgasm feels?
While no beauty trend can be traced to a sole product or project, the ‘orgasm’ look certainly took shape in 1999, with the release of NARS’s provocatively named Orgasm Blush, a coral powder blush speckled with gold glitter that has turned into a cult phenomenon. According to the shade’s creator, François Nars, the name preceded the shade and 27 years later, the product is beloved for more than just its raunchy moniker. The powder blush has a silky formula and versatile color, and is reknown for looking good on all skin tones.
Ella Bright and Belmont Cameli in "Off Campus".
Prime Video
As mainstream television undergoes its sexual renaissance, with a slate of recent releases that have put sex front and center, so has that perfect shade of rosy blush, evocative of sexual excitement. Leah Ehman, the makeup department head behind “Off Campus,” cycled through many different formulas and shades to land on Hannah (Ella Bright) and Allie’s (Mika Abdalla) respective, flushed glows. In the show, different amounts of blush were applied to delineate the girl’s different levels of sexual confidence. As Ehman says, “[Allie] is so charismatic and unapologetic about her femininity and her sexuality. I wanted that beautiful sexual energy to be pouring out of her.” As Allie’s more reserved best friend falls for bad boy Garrett, Ehman piled on more blush to flush up the look and make it appear as if she is “waking up.”
Ehman opted for the Rare Beauty Soft Pinch Luminous Powder Blush and Soft Pinch Liquid Blush to achieve an “excited and flushed” hue. “[Happy] is so youthful and sweet and innocent. It's happy, just like the name,” Ehman says. The same shade was also used on Margot Robbie’s character in “Wuthering Heights” by Siân Miller, but layered over the shade Hope, a wine-hued deep pink brown.
Margot Robbie in "Wuthering Heights."
Warner Bros.
Elsewhere in the film, Miller also used No.1 de Chanel Lip and Cheek Balm in Berry Boost for her looks at Wuthering Heights. And later on as Cathy leaves her home of Wuthering Heights behind for Thrushcross Grange, she swapped these out for the Merit Flush Balm in Après and Postmodern and Pat McGrath Labs’ Divine Cream Blush—all of which helped create a deeper and more dimensional look.
While shade is important, nothing triumphs over formula and technique. For best results, MUAs often blend some combination of cream blush with a powder overlay. To create a blush color that appears natural, and perhaps reminiscent of an orgasm, Ehman recommends adding “a layer of skin over top so that the flush is coming from underneath, not sitting on top.” Start by lightly tapping a little bit of cream blush into the skin, followed by a layer of powder to “lock it in” and prevent slippage. “On top of that, I'll just take my foundation brush and just wipe it off, so there's just a little dry brush technique, and I'll just buff it on top so that the skin goes on top of the blush,” Ehman says.
