The best blush sticks have undeniable appeal: their easy application requires no makeup brushes for the best results. “Blush sticks are generally skin forward and super glowy, giving you the perfect fresh flush and the ease of application with the stick format,” explains celebrity makeup artist Kasey Spickard. “A well-formulated blush should layer effortlessly, allowing for both a sheer wash of color and a bold, sculpted effect.” While makeup trends come and go, blush sticks are a modern makeup bag mainstay.
Professional makeup artist Hannah Isobel Busst agrees, and cites blush sticks’ lightweight color payoff and portability are two another benefits. “You can layer on a cream blush, retouching your makeup throughout the day without it appearing cakey. Plus, they’re much quicker and easier to apply than a liquid blush, which I find can get messy on the go,” Busst tells Vogue. “Not to mention, they look cute and are easy to throw into any purse, carrying them with you throughout the day!” Below, shop the 10 best blush sticks for any beauty lover, from newbie to full fledged aficionado.
Vogue’s Favorite Blush Sticks:
In This Story
Best Viral: Rhode Pocket Blush
- Why we love it: All hail Hailey Bieber for her buzzy products that are actually worth the hype—Rhode’s viral Pocket Blush was their top launch of 2024 for a reason. Formulated with skin-loving ingredients like peptides and tamanu oil, this blush blends like a dream and hydrates wherever it is placed. The six universally flattering shades offer a diffused yet vibrant flush that’s both long-wearing and ultra-flattering.
- Key Ingredients: Peptides, tamanu oil
- Finish: Dewy
- Shades: 6
- How to apply: Simply swipe across your cheeks and tap out with your fingers to blend. Pro tip: for an added natural flush, swipe across the bridge of your nose too!
Best for Acne-Prone Skin: Merit Flush Balm
- Why we love it: There’s nothing not to love about Merit’s blush stick: its creamy, satin finish provides a blendable flush of color that’s flattering but never cakey. Best of all, it’s a safe bet for acne-prone complexions, formulated without any breakout-causing ingredients. Instead, vitamin E helps nourish skin and provides the perfect amount of slip for an easily glided-on application. The packaging is so petite that you can pop it into any bag—clutch, baguette, or work tote—for blush touch-ups throughout the day.
- Key Ingredients: Vitamin E
- Finish: Satin finish
- Shades: 13
- How to apply: Swipe onto cheeks or lips, then blend with your fingers for seamless application.
Best Longwear: Westman Atelier Baby Cheeks Blush Stick
- Why we love it: A two-for-one, this versatile blush can serve as blush or lipstick (or both!) whenever you want a hydrating burst of color. Thanks to jojoba oil and a blend of fruit extracts, the formulation is nourishing, effortlessly blendable, and streak-resistant; kaolin clay is a natural absorbent for excess oil, ensuring your product stays put. The result? Long-wear color for an all-day vivid flush.
- Key
- Ingredients: Jojoba seed oil, raspberry leaf extract, kaolin clay, vitamin C, vitamin E
- Finish: Natural Finish
- Shades: 9
- How to apply: Swipe onto cheeks and lips, then blend in.
Best for Sensitive Skin: Victoria Beckham Beauty Cheeky Posh
- Why we love it: For those with sensitive skin prone to redness, Victoria Beckham Beauty’s blush stick checks all the boxes by providing vibrant color without irritating skin, thanks to the brand’s makeup-skincare hybrid approach to products. Blue lotus wax boasts natural anti-inflammatory properties to calm down skin down, while serving a dual purpose of keeping your blush in place by absorbing excess oil. At the same time, jojoba esters add a touch of emollience for smooth application, while ginseng extract, rich with antioxidants, doubles down on anti-inflammatory properties and plumps collagen.
- Key Ingredients: Blue lotus wax, jojoba esters, ginseng extract
- Finish: Natural Finish
- Shades: 7
- How to apply: According to the brand, for the best result apply dots of color along your cheekbones and the apples of your cheeks, blending outward in a tapping motion with your fingers.
Best for Natural Makeup: Ilia Multi Stick
- Why we love it: Less of a vivid blusher and more of a natural flush, Ilia’s shea butter-infused blush melts effortlessly onto skin when contact. Featuring an ultra-lightweight texture, this is the perfect product for the no makeup-makeup look, with a naturally rosy result.
- Key Ingredients: Shea butter, avocado oil, orange peel wax
- Finish: Available in luminous or natural finishes
- Shades: 12
- How to apply: Ilia keeps matters simple with their multi-stick: swipe, blend, and go.
Best for Dark Complexions: Ami Colé Desert Date Cream Multistick
- Why we love it: Ami Colé’s range of blushes is made with people of color in mind, with vivid pigments that reflect beautifully on medium to deep complexions. This formulation blends hydrating baobab seed oil with antioxidant-rich hibiscus flower extract and desert date oil to protect against free radical damage and reduce the appearance of fine lines.
- Key Ingredients: Baobab seed oil, hibiscus seed oil, desert date oil
- Finish: Matte
- How to apply: Swipe directly onto cheeks and lips, then blend with either your fingers or favorite complexion brush.
Best Dual-Ended: Stila Blush & Bronze Hydro-Blur Cheek Duo
- Why we love it: Contour, blush, and bronze using only one product—Stila’s Hydro-Blur cheek duo does it all. The gel-like texture goes on sheer but allows for buildable intensity—with color pairings ranging from a soft pink and caramel to a rich berry and chocolate combo.
- Key Ingredients: Candelilla wax, carnauba wax, synthetic beeswax
- Finish: Natural finish
- Shades: 5
- How to apply: Swipe on to cheeks and face contours, tapping out the edges for a blended look.
Best Glowy: Pat McGrath Labs Divine Blush Legendary Glow Color Balm
- Why we love it: This multifunctional beauty stick achieves a McGrath approved radiant flush of color, no matter where its applied—lips, cheeks, or even eyes. Thanks to a blend of hydrating emollients (squalane, passion fruit extract, and shea butter), skin will look and feel supple. Best of all, the finished result is an otherworldly glow, with the slightest amount of shimmer for a glazed donut skin effect.
- Key Ingredients: Squalane, passion fruit extract, shea butter
- Finish: Luminous finish
- Shades: 9
- How to apply: Fans of McGrath know she loves finger-painting balmy products on the high points of the face. As such, her recommendation here is swipe from the cheekbones up towards the temples, then diffuse the color by blending with fingers or a cosmetics sponge.
Best for Mature Skin: Jones Road The Overachiever Lip + Cheek Stick
- Why we love it: This dual-purpose stick for lips and cheeks is fail-proof—the color payoff is super natural-looking, and the stick format, a piece of cake to use. Castor oil is the star ingredient here, boasting a combination of essential fatty acids and vitamin E ideal for plumping skin and smoothing the overall appearance of fine lines.
- Key Ingredients: Castor oil, synthetic wax, titanium dioxide
- Finish: Natural Finish
- Shades: 8
- How to apply: Swipe color onto the apples of your cheeks and lips. For blush, blend with your fingers or favorite sponge. For lips, lightly diffuse the edges of your lip look using your ring finger.
Best Matte: Nudestix Nudies Matte Cream Blush Stick
- Why we love it: There’s no need to reach for a complexion brush; it’s already attached to the opposite end of this Nudestix cream blush. Aptly named an “all over face” blush stick, you needn’t feel limited to applying this creamy matte blush to your cheeks alone—apply anywhere the sun would naturally hit, like your temples, nose bridge, and eyes, for a healthy flush.
- Key Ingredients: Dimethicone, synthetic wax,
- Finish: Matte,
- Shades: 13
- How to apply: According to Nudestix, swipe your fingers directly onto the blush, then apply it to the high points of your face. Using the dual-ended brush, stipple in a patting motion to diffuse hard edges for a perfectly buffed look.
Everything you need to know:
How To Choose A Blush Stick:
There’s a wealth of blush options on the market. Still, blush sticks bring their unique perks to the table, namely, their versatility and user-friendly application. “Blush sticks are so much easier to apply because there’s no need to carry around a brush in addition,” says Busst. “They’re especially great for when you’re short on time and need to create a makeup look on the go. Plus, they really are multipurpose—if you want a slight lip tint or even a bit of color to wake up the eyes, you’ve got it all in one stick,” Busst adds.
When trying to decide which blush stick is the perfect match for you, Spickard advises considering the look you’re going for to narrow down your choices. When in doubt, Busst advises swatching colors onto your hand to see which shade and finish achieves the result you’re after best.
- Finish: “You want to find a blush stick that matches the makeup look you’re going for,” explains Spickard. Natural finishes mimic the skin, while matte blushes provide a blurred, soft, glam look. For a glowing-from-within look, dewy finishes add luminosity wherever they’re applied.
- Pigmentation and Coverage: Sheer pigments provide the lightest natural flush for a naturally rosy-cheeked look. Meanwhile, highly pigmented blushes give a bolder color payoff. “Strong pigmentation is significant for deeper skin tones, ensuring the shades appear true to color and vibrant on every complexion,” Spickard tells Vogue.
- Undertones: “You’re going to want to pick a blush that harmonizes with your skin tone,” says Spickard. “Peach, coral, and terracotta shades bring warmth to golden and yellow undertones, while true pinks, mauves, and berry tones enhance cooler, pink skin tones.”
How To Apply a Blush Stick:
The pros advise two main approaches when applying blush sticks: either swipe and go or treat the back of your hand like an artist’s paint palette. Spickard prefers the latter. “Before applying it to the face, I like to take my ring finger and swipe it into the blush stick in a circular motion, then swirl it onto the back of my hand to warm it up,” he says. “‘Warming up the product allows it to blend more easily on the face and melt into the skin for a realistic skin finish.” From there, Spickard advises clients to smile big, and taps the product onto the the cheeks with his ring finger, buffing out in a circular motion.
For Busst, it’s all about direct, product to skin application. “Swipe straight from stick to your cheeks and use fingertips to blend upwards and out,” she says, adding the natural warmth of fingertips helps product to melt into the skin with ease. “For added assurance of seamlessly diffused edges, I also like to go in with the remaining concealer from my concealer brush and lightly blend around the corners of the nose outwards to make sure there’s a seamless color transition.”
- Kasey Spickard is a professional makeup artist based between New York and Los Angeles with over 10 years of experience in the beauty industry. Spickard has worked with clients such as Jenna Lyons, Kamie Crawford, and Brynn Whitfield.
- Hannah Isobel Busst is a professional makeup artist based in London. Busst has worked with major fashion and beauty brands including Victoria Beckham Beauty,
Dsquared², Thom Browne, Diesel, Rick Owens, and more.
