Make-up trends: Towards the end of the blush craze?

For the past two years, blush has been one of the most popular makeup products among social media users, with a host of tips and trends designed to get the most out of this makeup staple. This was seen with the ’glazed blush’ trend, combining liquid blush, powder blush and highlighter, the ’L Shape’ blush hack for foolproof application, and the ’sunset blush’ effect, which together with the ’Island Girl Makeup’, is likely to be a top trend for summer 2024.

Always more ?

Let’s say it short, gone are the little touches of powdery blush for a subtle healthy-glow effect, replaced by much more highly pigmented liquid textures, bright colors, and even the layering of several products for an even more visible effect.

After the white blush and purple blush trends from 2023, some social media users have gone so far as to swap their powder-based products for a lipstick to achieve a radiant complexion. And the latest viral blush trend is ’double blush,’ or the ’blush combo,’ which consists of using not one, but two different blushes — namely a liquid blush and a powder blush — to enhance the effect.

Opinions vary on TikTok, but it seems that the majority of users prefer bright shades for the liquid blush and softer ones for the powder.

However, all these tricks and hacks that are encouraging beauty fans to add more product on their cheekbones, are starting to be criticized.

And now comes "blush blindness"

And critics now gather under the hashtag #blushblindness, describing those who apply blush far too heavily, not realizing that the colour is far too strong and that the product can lead to eccentric beauty looks. On TikTok, ’blush blindness’ has already spawned a multitude of videos in which users mock or criticize this overwhelming obsession with blush.

The hashtag comes under a multitude of posts mocking this obsession with blush. They’re accompanied by captions like "I’m sunkissed," "Modo tomate activado" ("Tomato mode activated"), and show videos of girls with extremely pink or even red cheeks.

Derision often targets trends that are coming to an end, as it has been seen with recent crazes for extra-thin eyebrows, then bleached brows, then thick brows (’brow blindness’), an extremely contoured complexion (’contouring blindness’), or ultra-long, voluminous eyelashes (’lash blindness’).