The expert guide to AW19’s easiest beauty trend, healthy flush blush

Blend sunset shades of creamy blusher for this season’s easiest trend: flush blush. Think post-run pinky glow.

Health has come for make-up with a post-gym meets country girl flush bringing a healthy face to the season. Raw, ruddy windburn is the look – like young Prince William and Princess Diana, or your cousins who grew up on farms. 

With flush blush, we’re talking all the environmental effects: freckles are here to stay, apply your bronzer liberally and wear your blusher like sunburn.

Backstage at Isabel Marant AW19

Flush blush is the next generation of no-make-up make-up, but it’s still a world away from the contoured face of lore. The bronzer isn’t sculpted and the blush isn’t doll-like; think realness, softness, relaxed flushes in warm and bright, peach and orange sunset shades, not candied pinks. No chiselled-out cheekbones required.

No-make-up make-up requires more work than the name would suggest, but there are easy artistic details required to keep this look modern.

“The less foundation, the better,” says make-up artist Christine Lucignano. “Textures are key. Start with a cream or liquid and pat the product in – you want it to become part of the skin. Then use a sheer powder version of the colour to set it. If you want the look to stay dewy, use a sheer powder product that has a bit of sheen in the base, like Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder, €47.”

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder, €47

The tools you need in your arsenal are blending heroes – “you need your fingers, a damp beauty sponge and a lightly packed complexion brush, nothing too dense,” says Christine. “This is meant to be a real, breathable look. ”

Blend your blush low on the cheeks and add a touch of bronzer to the bridge of the nose for the most believably natural effect that blends into the skin. “For bronze, I use Chanel Soleil Tan De Chanel, €41 for fair to medium-dark skins,” suggests Christine, “and Huda Beauty Tantour, €30 for darker skins. For the pinker vibe, try Giorgio Armani Neo Nude Armani A-Blush, €40, Nars Orgasm Liquid Highlighter, €32, or Benefit Cosmetics original Benetint, €34.50.”

Chanel Soleil Tan De Chanel, €41

As for the rest of your make-up? “It’s the perfect time to feature a bushy brow and a few extra freckles,” advises Christine. “For your freckles, use a few tones of a brow ink and do this process before you burnish the skin with your bronze or pink shade as it will help melt the freckles in.”