This Viral Cream Blush Hack Transformed My Makeup Routine Forever

I don’t often switch up my makeup routine — I’m a creature of habit, what can I say? Generally I’m happy to leave the more adventurous product trials and testing to Beauty In A Tik, but sometimes, sometimes, I learn something new that just blows my existing regimen out of the water. 

I recently met with Patrick Ta (the go-to makeup guru for stars like Gigi Hadid and Camila Cabello) for a beauty session to celebrate his eponymous makeup brand’s most recent launch, Major Skin Crème Foundation and Finishing Powder Duo. Ta showed me a deceptively simple trick that he uses to not only make blush looks pop but also achieve the glowiest skin ever: He applies cream blush over powder blush. 

This may sound simple, but a lightbulb went off in my brain. I have a massive array of blushes, both cream and powder. It never occurred to me that they could not and should not be rivals for my attention, but in fact the best of friends (or, at the least, very close colleagues who work wonderfully together). Listen, I truly love my blushes, but sometimes a powder blush is a little too powdery for my ideal dewy skin, and cream blushes can melt away after a burst of perspiration.

This hack combines the best of both of those concepts — the cream blush adds a layer of depth to the powder, while the powder tames down that ultra sheen that sometimes accompanies wearing cream blush. I wouldn’t call the finish dewy, but kind of a glossy velvet, as if this is just nature flushing your skin from within. The number of compliments I got on my makeup from friends after trying the technique was astonishing. “Whatever you’re doing, keep doing that,” they encouraged. 

A few weeks after the initial revelation, another lightbulb went off in my brain: If I can do this with blush, why not do the exact same thing with highlighter? As much as I love an extreme highlight, I don’t want it to look like a bright racing stripe along my cheekbones, which is what happens with some cream highlighters, but I also want it diffused and not blotchy, as some powder highlighters can be.

This hack remedied both of those issues, giving me a highlight that reflected light no matter the angle of my face or how low the lighting around me was. Glittery powder highlighters were tamed by shimmery cream highlighters layered on top that absorbed the powder underneath. Somehow, wearing more makeup made me look like I was wearing less makeup. If you thought I had a problem with glow and glitter before, well, now I’m a whole monster of my own making.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering — yes, this technique works the other way around, with powder on top of cream. It just makes sense: If I’m setting my concealer with powder, why am I not setting my blush with powder, too? The effect is different from using cream over powder, naturally, but it works perfectly when I need my makeup to stay poppin’ and thriving all day long. I’d say cream over powder gives a spring-y daytime glow with the caveat that it’ll evolve over the course of the day but still look great even after dark, while powder over cream is for those days when you need your makeup to stay intact late into the evening. It’s basically an insurance policy for your blushes and highlighters.  

Ta also warned that not all formulas work with his cream-over-powder technique, and he’s right. There’s no real way to tell if two formulas will mesh well together without trying them out, but you’ll know when they don’t — every time you touch your face, everything you touch next will be bedazzled with a beautiful reminder.

It takes a lot to get me excited to do my makeup every day, but I like this trick because it allows me to have more fun with the products I already know and love by mixing and matching different shades to create different effects. For blush, Charlotte Tilbury Matte Beauty Blush Wand in Pillow Talk Peach Pop layered over Haus Labs Color Fuse Blush in Pomelo Peach is the ethereal peach I’ve always dreamt of. Here, I’m wearing MAC Blush in Raizin underneath Charlotte Tilbury Matte Beauty Blush Wand in Pillow Talk for a beautiful burnt-mauve cheek.

For highlight, I love Fenty Beauty Liquid Killawatt Fluid Freestyle Highlighter in Vintage Velour over Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood Glow Glide Face Architect Highlighter in Rose Gold for a gorgeous rosy shade that aligns with my neutral undertone so well, you’d think it was my skin. I’ve also layered the iridescent lavender about-face Light Lock Highlight Fluid in Unrestrained with a really light baby pink highlight, such as Wet N Wild MegaGlo Highlighting Powder in Blossom Glow, as a fun little out-of-the-box treat to myself. 

And of course, Ta remains a genius, giving you the rare two-in-one beauty product I approve of with his Major Beauty Headlines Double-Take Crème & Powder Blush. There, you get double-duty crème blush and powder in one travel-friendly palette. My makeup routine and I may never be the same.