Beauty Care: Essence Berry Cheeks Baked Blush Review & Swatches

Berry Cheeks

Essence Berry Cheeks Pure Nude Baked Blush ($5.99 for 0.24 oz.) is a medium-dark, pink-coral with subtle, warm undertones and a mostly matte finish–a smidgen of pearl but it was almost imperceptible on skin.

Semi-opaque, buildable pigmentation
Smooth, finely-milled without being powdery
Picked up evenly and blended out nicely on bare skin/over foundation
Long-wearing (8 hours before fading visibly)

FURTHER READING: Formula Overview for details on general performance and characteristics (like scent).

Top Dupes

View All Dupes

These are the dupes the editor has pulled but not yet rated and officially entered.

MAC Sweet Sweet Fantasy (LE, $24.00).
Tom Ford Beauty Flush (Discontinued) (DC, $60.00).
Surratt Beauty Ponceau (P, $32.00).
Chanel Tweed Coralline (LE, $45.00).
Marc Jacobs Beauty Lines & Last Night (502) (P, $42.00).

Formula Overview

$5.99/0.24 oz. - $24.96 Per Ounce

The formula is supposed to give a "bright, healthy glow" with a "highly pigmented bake texture" that is "blendable" and "lightweight." The texture was smooth, finely-milled, and best of all, not at all powdery yet picked up evenly with a blush or highlighting brush and delivered even coverage to bare skin. It was easy to blend out and diffuse on my skin while having semi-opaque to opaque, buildable pigmentation.

I felt that it was a nice enough blush option, especially for those who want something that is relatively easy to work with and easy to diffuse on cheeks, but the color range was disappointing in two ways: 1) lacking in depth/range, and 2) four or five shades were very similar applied (and even more heavily swatched), so having eight seemed unnecessary in that case.

Browse all of our Essence Pure Nude Baked Blush swatches.

Ingredients

Mica, Zea Mays (Corn) Starch, Octyldodecanol, Octyldodecyl Stearoyl Stearate, Cetearyl Ethylhexanoate, Tropolone, Caprylyl Glycol, 1,2-Hexanediol, Tin Oxide, Xanthan Gum, CI 15850 (Red 7 Lake), CI 77491 (Iron Oxides), CI 77891 (Titanium Dioxide).

Disclaimer: Ingredient lists are as available by the brand (or retailer) at the time of publishing. Please always check product packaging, if it exists, for the ingredient list applicable to the product you're purchasing, or the brand or retailer's website for the most up-to-date ingredient list.