Best of 2022 – Blush, Bronzer, & Highlight!

Hey y’all! For part two of my 2022 favorites series, I’m going to go over the best blushes, bronzers, and highlighters of the year! This will include some new products and some old, as well as some single products and some palettes. This might be my favorite category just behind eyeshadow, so I have quite a few items to share! Let’s get into it.

Blush

–ColourPop Pressed Powder Blushes

ColourPop has always been one of my favorite brands, and I never appreciated their blushes until this year. Around Valentine’s Day, they launched six new shades of blush in their adorable soft-matte, heart-shaped components, and I bought all six! I am super obsessed with these, and it has really made me love their blush formula. My top favorite shade from the launch was Let’s Dance, which is just the most perfect peachy shade.

-One/Size Beauty Cheek Clapper 3D Blush Trio Palette

This is a more recent purchase for me this year, but I completely have fallen in love with it. I have the colorway “Phat Ass” (LOL), and it has three products: a cream blush in Twerkalicious, a matte powder in Rosebud, and a shimmery shade called BBL. These shades are so nice for every day looks, and the formula is incredible and long-wearing. I’m not sure how many of the other shades I would wear in the line, but I love this one.

–Benefit WANDERful World Silky-Soft Powder Blush in Crystah Strawberry Pink Blush

I absolutely love this blush! It has such a great formula, and at some point I’d like to get more shades from this range. This particular color is really pretty and can be a bit much if I’m not careful, so I tend to go in light layers. I also love the smell of their blushes for some reason.

–Rare Beauty Soft Pinch Liquid Blush

As I mentioned in my November favorites post, I am finally on the cream blush train! I don’t use it every day, but when I have a bit more time I love to incorporate it in my looks. Rare Beauty has one of my favorite formulas, because it’s super pigmented but blends out well, and it looks gorgeous on the skin. I love the shades Bliss and Hope, and I really want to try some more shades! The only one I don’t like was actually the first one I tried, which is Joy, just because it’s a bit too red for me.

Honorable Mentions: Buxom Wanderlust Primer Infused Blush in shade Mykonos, Milani Baked Blush, Rare Beauty Stay Vulnerable Melting Cream Blush, Fenty Beauty Cheeks Out Freestyle Cream Blush, & ABH Blush Trio

Bronzers

–Alamar Cosmetics Brighten & Bronze Complexion Trio – Fair/Light

This could technically be in the palette section coming later on, but this was my most used bronzer this year! I love using the center shade for bronzing all over, the darker shade for contouring, and the light shade for lighting under the eyes and in the t-zone. The product is buttery soft and blends like a dream.

–Thrive Causemetics Sun Chaser Blur + Sculpt Bronzing Powder

This bronzer has such a good quality formula and great tone for everyday wear.

–Physician’s Formula Murumuru Butter Bronzer

This product has been around for years now, but it never changes in how great it is! If you’re looking for a drugstore-priced bronzer, this is the best one!

-Essence Sun Club Matt Bronzing Powder Palette

I was actually shocked at how much I like this product, because it’s so affordable and has so much product. It’s a great palette for bronzing and contouring that gives you shades for all year round and all levels of bronze you want. The formula is very blendable and pigmented too.

Honorable Mentions: Maybelline City Bronzer, Chanel Cream Bronzer, Benefit Cosmetics Hoola Matte Powder Bronzer, & L’Oreal True Match Lumi Bronze It Bronzer

Highlighters

-Benefit Cosmetics Cookie Golden Pearl Powder Highlighter

I have so many highlighters, so it was hard to choose my favorites, but this one took the top spot for sure and had to be mentioned. I love the shade of this, which gives a slight pinky/champagne sheen, and it’s just bright enough without being too flash or metallic. You get a ton of product in the Benefit box products too, so it’s a great deal.

-Natasha Denona Super Glow Highlighter

This one is a close second to Cookie for the year for me, and I just use it so much. It has a beautiful formula that is bright and dewy looking and melts into the skin in a way that most highlighters would sit on top instead.

-Revlon SkinLights Prismatic Highlighter

This is one of the brightest and most beautiful hightlights on the market, especially from the drugstore. It just gives the most amazing metallic shine to the cheek without being powdery or glittery. I have the shade DayBreak Glimmer, and I’m obsessed with it.

Honorable Mentions: Ofra highlights, Essence Pure Nude Highlighter, Jaclyn Cosmetics Highlighter palette

Palettes

–Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit – Scultpure

This is definitely my favorite palette of all time for face products! This is one of the Hourglass Ambient Lighting holiday exclusive palettes, which I bought in 2019, and it’s still going strong. It comes with 6 products: Finishing Powders in Dim Light and Diffused Light, Strobe Powder in Glistening Strobe Light, Bronzer in Natural Bronze Light, Strobe Blush is Vibrant Flush, and Blush in Mood Exposure. The photo below was taken probably two years ago, so mine is looking much more worn and loved now, but I still have plenty of product left. The bronzer is a great formula and tone for me for bronzing and contouring, and the blushes are incredible! They’re glowy and look like such a natural flush. I use the Finishing powders almost every time I do my makeup, because they just provide your makeup with that final step to make you look filtered and dewy. I don’t use the Strobe Powder and I don’t think it’s good at all, but honestly the palette is still worth the highhhh price.

-Jaclyn Cosmetics Bronze & Blushing Duo

This duo comes with a blush and a bronzer, and I love how lux this feels. These are really good products, with light to medium pigmentation, and the look beautiful on the skin. I have the duo Pink Me Up / Oh Honey, which is great for fair/light skin tones.

There you have it! Those were my favorite complexion products from the year, including blush, bronzer, higherlight, and palettes with any combination of the three. I hope you enjoyed, and stay tuned to my next post, which will be all about eye makeup!