I am having a makeup identity crisis, so let's just talk more about blush.

So, this week.  This week, I bought a plane ticket to visit friends across the country in 61 days, and my biggest concern is not wanting to check all my makeup because I don't like being that far away from it and WHAT IS SOMEONE STEALS A NARS BLUSH.  I assuaged this worry by buying a cute dress so that my legs have some breathing room for when it is BALLS HOT:

Why hello, Old Navy fitting room.  It matches my eyes.

I also set out on a mission to prove that I could wear Nars blush in Exhibit A, since the entire internet said it was best suited for women of color and fair-skinned ladies may just want to stay away.  Legit, historically it has been hard to find good color matches if you are at either end of the color spectrum.  Too light, everything makes you look like a clown. Too dark, nothing shows up on your skin.  I am not saying I completely feel the pain of the women who had nothing but Covergirl's Queen line (which I think has been since discontinued) back when all we had where I live was drugstore makeup, but when someone tells me, oh pshaw, you can't wear that color, it was like when my ex-husband told me that I couldn't go out and get more tattoos.  I went out and got one.

Here is Nars in Exhibit A:

I keep seeing it described online as a FIERY ORANGE.  No.  It is red.  It is a bright, matte red.  So the first thing I did  when I got it was wear it to work:

I had to do a lot of blending and remember a little of this color goes a long way.  On my skin tone, which is a NC15ish if we are talking MAC, 115 in Makeup Forever HD foundation, and an N2 when I have a tan in the only drug store foundation I will touch, L'oreal True Match, I had to diffuse the color LIKE A BOSS.  A little goes a long way, but I had to blendblendblend, then set with powder foundation and setting powder.  It worked though, and I proved the naysayers wrong.  By the time I got home from work (some 9.5 hours after putting it on), the setting powder and powder foundation were wearing a little thin and I kind of looked like I had just run a breathless mile, but it won't be a blush I never touch again.  I actually really liked the color, which was a pretty true red on my skin, giving me a rosy cheek look.

Yesterday, I wore Nars Lovejoy:

Not sure where the bad shadow came from, but the color is a little rosy with brown undertones.  I loved it on:

You can see my baby fine hairs on my face again, which is totally hot. (Fun story: one time I decided I wanted to get my entire face threaded for flawless makeup application.  So I did, and apparently I am allergic to the lotion they use because my face was a contact dermatitis mess for 2 weeks which ruined any future thoughts of doing the same thing. Don't be me.)  The color is buildable and doesn't go on too heavy, but seriously, I looked flawless:

This brings me to my makeup identity crisis.  In those two photos, I am wearing Nars Heat Wave semi-matte lipstick.  In the photo showing Exhibit A, I am wearing Nars Pure Matte in Vesuvio.  If you know me, you know that I simply don't do lipstick.  I do lip gloss, usually in a nude color, that I apply once and forget about for the rest of the day.  Apparently all that changed this week.  I decided that I wanted to be a red lipstick person, because dammit, I feel like one on the inside.  I guess I am one on the outside now, too, and it is making me loose my footing a little.

I promised someone a tutorial on how I apply my blush, and that will be up later today. I PROMISE.