Today we’re continuing our Rosé DIY series with a lovely Rosé Cream Blush. Instead of working with a rosé wine inspired scent blend, this creamy pot of colour takes its inspiration from the cheery pink colour of rosé. It’ll lend a similar pinky, summery flush to your cheeks and lips, along with a hint of shimmer. I’m in love with this little pot of happy colour and find I’m reaching for it daily to add a summery pop to my look ❤️
Want to see this blush in action?
This formulation is a riff on the Cream Luminizer I shared a couple of months ago. It was based on a popular storebought product from a brand that has an entire line of creamy shimmery, colourful cosmetics, so I thought I’d work off that base to create a cream blush companion product. If you compare the two formulas, though, you’ll see there are several differences.
Difference #1—far less coloured mica. The Cream Luminizer gets all of its colour from coloured micas, and that’s because I wanted a product that was low on colour and high on shimmer—brilliant for a highlighter, but not what one usually wants in a cream blush. So, I dialled the coloured mica way back, replacing some of it with sericite mica to keep the feel similar but reduce the shimmer. I also included some pure pigment to punch up the colour. For a bright, summery pink I chose D&C Red Lake #7, but carmine would also work if you’re looking for a natural alternative. I do not recommend red iron oxide in the least—it is a very muddy/ruddy red, and will not give the cheery, summery rosé flush we’re looking for.
Difference #2—this cream blush is much creamier than the cream luminizer, and that’s because I wanted to be able to comfortably use it on my lips as well as on my cheeks. I love a product that can multi-task, but I find that silky dry-touch finish that is oh-so-lovely on cheeks and browbones is irritatingly drying on lips. To creamy things up, I dropped the silica microspheres entirely, reduced the amount of mica, and increased the amount of oil and wax. The end result is creamy on the lips but not too tacky for the cheeks.
The finished cream blush leaves a lovely pink rosé-inspired flush on the cheeks and tints the lips beautifully. It applies easily with fingertips or a brush, and is sure to brighten both your face and your day! Make sure you watch the video for swatches and an application demo.
Want to watch this recipe instead of reading it?
Rosé Cream Blush
Heated phase
1.825g | 36.5% castor oil (USA / Canada)
1.65g | 33% virgin coconut oil
0.25g | 5% beeswax (USA / Canada)
0.75g | 15% sericite mica (USA / Canada)
0.35g | 7% “Aphrodite” pink mica
0.15g | 3% D&C Red Lake #7Cool down phase
0.025g | 0.5% Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada)Prepare a water bath by heating about 1.5cm/ ½” of water until it is steaming, but not simmering, in a wide, flat-bottomed sauté pan.
Weigh the heated phase ingredients into a small glass prep cup. Place the cup in your prepared water bath to melt everything through.
Stir the mixture with a flexible silicone spatula to incorporate. Make sure you’re smearing the spatula across the bottom of the prep cup to blend in the pigments. Watch this video to learn more!
When the mixture is thoroughly melted and blended, remove it from the heat and quickly blend in the vitamin E. Dry off the outside of the prep cup and carefully pour it into a small (5g) jar and leave the cream blush to set up. That’s it!
To use, use your fingertips or a brush to tap a small amount of product onto your cheeks and/or lips, and blend as desired.
Shelf Life & Storage
Because this cream blush is 100% oil-based, it does not require a broad-spectrum preservative (broad spectrum preservatives ward off microbial growth, and microbes require water to live—no water, no microbes!). Kept reasonably cool and dry, it should last at least a year before any of the oils go rancid. If you notice it starts to smell like old nuts or crayons, that’s a sign that the oils have begun to oxidize; chuck it out and make a fresh batch if that happens.
Substitutions
As always, be aware that making substitutions will change the final product. While these swaps won’t break the recipe, you will get a different final product than I did.
- As I’ve provided this recipe in percentages as well as grams you can easily calculate it to any size using a simple spreadsheet as I’ve explained in this post. As written in grams this recipe will make 5g, which is a lot of cream blush!
- To learn more about the ingredients used in this recipe, including why they’re included and what you can substitute them with, please visit the Humblebee & Me Encyclopedia. It doesn’t have everything in it yet, but there’s lots of good information there! If I have not given a specific substitution suggestion in this list please look up the ingredient in the encyclopedia before asking.
- I don’t recommend substituting out the castor oil, beeswax, or sericite mica; if you do, you’ll need to re-develop the formula to ensure it works for you.
- You can use virgin or refined coconut oil; do not use fractionated coconut oil.
- You can use babassu oil instead of coconut oil.
- You can use a different coloured mica and/or pigment; this will impact the colour of the end product. When it comes to the pigment I’d really recommend keeping it in the bright/cool pink/red category (there are quite a few red lake dyes that would work). Make sure you’re paying attention to usage levels and safety allowances as well—not all pigments are allowed in lip products in all parts of the world, and others are allowed only below certain usage levels. TKB Trading is really good about providing this information.
Gifting Disclosure
The “Aphrodite” pink mica was gifted by YellowBee.
Looks so pretty! If I was to use carmine as the red colouring would you use the same amount as the d & c lake 7?
That’s where I’d start! Let me know how it turns out and happy making!
Hi Marie,
I would like to start by saying that I love your blog posts and videos, I love hearing you talk about what you put in products and why, your photography, and how your blog posts carry across your likeable personality and voice. I was just wondering, would red lake #40 work for this blush? It is the only red lake dye that New Directions sells, and is a lot cheaper than carmine, thank you.
Thanks, Kacie! Red 40 will work as well—you can compare the photos to get an idea of how the colours are different, but to my eye they look pretty darn similar 🙂
How could I make this recipe vegan?
You’ll have to re-develop it; the links here should help 🙂
I recently purchased your book. Super insightful!!! Nonetheless, I came across these recipes on your blog (cream blush, luminizer, and foundation). Would you recommend trying both recipes (from the book and the blog) or is there one version that you like better and recommend over the other? I’m unsure if the ones on the blog are updated versions of the book.
Hey Alex! Makeup recipes on the blog aren’t so much “new & improved” as they are “more complicated and expensive”, ha. With the book, I worked very hard to keep the number of required ingredients as low as possible and make sure those ingredients were somewhat readily available globally. The idea there being the entire book would work well as a unit, and be globally accessible, even to those who are new makers. I was also trying to keep things more on the natural side for the book. When I create formulations for the blog I can play a bit more as each formulation stands on its own, rather than being part of a set, so the makeup formulations you’ll find here use things like Optiblur, silicones, lots of silica, and specific coloured micas (I tried to keep the book pretty simple on that front as well). I am still very proud of the formulations in the book & think they’re great and very worth making 🙂 But I also love formulating and am constantly trying new things, hence some new formulations as well!
Hi beautiful, I am going to start my own brand in a few months so I am not sure about the measurements for how to make these blushes in a bulk like a 100 or more in one go. Can you guide me through this?
I used yellow lake and a red/pink mica. I used a lot less colorant overall and it acts more like a stain. I also replaced the coconut oil (comedogenic) with some non comedogenic mango butter. I’m so happy with the formulation. I was just about to buy some blush and now I don’t need to~
This is the first makeup product I’ve made, but I don’t think it will be the last!
I’m thrilled you’re enjoying it! If you liked this, I highly recommend checking out my book, Make it Up: The Essential Guide to DIY Makeup and Skin Care ❤️ Happy making!
Hi Marie! Thank you for this recipe. I was wondering if it’s possible to simply use a loose mineral blush that I really like as the pigments and add them to the emollients in this recipe? I ask because I have some loose minerals lying around in a color mix that is just lovely. It’d be nice to turn them into a cream blush! )
That should work, but you may have to do some fiddling to get the end colour payoff you’re looking for. I’d start by dropping the sericite mica, coloured mica, and pure pigment (total 25%) for the blush you have, and seeing how that goes. Start small & happy making!
Thank you Marie! I was also wondering if you could help me dissect this commercial cream blush so that I can mix the pigments that I have to match it’s color. The ingredients listed are: “Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Mica, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Seed Oil·, Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil·, Zea Mays (Corn) Starch·, Cera Alba (Beeswax) ·, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil·, Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax·, Rosa Rubiginosa (Rose Hip) Seed Oil·, Polyglyceryl-3 diisostearate, Ammonium Glycyrrhizate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Vanilla Planifolia Fruit Extract·, Dextrin, Gardenia Florida Fruit Extract, CI 77491 (Iron Oxide), CI 77891 (Titanium Dioxide), CI 75470 (Carmine). Caution-Contains Carmine.” I’m wondering if this blush uses a mica that is coated with the iron oxide and titanium dioxide listed at the end. OR perhaps it contains the mica, iron oxide, and titanium dioxide separately and I can follow the codes to figure out the separate colors. Any thoughts? The inclusion of carmine leads me to believe that it’s may be the first option. As it would be unnecessary to have both red iron oxide and carmine in a blush right? Totally guessing here! =)
Hi, I understand if you can’t answer this as you must be very busy 🙂 I am interested in buying some zero waste makeup, but was interested in making my own so I could tailor it for me better. Does handmade beauty generate a lot of plastic?
Good question! Basically everything you’ll buy comes in plastic… bags, tubs, jars, etc. You don’t have to put your creations in plastic, but they will almost certainly be sold in plastic.
Hello Marie! I was wondering how long I can use it before it gets bad?
Please read the “Shelf Life & Storage” paragraph 🙂
Thanks for sharing and developing this. Can’t believe how beautiful it looks on your pictures! I made this with carmine today and it is lovely. I think that it is easy to apply. Both this and your luminizer (made second batch yesterday as written) have unique skin feel that I like a lot. Cheer’y indeed! I used ultra silk mica and cool pink mica (neon pink shade that I bought ages ago) to get similar shade. It’s so nice to have several blush options available. xx
Hi may i know if I can use food coloring as pigment? Will it work?
You can’t as they aren’t oil soluble.
hello , i did it without seriticta mica and the colorwas not obvious ? why ?
Hi, I know you are more in your body butter Era right now but would you be interested in trying to make those Moussy blush/ lip mud cream to powder velvety matte thingy that are trending right now ? I’m wondering how they make that texture.