Review: Burberry Light Glow Natural Blush – 03 Rose

I have a confession to make. Up until embarrassingly recently, I didn’t think I needed blush. Why would I? After all the time spent each day carefully concealing redness and hyperpigmentation, it seemed silly to put a pink color right back on. My blush collection, then, was limited to two pristinely untouched shades that came in a Smashbox holiday palette.

All of this changed when I decided to try actually wearing blush for once. I looked awake! I looked fresh! People commented that I looked like I was in a good mood (which makes me wonder if I seemed cranky before?). Thus ended the drab, colorless part of my life; it was like Dorothy and Oz all over again. Since then I’ve been happily swatching, collecting and wearing blushes of all colors and types. Today, I’d like to introduce you to the newest addition to my happy little blush family: Burberry Light Glow Natural Blush in No. 03 Rose.

I picked this blush up when I realized that my collection runs pretty heavily to coral colors. Actually, that was just an excuse. I’ve been dying to try any and all Burberry Beauty products, but identifying something missing from my collection means that I need this. Right? Just as the name implies, Rose is a wonderful rosy pink that fit the bill perfectly. For $42, you get 0.24oz, which is a fairly standard size for blushes in that general price range.

Even before you open the box, this blush feels luxurious. The cardboard packaging is heavy and textured, with embossed lettering and a color that immediately brings to mind Burberry’s iconic trench coat. The design nerd in me loves the consistency in their apparel, fragrance and cosmetics branding.

On opening the box, you find a velvet pouch flocked in the signature Nova Check pattern. Inside, naturally, is the compact itself, which is etched with the same pattern with the Burberry name engraved on the lip. The compact is made of reflective metal, which might be good or bad, depending on your perspective. Good: luxurious feel, shiny. Bad: Fingerprints, added weight when traveling. Personally, I love the look. It’s held closed by a strong magnet instead of a push button or snap clasp, so I would probably store this in its pouch while traveling to keep it from being knocked open. The interior of the lid is fully mirrored. My only nitpicky gripe with the compact is that since it’s square, it sometimes takes me a few seconds to figure out which side is the one that opens – which is harder than you’d think at 7AM, pre-coffee. I’ve pretty much overcome this by always facing the compact in the same direction when I put it back in its drawer.

The included brush isn’t bad, as far as compact brushes go. It’s fairly soft (I’d guess goat or pony hair), reasonably dense, and wide enough to be usable. It wouldn’t be my first choice for a blush brush, but it’s good enough to use if you don’t want to take a separate brush with you.

The color is a slightly warm rosy pink with just a bit of a sheen. On the skin, I couldn’t see any individual shimmer particles. The texture, though, is where this blush really shines. It’s soft, velvety and very finely milled so it blends well. It’s very pigmented, which I love – getting it to show up on my NW25-30 skin is effortless. The color is deep enough that I think it would show up as a very pretty and natural flush on darker skin. The fairer-skinned among us, however, might benefit from using a softer brush and a light hand with this one.  It has a light floral fragrance, but I wouldn’t have noticed it if I hadn’t deliberately sniffed it up close just for this review.

As you can see from the swatch, it blends to a wonderful gradient without losing much pigmentation at all:

Texture is a bit hard to photograph, so I’ve swatched it here against the most similar blushes that I have, Chanel Joues Contraste in Malice and Laura Mercier Second Skin Cheek Color in Rose Bloom. The Chanel blush is more shimmery, slightly less pigmented and has a harder texture, not to mention a much stronger scent. Color-wise, it’s lighter and more coral than Burberry Rose. The Laura Mercier formula is drier and more matte than Burberry, and this particular shade is warmer and more muted than Rose.

The wear time is also excellent for this blush; my oily skin frequently devours blush before the end of the work day, but this one makes it through with no problems. It does fade a bit after about eight hours, but it’s still visible at twelve, which is just about the longest I want to wear the same makeup anyway.

In Short: The color is probably dupe-able, but the texture, wear time and sheer luxury make it splurge-worthy.

Burberry Light Glow Natural Blush is available at burberry.com, nordstrom.com and saks.com for $42.