The simple hack for natural-looking blush, according to Beyonce's make-up artist

Bye bye streaks.

Los Angeles, CA, Sunday, March 14, 2021 - Beyonce makes History with the Best E&B Performance winning 28 Grammys, more that any female or male performer, accepts the award for Best R&B Performance at the 63rd Grammy Award outside Staples Center. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)Los Angeles, CA, Sunday, March 14, 2021 - Beyonce makes History with the Best E&B Performance winning 28 Grammys, more that any female or male performer, accepts the award for Best R&B Performance at the 63rd Grammy Award outside Staples Center. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
(Image credit: Robert Gauthier /Getty Images)

With the arrival of spring comes a revival of pastel shades of blush. While the goal is always a lit-from-within flush, the reality in amateur hands is often quite different. Enter this blush hack from Beyonce's makeup artist Sir John, which is guaranteed to make light work of imparting a rosy bloom to cheeks.

Hydrated skin is always a precursor to simmered-down makeup that looks next to natural. Sir John is known for his love of working a serum into the skin with a jade roller pre-foundation. Incidentally, he also likes to apply foundation immediately after moisturizing, while the face is still wet, to get the most desirable second-skin effect. 

But it turns out that Sir John also likes to take things up a gear by pressing another layer of moisturizer onto the face after foundation, so the blush seamlessly meshes with the skin “The best time to apply blush is when the skin is still wet,” he told Vogue US. “The extra layer of hydration makes it softer.”

More from woman&home.com:

As to how to apply blush and where, Sir John prefers a darker shade on the apples and a lighter hue over cheekbones and up to the temples.

Chanel's new Fleurs de Printemps Blush fulfils that brief with its beautifully embossed floral dual-shaded compact.

Chanel Fleurs de Printemps Blush

(Image credit: Chanel)

Mercifully, blusher textures have come a long way since the chalky iterations of old, too. These days even cream blushers manage to walk the gamut of subtle and bulletproof.  The latest products that promise to get you there are more sophisticated than ever. 

Take the new Nars Air Matte Blush, a uniquely creamy mousse that transforms into a velvety powder on contact with the skin so you get a rush of blush but with the staying power.

Nars Air Matte Blush

(Image credit: Cult Beauty)

And with their gel cream formula, added collagen and special blurring pigments to distract away from enlarged pores, it's no wonder Glossier's Cloud Paints are cult buys. Try Spark, a bright poppy colour, that mimics sun-flushed skin and hits cheekbones like perfect golden hour lighting. 

Glossier Cloud Paint in Spark

(Image credit: Glossier)

Fiona Embleton is a beauty writer who is now Acting Beauty Editor at Stylist. She is obsessed with Isabel Marant and cats.