The Transition Blush Trend: Your Blush Has Never Looked This Seamless!

Get a seamless gradient effect between your concealer and blush with the transition blush makeup trend.

Darlings, until you have tried transition blush, you’ve never blushed quite like this… Transition blush is a makeup trend that’s taken the industry by storm! We all love blush and this fabulous makeup technique is about creating the dreamiest, dimensional blush looks that blend flawlessly into your foundation.

Does transition blush sound just your style, darling? Discover everything you need to know about transition blush and learn how to get the look with my AIRbrush Flawless Blush Blur and AIRbrush Flawless Blur Loose Powder.

Transition Blush Makeup Trend

What Is Transition Blush?

Transition blush is a blush method popularised by @paintedbyesther where different tones of blush are used to create a soft, diffused gradient effect. This technique requires two or more complementary shades of blush: one in a flattering shade for your skin tone that will make your cheeks blush and another in a lighter shade that is used to blur the lines between your blush and your concealer. The finished look creates an ultra-blurring cloud-like effect that makes you look like you’re blushing from within rather than wearing a heavy-handed blush application that sits on top of your cheeks.


How To: Transition Blush Trend

Darlings, if you want your blush to flow effortlessly into your concealer and contour, try the transition blush technique! All you need is 2 shades of blush from the same colour family and a loose powder that flatters your skin tone to create the beautiful, blurring effect of transition blush.

Discover the best blush shades for your skin tone

  1. Concealer under eyes application

    Step 1: Concealer Before Blush

    Before you start building your blush look, lay down a flawless concealer application to disguise the look of dark circles and discolouration. The aim of transition blush is to create a seamless transition between your blush and concealer and the easiest way to do this is to blend out cream concealer first then using powders to set, diffuse and blur. You don’t want to see any visible lines where your concealer ends, so take extra care to blend out the edges.

    Tilbury Tip: I recommend focusing AIRbrush Flawless Blur Concealer at the inner and outer corners of your eye and blending well with the small end of my Hollywood Complexion Brush, then setting with a small amount of AIRbrush Flawless Blur Loose Powder.

    Discover how to stop concealer creasing

  2. AIRbrush Flawless Blush Blur 2 shades

    Step 2: Apply Your Base Blush Shade

    Transition blush incorporates several shades of blush to capture that dreamy, diffused look. The base blush shade you choose will determine which colour you are most prominently blushing in. Decide how you want to blush – think pink, peach, berry– then apply to your cheeks as you normally would. With a base blush shade, I like to focus the colour on the centre of the cheeks to give them that rosy, flushed appearance. Take your favourite blush on a fluffy brush like my AIRbrush Flawless Easy Soft Blur Bronzer and Blusher Brush and buff it into the apples of your cheeks. For a lift effect, blend upwards towards your temples. You can stop there and look fabulous, darlings… But a couple of extra steps will give you that flawless transition effect.

    Discover how to apply blush for your face shape

  3. Transition Blush Pillow Talk Dreams

    Step 3: Apply Your Transition Blush Shade

    To transition blush seamlessly into your concealer, take a blush shade that’s slightly lighter than the base blush shade you have applied and use it to gently blur the edges of your blush. Taking a small amount of a lighter blush shade and sweeping back and forth over the edges of your blush creates the most gorgeous blush diffusion. Use soft, circular motions with a small fluffy brush for a beautiful, blurring effect – this removes any stark contrast between your complexion and your blush and allows your blush look to flow effortlessly between your base and cheek makeup.

    Your base blush sets the tone for your transition blush look so when choosing your transition blush it’s best to stay within the same blush family. For example, one of my favourite ways to get the transition blush look is with a bright pink blush like AIRbrush Flawless Blush Blur in Loved Up. I pair it with a light pink transition shade like Blushgasm or Pillow Talk Medium for a flawless colour blend and it creates the dreamiest pink blushscape.

    Shop AIRbrush Flawless Blush Blur

  4. Transition Blush Pink Setting Powder

    Step 4: Blur With Loose Powder

    The final step for the transition blush look is to use a loose powder to set and blur. Applying two tonal shades of blush creates a dreamy blurring effect, but adding loose powder to complete the look is what gives you that ultra-seamless finish. With your powder puff, press a small amount of loose powder into the perimeter of your blush. This gives the edges of your blush a blown-out, cloud-like finish that effortlessly transitions into concealer. Your blush shouldn’t cross the border of your concealer but rather meld flawlessly to create a smooth transition. This last touch of loose powder is what fuses blush with concealer – once you’ve gone over the edges with your powder puff, it’s not obvious where your concealer ends and your blush begins!

    Tilbury Tip: For this step, I love using a pink or peach shade of loose powder. My Brightening Pink and Brightening Peach shades have blushing tones that meld so beautifully with blush – it’s like they live in the same beauty world!

    Discover more about pink setting powder

Get The Look: Transition Blush

Want to try transition blush for yourself, darling? Here are some of my favourite blush combinations to get a flawless transition blush look that complements your skin tone.

  1. Transition Blush Look Fair Medium Skin Pillow Talk Medium

    Fair/Medium Skin:

    1. AIRbrush Flawless Blush Blur – Loved Up
    2. AIRbrush Flawless Blush Blur – Blushgasm
    3. AIRbrush Flawless Blur Loose Powder – Brightening Pink

    Pink blushes pop on fair and medium skin tones, darlings! Loved Up and Blushgasm are my secrets to flawless pink blush and they pair perfectly with my Brightening Pink shade of loose setting powder. This blush combo will give you that ethereal, rosy-pink blur filter effect that also counteracts and brightens the look of any dark circles and discoloration.[

  2. Transition Blush Look Medium Tan Skin Pillow Talk Medium

    Medium/Tan Skin:

    1. AIRbrush Flawless Blush Blur – Sunset Siren
    2. AIRbrush Flawless Blush Blur – Summer Lovegasm
    3. AIRbrush Flawless Blur Loose Powder – Brightening Peach

    Warm tones like peach and coral come to life on medium and tan skin tones. Sunset Siren is my ultimate summertime siren shade – it is a hot, hot coral for the most flattering pop of colour! Try pairing it with Summer Lovegasm as your transition shade – the moody peach tones blend flawlessly with tan skin and transition into my Brightening Peach loose powder like a dream!

  3. Transition Blush Look Deep Skin Forbidden Cherry

    Deep Skin:

    1. AIRbrush Flawless Blush Blur – Forbidden Cherry
    2. AIRbrush Flawless Blush Blur – Pillow Talk Dreams
    3. AIRbrush Flawless Blur Loose Powder – Translucent Deep

    Deeper skin tones require more saturated shades of blush for them to pop. To get the transition blush look for deep skin, reach for a brown-toned blush like Pillow Talk Dreams as your transition shade – it will fuse your blush look with your skin tone so elegantly. Forbidden Cherry will look dreamy as a base blush for deep skin; blend it into the rosy tones of your transition shade and finish with a deep shade of loose powder to create a soft, gradient look.

Darlings, your blush has never looked better! The transition blush trend isn’t going anywhere… I absolutely love the way this makeup technique looks. Blurring the edges of your blush and building dimension with multiple blush colours tells such a story on your cheeks and makes your brushwork appear so seamless!

Try this method out, darlings… If you love blush and like makeup that looks airbrushed in real life, you’re going to be a convert to transition blush!

Discover more about my loose setting powder

Discover more blush looks to try

Discover how to apply powder blush

Got a beauty question, darling? Ask one of my magical makeup artists and discover more beauty tips over on Reddit!

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Author Details

Charlotte Tilbury

Founder, President, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of Charlotte Tilbury Beauty

With over 30 years experience, Charlotte Tilbury MBE is the world's number 1 makeup artist and British beauty entrepreneur. Charlotte established Charlotte Tilbury Beauty in 2013, which is now a record-breaking beauty brand that has won over 400 awards.

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