Essence Pink Is The New Black Colour-Changing Blush Review & Swatches

Essence Pink Is The New Black Colour-Changing Blush ($5.99) is a new color changing blush that launched with the Essence Pink is the New Black Collection. This budget-friendly blush is a bold black shade that “magically” chances to a perfect mauve blush shade when applied to cheeks. I wasn’t going to pick this up at all as I think the novelty of pH level blushes has worn off for me but I snagged one in a recent smallish order I did at Ulta to tip me into the free shipping zone.

Essence Pink Is The New Black Colour-Changing Blush is one of several color-changing items that’s included in this collection. It comes in a rather large square plastic compact that holds 0.31 oz of blush for $5.99. And yes, it really is start black! At least it is at first but once you start rubbing your finger or a brush in it I noticed the shade sort of goes purple-ish!

As I said above the novelty of pH anything has worn off for me. At one point, pH blushes and makeup was very fun but I think I’m just getting older and items like this are less appealing to have in my collection. I will say Essence was creative with this launch. Not a lot of brands have taken on black blush! Anna Sui Black Cream Blush is one that comes to mind and Wet n Wild Halloween Fantasy Makers Color Changing Blush! But color-changing blushes aren’t normally black like this. It’s a cool concept.

One of the first things I noticed about this blush when I opened it was the scent. Not a lot of people love fragrance in their makeup but I enjoy it from time to time and this smells amazing. It has a sweet, delicious raspberry fragrance!

As for the formula it’s a very thin balm with a lightly dewy finish on cheeks. I struggled picking up color as it isn’t terribly pigmented and it blends rather poorly into the promised “mauve” shade. I literally looked like I had blackish-purple blush on and kept patting and smoothing with my fingers trying to get it to change. It needs a minute or two to warm up and once it did it went from that weird black purple shade to a cooler pink on my cheeks. I think you’ll see in my swatches not only how weird the shade looks but also, how sheer it is. I built it up A LOT for my look in this review. It’s very thin and difficult to pick up a lot of product so it requires a lot of building to actually see it on your cheeks. It has a dewy finish but without 20-30 minutes that disappears. I was concerned it would fade due that dewy finish but it sticks around quite nicely for around six or so hours before it shows signs of wearing off. The formula applies easily and does blend well but to get it to change, as I said above, it takes a little bit of patting, blending, patting, blending…it needs a lot of warming up to get it to shift to a more natural looking color. I do think anyone with a deeper skin tone might struggle with it as it isn’t super pigmented and might not show up for them!

Essence does have a Pink Is The New Black Colour-Changing Lip & Cheek Balm and Pink Is The New Black Colour-Changing Lip Glow in this collection but I see no reason you can slip a little of this on your lips if you like. I tried it and it gives my lips a little hint of pink. Nothing dramatic but it can be used on your cheeks and lips in my opinion!

Essence Pink Is The New Black Colour-Changing Blush is a cute concept but not a must have item. It’s a bit too sheer and takes a little work to get looking right! This one just didn’t thrill me.

Essence Pink Is The New Black Colour-Changing Blush is available now. Have you tried it?

Where to buy

Essence