I Tried Yellow Blush and it Wasn’t Completely Terrible

I’ll throw on a vampy lip every now and then, but overall I tend to play it safe when it comes to my makeup. A couple years ago, in an attempt to branch out of grays and browns, I did pick up Urban Decay’s Electric Palette thinking it’d inspire me to swipe on a flashy green or neon purple. Despite placing it front and center on my vanity, though, the palette still looks brand new.

That’s not to say that I dislike it when others get playful with their makeup. I love the splashy NYFW looks, and I was intrigued when images of women wearing bright yellow blush began flooding my Insta feed. Though it’s undeniably strange looking, yellow blush is somehow insanely pretty in a gorgeous alien sort of way.

Vowing to myself that I wouldn’t leave the house if I hated it, I decided to go for it. My first step was to consult a makeup artist, Katherine Dorn of NYC's Pierre Michel Salon, to see if there were any rules I should follow if I wanted to pull this off.

“Yellow can work beautifully as a blending color, and also as a soft highlight,” said Dorn. “As long as it is blended well, a yellow shimmer or matte shadow looks beautiful on the cheekbones and as an eye shadow on the center of the eyelid." So basically, you want to make sure the yellow is blended well, and to really own the look incorporate yellow into other parts of the face, as well.

Unsurprisingly, yellow blush doesn't actually exist. And if it does, well, I can't find any. Makeup artists and beauty bloggers have been using yellow eyeshadow as blush, which is also what I did to create this look. I decided to really commit and made myself a yellow quad via INGLOT's Freedom System. I selected: Eye Shadow DS in 474, Eye Shadows AMC in 59 and 60, and Eye Shadow Matte in 370.

For the blush, I opted for Eye Shadow DS in 474, a creamy but vibrant yellow with shimmer throughout.

I built up color on my cheekbones and extended to my temples with a full, dome-shaped brush. I did my best to blend it out, which is much more complicated with yellow than it is with the pink or mauve I'm used to.

Remembering what Dorn said about using the yellow as a "soft highlight," I added a sheer dusting of pink blush on top to reduce some of the sallowness and create more of a "glow" effect. (In case you couldn't tell, I use the heck out of the ISH Contour palette above.)

There's no denying the yellowness of this look, but it doesn't look completely terrible, right? I was pleasantly surprised at the effect. To bring this look home, I applied Eye Shadow AMC 60 — a vibrant, shimmery yellow — to my eyelids, and kept things simple with Sara Happ's The Pink Slip lip gloss. Drumroll...

Overall, I think the look is surprisingly striking. I mean, I personally would only wear it for my IG feed — or for a music festival or somewhere equally as laid black and playful — but it's not completely unwearable! I do think the eyeshadow is a critical part of pulling it off, and would even wear the yellow eyeshadow without the blush for a fun pop of color.