"Blush blindness" mocks social media users who take blush to the extreme with heavy-handed results. Photo: AFP
These days, blush is a makeup must-have. It's a trend that's been going strong for several months now, to the point where tips, techniques and inspirations of all kinds have emerged based on this beauty product.
As a result, some people have become obsessed with blush, and know no limits when it comes to achieving a healthy-glow effect, sometimes giving rise to a heavy-handed finish.
This phenomenon now has a name: "blush blindness", describing those who apply blush far too heavily, not realising that the colour is far too strong.
Blinded by their love for the trend, their enthusiasm for the product can make for some eccentric beauty looks.
On TikTok, "blush blindness" has already spawned a multitude of videos in which users mock or criticise this overwhelming obsession with blush.
Blush lovers
In the space of a few months, blush has been transformed from being a more-or-less obsolete product to a beauty must-have.
Not content with being the focus of a host of trends -- like "sunset blush" and "glazed blush", not to mention "boyfriend blush" – this makeup item has managed to reinvent itself under the leadership of world-renowned cosmetics brands.
Gone are the little touches of powdery blush for a subtle healthy-glow effect, replaced by much more highly pigmented liquid textures, bright colours, and even the layering of several products for an even more visible effect.
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After the white blush and purple blush trends from 2023, some social media users have gone so far as to swap their powder-based products for a lipstick to achieve a radiant complexion.
And the latest viral blush trend is "double blush", or the "blush combo", which consists of using not one, but two different blushes – namely a liquid blush and a powder blush – to enhance the effect.
All these tricks and hacks are encouraging beauty fans to add more product, and go ever further, to the point of becoming "blind" to the amount of color they're actually applying to their cheekbones.
Chasing the latest beauty standards
This penchant for excess, whether intentional or not, is now at the root of the trend for "blush blindness". On the Chinese social network TikTok, simply type in the dedicated hashtag and you'll see a multitude of posts mocking this obsession with blush.
They're accompanied by captions like "I'm sunkissed", "Modo tomate activado" ("Tomato mode activated"), and show videos of girls with extremely pink or even red cheeks.
Blush isn't the only makeup product that can be subject to this kind of "blindness". It can apply to many other beauty trends that have emerged over the last few years, or even decades.
And ultimately, it's our obsession with chasing the latest beauty standards that's being mocked here, with these trends now landing thick and fast and changing all the time.
This has been seen with recent crazes for extra-thin eyebrows, then bleached brows, then thick brows ('brow blindness'), an extremely contoured complexion ('contouring blindness'), or ultra-long, voluminous eyelashes ('lash blindness').
So be careful not to overdo it when you succumb to the call of a new beauty trend.
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That said, in response to the videos mocking "blush blindness", there are already a host of videos in which users claim that this excess of makeup is intentional, and that they are perfectly aware of the nature of their look.
"I know exactly what I'm doing, don't worry," reads one comment on TikTok.
Other users chiming in say that they "don't care about the blush blindness trend".
There are even those who remain resolutely on board with such a trend: "Always too much blush, and proud." – AFP Relaxnews
