Wayne Goss Blush Peony The Weightless Veil Blush Palette ($45.00 for 0.67 oz.) contains a fully matte, mid-tone pink blush paired with a lighter, pinky-lavender highlighter. The two coordinated well together, and the highlighter made it so the blush could be taken in a slightly cooler direction and look a bit pinker applied when layered with the highlighter.
The blush was actually semi-sheer and buildable, which was more in line with how the formula was described, but the highlighter was still quite pigmented–again, whether that’s a good or bad thing comes down to preferences, which is why I refer to the product’s description for claims made.
The highlighter was the easier product to use; it was a lot more forgiving and foolproof, making it versatile–on its own, layered, on bare skin, over foundation, etc., whereas the blush was more limited in my experience.
Sweetened
Sweetened is a medium pink with moderate, warm undertones and a matte finish. It had semi-sheer, buildable pigmentation, which was as described, with a thinner, slightly drier formula. Unfortunately, the texture and the finish was best applied over a matte finish, whether that meant bare skin dusted with translucent powder, matte foundation, or applied over a setting powder, but application over bare skin was inconsistent–often a bit patchy and prone to sticking. I didn’t notice any color that seemed to sink into or around texture, thankfully.
I recommend taking a light tap of the brush into the pan and then tapping it onto the skin and repeated for each area of the skin one desires product to have rather than trying to pull and diffuse that initial tap of product across an area unless one is applying over a completely matte base/surface. Over a more matte base, it was a lot easier to work with, so if that’s more typical for your routine, it may be just fine. It darkened a bit when applied on my skin, and it started to look patchy after eight hours of wear.
Formula Overview
The formula is described as a “smooth-glide powder” that gives a “veil on top of skin that blurs the look of pores, fine lines, and texture” that uses “microfine pigments” that can be built up for long-wearing color. The description seems to apply for both the blush and highlighter, which are presently found together in a duo.
The pigmentation varied from shade to shade; two of the four blush shades were fairly pigmented, while the other two ranged from semi-sheer to medium and buildable. The consistency was slightly drier and thinner, particularly for the shades with less visible shimmer. I am not entirely sure why the formula was billed as a “matte blush” when two shades have visible shimmer particles in the pans.
That thinner, drier formula made it harder to apply on bare skin or over foundation that wasn’t fully set/matte as the color applied unevenly, was difficult to diffuse and spread out, and lifted away foundation when I redoubled efforts to blend out using a buffer brush.
I could gently pat the color into place by using very soft, pressing motions over the full area (going back and getting more product each time) but I just couldn’t dab some on the apple of my cheek and diffuse and blend it out.
I would highly recommend applying over a matte finish, whether that’s translucent powder dusted over bare skin or over foundation, to ensure a more blendable product. This is often an issue with drier, thinner, more matte powders used on cheeks, and this formula didn’t improve upon that, unfortunately.
If you do wind up with a wonky application, the best method is to really cheat it by using a bit of foundation (often whatever’s leftover on your tool) to diffuse and blend it back rather than working with the blush itself. Alternatively, as it comes in a duo with a highlighter, apply the highlighter first and add blush (as the powder highlighter mattifies a bit), but this does limit the versatility of the product (always shimmery).
The ones with slight to light shimmer were easier to work with as I was able to apply, blend, and diffuse readily over bare skin as well as over foundation without having to set it or have a matte base. The wear time ranged from eight to nine hours. The blush formula seemed to layer over and under the highlighters of the same formula fairly well.
The duos are significantly larger than most others on the market–it’s a massive amount of product as most full-sized blushes are around 0.15 to 0.20 oz.–but the formula lists a nine-month shelf life, which was shorter than expected given it’s so large (and would take awhile to finish). For reference, a lot of powder blushes seem to be somewhere between 12 and 18 months for shelf life; 12 seems more common, and I only came across one that was also nine-months (Fenty Killawatts); NARS and Shiseido had a couple of formulas at 24 months.
Ingredients
Talc, Mica, Magnesium Myristate, Boron Nitride, Octyldodecyl Stearoyl Stearate, Phenoxyethanol, Polyglyceryl-2 Triisostearate, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride. May Contain: Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499), Red 30 Lake (CI 73360), Manganese Violet (CI 77742), Yellow 5 Lake (CI 19140), Carmine (CI 75470).
Shimmer Pink
Shimmer Pink is a pale lavender with subtle, cool undertones and a soft, luminous sheen. The texture was soft, smooth, and blendable without being too firmly nor too softly pressed, so it picked up readily but wasn’t powdery either. The highlighter applied evenly and delivered a noticeable, but subtle, glow that didn’t emphasize my skin’s natural texture. The “downside” was that it had nearly opaque coverage in a single layer when it was marketed as a sheerer, more buildable formula. It lasted well for eight hours before fading noticeably on my skin.
Formula Overview
The formula is described as a “smooth-glide powder” that gives a “veil on top of skin that blurs the look of pores, fine lines, and texture” that uses “microfine pigments” that can be built up for long-wearing color. The description seems to apply for both the highlighter and blush, which are presently found together in a duo.
The highlighters were actually quite pigmented–one would need to use a light hand to pick up just a bit of product. The texture was soft, smooth, and blendable without being too powdery nor too firmly-pressed into the pan. I noticed that one shade–Pearl–looked a bit cakey on skin rather than luminous unless it was really buffed onto my skin. They lasted around eight hours on me before showing signs of fading.
The duos are significantly larger than most others on the market–it’s a massive amount of product as most full-sized blushes are around 0.15 to 0.20 oz.–but the formula lists a nine-month shelf life, which was shorter than expected given it’s so large (and would take awhile to finish). For reference, a lot of powder blushes seem to be somewhere between 12 and 18 months for shelf life; 12 seems more common, and I only came across one that was also nine-months (Fenty Killawatts); NARS and Shiseido had a couple of formulas at 24 months.
Ingredients
Dimethicone, Mica, Polyglyceryl-2 Triisostearate, Isododecane, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Triethylhexanoin, Polyethylene, Magnesium Myristate, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol, Tin Oxide. May Contain: Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499), Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Bismuth Oxychloride (CI 77163), Carmine (CI 75470).