I first heard of Daniel Sandler’s Watercolour Fluid Blushers on Jenny’s blog when she did a review on a few of them. I thought it was a cool concept but didn’t really give it much thought after that until I watched a video by Essiebutton on Daniel Sandler actually creating a blush just for her. That was when I thought, hmm okay I think I need to give one a go.
At that time, the only place I knew where I could get Daniel Sandler’s products were on ASOS. I didn’t want to pay full price for the blush so I saved it to my Wish List and waited for ASOS to do a storewide sale (they do it quite often). When they had a 30% off storewide, I finally snapped one up. I wasn’t sure of which shade to get so after Googling swatches after swatches, I decided on Cherub.
Ingredients:
Cyclopentasiloxane, Isododecane, Polymethyl Methacrylate, Trimethylsiloxysilicate, Cera Alba, C18-38 Alkyl Hydroxystearoyl Stearate, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Polyethylene, SD Alcohol 40, Benzyl Salicylate, Linalool, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Coumarin, Parfum [+/- Mica, CI 77891, CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499, CI 75470, CI 45380, CI 77007, Calcium Aluminum Borosilicate, Silica, Tin Oxide]
My first impression when the package from ASOS finally came? “Gee that’s a small bottle.” Silly me didn’t realise that the blush only came in a 15ml bottle. I should have paid more attention when I was reading reviews of this online. Oh well. Next, it was time to give this a good ol’ try. As the bottle says “shake vigorously before use”, I shook it like a mad woman and risked dislocating my shoulder. Yes I exaggerate but you know what I mean.
Here are another couple of things I didn’t realise about the blush (argh Tine, read the reviews thoroughly next time, okay?!) are that 1) it’s very runny like highly watered down paint and 2) the colour payoff was abysmal, at least for Cherub. Initially, I didn’t want to dispense drops of this directly onto my stippling brush as I thought it would be a waste so I squeezed a couple of drops onto the back of my hand. It was like adding drops of water onto the back of my hand, which meant that the blush immediately spread and almost fell off my hand unless I formed some sort of a backward claw. In the end, I had to squeeze drops of the blush onto the stippling brush to prevent spills and creating a mess. I’ve tried using this with my fingers but I found it really messy so I stuck with my brush instead.
Two seconds after I squeezed a couple of drops onto the stippling brush
This brings me to point #2. The swatches for Cherub that I Googled looked really good and the pink stood out pretty well. However, when I applied this on my cheeks, there was almost nothing. I had to apply at least 3 layers (3-4 drops of blush per layer) just for a hint of the blush to show.
This is a silicone-based product and even though it looks like watery paint, when it’s spread out, it feels velvety smooth. When it’s first applied on the cheeks, they will look wet for a while but the blush dries very quickly and your cheeks will look as though it’s infused with your own flush.
I checked Daniel Sandler’s video out on how to apply this blush and while I don’t have that brush that he used, I tried it with other brushes as well and barely any colour showed on my cheeks. I really should have chosen a brighter shade than Cherub because that didn’t work for me at all. I reckon this shade will work better on fairer skin than mine. Drats. I think I should have gotten the shade Acid. That shocking fluoro pink would definitely show on my skin, right?
At the end of the day, I found the Watercolour Fluid Blusher gimmicky and quite honestly, a pain in the arse to use. No doubt it’s an interesting concept and I do love cheek tints but this one just isn’t for me. I’m not sure if I’ll be giving another brighter shade a go unless there’s a really good sale on ASOS. I might pick Acid up then.
Daniel Sandler’s Watercolour Fluid Blushers are available on ASOS at AU$29.81 each (converted currency at the time of writing). There are only 8 shades available on ASOS whereas Daniel Sandler actually has 17 shades available on his website. If you’d like to give one a go, I recommend saving the shade you’d like on ASOS’ Wish List by clicking the Save For Later button. Look out for good storewide sales and then pick one up then. Money saved! 🙂
Thank goodness you bought the little size instead of the big one! What a bummer! When I saw your photo of the bottle, I thought it looked like the Temptu highlighter that I got in my November ipsy bag & I adore that highlighter. It’s not watery and easy to apply with my fingers. So sorry this blush was such a disappointment
Allison recently posted..Disappointments in Beauty List 2014
There’s a bigger one? Dang. The small ones were the only ones available on ASOS. Thank goodness then that I only bought the small one because the big one would have been an absolutely waste of money. This really felt like water 🙁
I’ve been interested in these for a while now after hearing Essie mention them so much but I always stopped myself from purchasing because I’m not normally a fan of the liquid blushes – they always tend to have pigmentation issues for me or end up looking patchy! Thanks for the honest review, I might give these a miss or, as you say, pick up a brighter colour!
Ash
Ash recently posted..A New Lipstick Set Up & Lipstick Collection
Me too! That’s the reason I bought this blush, because it was recommended by Essiebutton! From her choice of shades of foundations, I know she’s a lot fairer than I am so I’m not surprised that this (and the one Daniel Sandler made for her) worked well for her. I might check out Acid if ASOS has, like, 50% off everything. Or if they sell it for a song. 😛
I really wanted to try this after seeing it in Essiebutton’s videos so many time! With your review I realised that this shade wouldn’t show up at all on my skin 🙁
Save your money for something better! 😉
Lolz this review came at just the right time I have very dry skin and I want to buy some good cream and liquid blushes in light pink shade ( the only blush shade that I like to wear ) I could not find reviews on any liquid blush from a drugstore brand which makes me think drugstore brands do not make liquid blushes 🙁 I saw YT guru essie button raving about these daniel sandler liquid blushes so I thought maybe I should save some money and buy this but after reading your review and seeing the swatch I am thinking nope these are not for me I do not want to waste my money on something that would not even show up on my skin.Once again thanks for the honest review I really trust your opinions lolz you have no idea your reviews have helped me from wasting my money on so many products
No worries Sataa! The thing is, I wouldn’t say a definite no to the rest of the Daniel Sandler blushes. I’d go for the darker/brighter shades because Cherub did absolutely nothing for me. You’d need to be really, really, REALLY fair for that to work. It looks great on Jenny’s (My Funny Valentine Blog) skin but me, it looked like nothing. For a liquid blush to really show and in a light pink shade, I’d say go for Benefit’s Lollitint. Or a slightly gel-like one from The Body Shop. These blushes will definitely show on the skin. Daniel Sandler’s Watercolour Blushes are a cool concept but it’s just too watery for my liking (it’s literally like squeezing water out from a tube).
Its a shame. I have this product in the exact same shade and I adore it! Your swatch looks SO watery, mine is so pigmented and opaque, it has never been that watery! Maybe you got a bad batch or something? Because the blush I have swatches quite strong! It also looks so pretty and natural on the cheeks. 🙂
Aww man! Do you reckon I bought a lemon? I shook the heck out of the bottle and it still looked like that. Mine looks super watered down even after shaking up a storm. 🙁