MAC Azalea Blossom Blush Ombre (Isabel and Ruben Toledo Collection) Review & Swatches

I consider myself very lucky that I’m not a die-hard MAC makeup fan! Can you imagine how much money you would be spending every year if you were to buy every collection they come out with?! Having said that, I do buy their products occasionally, normally when I see something unique or something I have missed in the past collections. For example the Azalea Blossom Blush Ombre that I am reviewing today. I missed it on previous releases so I made sure to not miss it this time! It is one of the most prettiest blush ombre I have seen especially for me who likes pink and purple makeup! :)

Azalea Blossom Blush Ombre has returned with the MAC Isabel and Ruben Toledo Collection. The blush is housed in a white packaging with Ruben’s illustrations of black lines and red lips to make out a person’s face. It’s a nice-sized, square plastic compact but it lacks a mirror inside (I know, for the price it should have a mirror!).

Azalea Blossom Blush Ombre is a gradient power blush. It has a pale, cool-toned pink at the top of the pan that gradually fades into a pale pastel purple at the bottom. You can definitely angle your brush to apply each color separately, or you can emphasize your brush more towards the top or bottom to customize the shade. I generally just swirl my brush in the center of the pan to get a good mix of both. When swirled together, you get a healthy mix of purple-tinged pink flush on the cheeks that I think looks very pretty and youthful. I love it and I think it will be a perfect color for Spring! :)

The formula has some sparse, ultra fine shimmer in it that becomes almost invisible once the blush is applied on the skin. It will basically look like a pretty matte powder on the cheeks. Sounds great so far right?

However, to get Azalea Blossom to show up properly on the skin, it needs some type of “mechanical peel“ to remove the top layer off the surface first! When I opened the compact for the first time, I couldn’t get over how pretty it is but my excitement was cut short because when I went to apply it on my cheeks, nothing, and I mean nothing at all showed up on me even after multiple layers! The best was a light sheen on the cheeks and that’s it, no colors at all! The blush is extremely poorly pigmented and the stiff texture only makes matters worse.

But I was not to lose hope. LOL! I really wanted it to work so I grabbed a clean Q-tip and started scraping off the top layer. It broke my heart to ruin the smooth surface but I had no choice. I tried swirling the blush with a really dense and scratchy brush first but it didn’t help at all, so there goes the Q-tip! :D

Once the top layer was removed, Azalea Blossom became like a new person, full of color and happiness! I only have to dip my brush back into the pan a couple times to get a good color payoff on my cheeks. It’s not going to become super pigmented all of a sudden but it certainly swatches and applies so much better without the hardened top layer. The consistency underneath feels somewhat softer, too, which aids the powder to adhere to the brush better.

Now let me show you what the colors look like individually and together:

Isn’t it the most pretty purple pink blush or what? :) Here’s how it looks on me when the colors are swirled together and applied in a few layers:

When applied lightly, the finish is very lovely and feminine (I actually might be wearing this on Valentine’s Day!) and lasts all day surprisingly! You can certainly pack it on more to increase the coverage but in my experience, the more you apply, the chalkier the texture becomes. It is best to keep it to a few layers for the most natural finish. :)

So if you bought Azalea Blossom and found the pigmentation to be poor, try the scraping method! The beautiful color underneath will be more than worth the extra effort! :)

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