Maybelline Sunkisser Blush Review, Swatches, and Thoughts

Maybelline Sunkisser Liquid Blush is a new multi-use blush and bronzer that launched for Summer 2024 in ten shade selections. I guess this is Maybelline’s dupe of Charlotte Tilbury Beauty Highlighter Wand, NARS Afterglow Liquid Blush, and perhaps even a little nod to Drunk Elephant D-Bronzi Bronzing Drops. Whatever they are attempting to duplicate they aren’t alone in their idea as L’Oreal just dropped Lumi Le Liquid Blush. I think I like the new L’Oreal blushes more over these Maybelline Sunkisser Blushes but I need to test them a bit more before deciding.

I’m somewhat surprised big influencers aren’t pushing these as something you need for Summer. I know I was excited about them as I love a beautiful glowy blush but these just don’t quite cut it when it comes to glow and even pigment for that matter.

Let’s take a look at my review, swatches, and thoughts below.

I got four of the ten shades of Maybelline Sunkisser Blush two of which were a cream finish and two metallics that have fine shimmer. The shades and levels of pigment cover blushes, bronzers, and highlighters in my opinion. For example, I got the shade Rooftop View, a metallic golden orange that would work best as a highlighter. This shade sheers out quickly as you blend and I thought it looked more beautiful patted onto the tops of my cheekbones or even under a blush to add glow, but on its own it wasn’t much of a blush. I don’t own shades like Electric Bronze but a shade like that appears to be best suited for adding warmth rather than used as a blush. So, I do thing certain shades are best used as either a blush, bronzer, or highlighter.

The blushes are housed in the same square barrels that Maybelline Lifter Lipgloss and Lifter Plumping Gloss come in but are just a smidge taller. This makes it easy to confuse the formulas so store these in with your blushes and not your lipglosses less you end up applying blush on your lips by mistake! They’re 0.15 oz and are $12 each. They have a sponge applicator for easy swipe and blend application. Just a note when products like this initially hit mass retailer outlets like Walmart they end up being a bit cheaper than at stores like Ulta. I thought it was interesting that both Walmart and Ulta sell them for $11.99 each though and even Amazon has the same price. Just some food for thought there…!

I ended up with four shades as I said above two of which were cream finishes and those are Uptown Glow and Downtown Rush. Don’t expect any glow from either of these shades as they are a cream finish and have a shimmer and glow-free finish on cheeks. I also got Rooftop Views and City Sizzle both of which have a metallic finish with fine silver shimmer in the mix. These two shades had more of a glow than the cream ones. Out of the four shades the creams had the most pigment was City Sizzle coming in at the rear with decent pigmentation. Yes, in my swatches all the shades look super pigment but the downfall is the application as they sort of blend into oblivion. They do build easily and you can apply a few layers without the color looking cakey. Rooftop Views is without a doubt a perfect example of this. You can apply tons of layers and it’ll still blend out to a sheer barely there touch of color with lots of shimmery bits left on your face and very little color. I think Rooftop Views would work best as a highlighter of sorts but not as a blush. I do think the shades might be great for someone with paler/fairer skin than my own.

Maybelline Sunkisser Liquid Blush (Uptown Glow)

Maybelline Sunkisser Liquid Blush (Downtown Rush)

Maybelline Sunkisser Liquid Blush (Rooftop Views)

Maybelline Sunkisser Liquid Blush (City Sizzle)

Maybelline Sunkisser Liquid Blush Swatches (Rooftop Views, Downtown Rush, Uptown Glow, and City Sizzle)

Maybelline Sunkisser Liquid Blush Swatches (Rooftop Views, Downtown Rush, Uptown Glow, and City Sizzle)

The formula is creamy yet lightweight on my cheeks with a bit of dewiness from the metallic shades but nothing that’s tacky nor sticky. The cream shades wore quite long for me at around seven hours without fading however, the metallics faded at around five hours. All the shades swatch super pigmented as I said above but the ones with the best pigment once applied were the cream ones.

Overall, Maybelline Sunkisser Blush doesn’t quite have the impact I thought it would. I wanted something a bit more dramatic from these. I was excited to try them and expected them to give me this amazingly gorgeous glow for Summer but they don’t really do that. The formula sheers out so much that they don’t give me the glowy finish I wanted or expected from them as promised by the marketing. I also felt like they could have gone in such a better direction with the shades. The shades are all so meh. I’d loved to see a golden pink, coral, and peach shades.

Unfortunately, Maybelline Sunkisser Blush were disappointing. I’ll likely use these on more natural makeup days but I wouldn’t venture into purchasing any more shades or even replenishing shades I may use up.

Have you tried them? Do share!

Where to buy

Ulta Amazon Walmart