Milani 'Luminoso' Blush: A review and possible dupe for NARS Orgasm?

Milani Baked Blush in the color 'Luminoso' is  a gorgeous pure peach that I've been wanting for a couple years. My reason for lusting for so long but never taking the plunge is that whenever I saw it in CVS I always thought that $9.99 seemed steep for a drugstore blush. I waited until I had some extrabucks (CVS's drugstore reward system where you can treat their extrabucks like cash!) to make the splurge on this item and **spoiler alert** I'm SO happy I did! 

The blush comes packaged in a gold reflective plastic container. The blush flips up to reveal a small brush underneath. I definitely prefer my own brushes for application but the mini brush can be helpful in a pinch if you stick this in your purse or forget a blush brush while traveling! 

The color is a pure peach with some reflective gold shimmer in it. It is so beautiful and I think would work on all skin types from cool to warm and light to dark! The powder itself is really soft and has the perfect amount of pigmentation--just enough to show up with a tap of a brush but still sheer enough that it is buildable with out being clowny. A lot of people claim that this is a drug store dupe for NARS' famous Orgasm blush... let me just lay to rest all those claims right now:

No. Just, no.

I'm sorry to upset everyone out there who thought they might get an Orgasm dupe for a third of the cost but here's the thing: Luminoso has SO much more to offer than just being a dupe for NARS Orgasm! I think there's reason to buy it with out that tantalizing claim and, in fact, since I've purchased this blush I've worn it every single day to achieve a perfect glow as we enter into Spring.

This blush is a no-brainer: it has perfect pigmentation, is a gorgeous color, and will surely look great on you.  At $9.99 this blush also shouldn't be too hard on your pocketbook and Milani often has buy one get one half off sales!

xxSJ