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

Tutorial Try-It: MakeupbyTiffanyD's 'Sexy Shimmer Date Night' look!

Tiffany D is one of my favorite youtubers because she does makeup looks that seem a little more achievable than your average beauty guru. She keeps it real with the highlighting and contouring and does tutorials creating looks that are actually wearable for an everyday woman! She posted this tutorial for a 'Sexy Shimmer Date Night' look yesterday that already has 33,000+ views. I chose to recreate this look because she uses shadows exclusively from the Naked2 palette which I actually own!

The products Tiffany used for this look were:

Naked2 palette (Foxy, Bootycall, Tease, Verve, Chopper, Busted, and Blackout)

NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil in Milk

Stila Stay All Day Liquid Eyeliner in Dark Brown (I used the color Black)

Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara (I used CoverGirl Clump Crusher

Ardell Whispies False Eyelashes (I didn't use fake lashes!)

The Naked2 palette! Filled with cool toned taupes and grays!

Here is the look I came up with after following Tiffany's tutorial:

 Overall I love the way this look turned out! The shimmer on the lids was definitely noticeable but it wasn't as bold as a metallic shadow pressed all over the lid. I also love her idea to mute the silver shade Verve by packing the pinky beige shade Chopper all over it. As Tiffany says in her video, it keeps you from looking like a robot!

Even with out the false eyelashes I think this look has some impact and drama. I love it for a date night and I could easily add false eyelashes to glam it up in no time. I also like that she didn't add any eyeliner to the lower lash line but instead smudged the plummy color Busted along the lower lash line for a smoked out effect.

As far as creating wearable looks that still hit the mark on drama and intensity, Tiffany nails it! Check out her video tutorial where she shows how to create this shimmery look and where my screengrabs are from! It's only 6 minutes long!!

Hope you liked this Tutorial Try-It!
Check out my other ones!
Allison Anderson's Sweater Weather look
Jaclyn Hill's Bombshell Look

xxSJ