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Too much choice is a nightmare. It is sold to us as a mark of civilisation but actually it’s just a mark of grotesque excess. It makes buying anything — trousers, wallpaper, mugs, cheese, lipstick, houses — take three times (at least) as long as it should. It also makes everyone feel permanently dissatisfied in case there exists a better version of the thing they’re buying. It drives me nuts.
So I am constantly trying to keep things simple when it comes to make-up, and a brand that really helps with this is Merit. The whole concept is pared back, not shouty, and easy to use (I reviewed its excellent one-pot, one-shade eyeshadows a few months ago). And now my obsession is its blush. Regular readers will know that I find blush a huge hassle. It’s not just a question of it looking awful if I don’t put it on high enough — beyond a certain age that whole “apple of the cheeks” business is a disaster: your face drops a bit as you get older and the blush ends up much too low down, which does not look good on anybody. You (or at least I) want to aim for the actual hard, bony cheekbone. So that’s one faff.
The other faff is in the application. Too fat a brush and you eventually have the same problem: the product starts off in the right place but ends up too low down, or migrates downwards throughout the day. Too thin a brush and you can’t blend well enough. I much prefer using my fingers, but the blushes I like best are powders, so that doesn’t quite work. The third faff is colour, texture, level of gleam and staying power. I like blush to look very, very natural, very, very smooth, not dead matte but with only the absolute minimum of sheen, and I like it to stay put. The products that achieve this on my skin tone are few and far between (Armani Beauty Luminous Silk Glow is the king of them). This is all very annoying because nothing perks you up like a good blush in the right shade.
I was predisposed to like Merit Flush Balm Cheek Color (£32, meritbeauty.com) because it comes as a simple little dome and describes itself as a tint, but I hadn’t tried it until I was sent it in a new shade called Rouge, which, as its name suggests, is red. Like, bright red. But also balmlike in texture and, as I was saying, a tint, so bright red in the pot but not bright red on the cheeks. What it does is give you the perfect, ultra-natural sunburnt flush, or rather pre-sunburnt, like you’ve been in the sun for maybe half an hour too long and now your cheeks feel slightly tingly but in a nice way. You pat it on with your fingers — absolutely zero skill required here — and you’re done. I would very much steer you towards this Rouge colour, which is incredibly flattering (I tried it on a very pale-skinned friend too) and sheer rather than punchy, but if you don’t fancy it there are eight other extremely pretty shades. Gorgeous texture, lovely finish (matte but it’s a balm, so not flat) and super-easy to use: I’m sold.
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Maurice and Maralyn by Sophie Elmhirst (Chatto & Windus £18.99) is published on Thursday. It is the most incredible true story about two people who get bored of their suburban life and decide to sell everything, buy a boat and sail to New Zealand. Halfway there their boat is struck by a whale and they are left bobbing about on a raft in the middle of the Pacific. It’s a gripping tale of maritime catastrophe but also of marriage. timesbookshop.co.uk
