Milani Baked Blush in “Terra Sole”

I was surprised to receive this in the mail the other day. Well, kind of. I had won one of Milani’s baked blushes through their Facebook page a few months ago. They were basically giving them out to anyone who “liked” them on Facebook (I’m sure at least a few of you got one as well!). Well, a couple months went by and I never got mine…so I sent them an email about it and they said they didn’t have me in their system, but that they would send me one right away. Another couple months went by, and I just kind of assumed it wasn’t going to happen. But lo and behold…this past Saturday it appeared in my mailbox!

Now for the review. I hate to start right away with a negative, but when I received the blush, the clear plastic part of the case had completely broken off (I had to tape it back to the lid). Also, all the bubble wrap around it was flat. Either someone didn’t package it correctly, or it had one hell of a ride in the mail! Regardless of how it was mailed, I generally find the plastic and the packaging of this blush to be very cheap quality. Like…the level of gold-painted dollar store plastic toys. Everytime I open this blush (which isn’t very easy), I fear I’m going to break it somehow. 😕

But on to the actual blush…I was pleasently surprised by the formula considering I hadn’t had a very good first impression with the packaging. I was expecting it to feel very dry, but its actually super soft and extremely pigmented. The actual blush is definitely great quality! The color I received was “terra sole”, which is a dark pink/brown shade. I think this shade is only available on their website, and not in stores. The application is completely matte so there is no shimmer or glitter in this blush, which is actually welcomed since my other two blushes have shimmer. Since it is so pigmented (and I’m not really a fan of very pigmented cheeks), I had to apply this very lightly, barely dusting it on the pan. Doing it this way worked beautifully and gave a nice flush to my cheeks!

Overall, I really like the quality of the actual blush but I cannot stand the packaging. If they were to put this in more study packaging, I would probably enjoy using this blush more and might even buy other colors.