Everybody loves this blush, so I decided to get it when I was at Target. It's always out of stock at my local CVS, sadly. This is the peachiest toned blush I own, and I really like it! I think the color works really well on my skintone (light-medium with yellow undertones).
First off, the packaging. It's plastic and pretty cheapy, nothing special. I like that the gold shiny part doesn't keep fingerprints, any fingerprints fade quickly. It also doesn't attract dust, since it's plastic. It doesn't feel like it would crack super easily, which is nice. When you flip the blush part of the compact up, it reveals a brush and a mirror underneath.
The brush is pretty much useless, it's scratchy and would probably be phenomenally awful to use. It's headed for the trash. However, the mirror is a really nice touch - when I travel, having a mirror in each individual piece of makeup is quite nice, it makes it a lot easier to apply it when I don't have to open another product for a mirror or carry a separate mirror.
Top swatch, one layer of Luminoso. Bottom swatch, two layers of Luminoso
I'm not going to lie, this blush definitely has shimmer in it. It gives a really nice glowy highlight to the cheek, without nasty fallout or anything. It's not over the top at all. The color is a peach color with a bit of pink in it and a subtle gold highlight. It's a lot peachier than theBalm Hot Mama blush, which I did a review on
here. The color of Milani Luminoso is gorgeous, it flatters my skintone well. It's medium pigmented - I swipe my blush brush (haha, tongue twister, say blush brush five times fast) twice to pick up the amount of color that I want. It can also be applied super sheerly if you need to. The texture of this blush is sooo smooth, not gritty at all. Here's a comparison of Hot Mama and Luminoso:
theBalm Hot Mama on top, Milani Luminoso on bottom
As you can see, Luminosos is much more of a true peach blush with hints of pink whereas Hot Mama has a lot more pink in it with some peach tones, although they both have golden shimmer.
The staying power of this blush is FANTASTICNESS. It stays from around 7:30am in the morning to 5 or 6pm in the evening when I take it off. It keeps my face looking alive and glowy all day long! Almost all blushes fade completely by the end of the day on me (theBalm Hot Mama is the only one that stays all day). So in terms of staying power, this blush is love, love love!
Overall, this is a really great blush! I do wish they could have used the money they put towards the brush towards maybe making the packaging a bit more sturdy and less cheapy looking. However, this blush is fantastic in all other aspects - gorgeous color, lovely formula, and phenomenal staying power!
Rating: 5/5
