ColourPop Bubbles Cheek Dew Serum Blush Review & Swatches

Bubbles

ColourPop Bubbles Cheek Dew Serum Blush ($7.00 for 0.48 oz.) is a brighter, medium-dark copper with moderate, warm undertones and a soft sheen. It had sheer pigmentation that was difficult to build up as the product was more likely to push around than adhere onto itself, even if I gave it some time to dry down (which was not a full dry down).

The texture was quite emollient and runny with a 20-30 second dry down. I tried applying it with fingertips, brushes, and sponges with nothing proving to be particularly awesome at yielding even, buildable coverage that was blended around the edges. On a good attempt, the layer of product was mostly even, but the challenge was softening and diffusing the edges for a seamless look… and that was dodgy at best. It was marginally better over bare skin as it was prone to moving around complexion products noticeably. This shade lasted for six hours before fading visibly.

FURTHER READING: Formula Overview for details on general performance and characteristics (like scent).

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Formula Overview

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Formula Overview

$7.00/0.48 oz. - $14.58 Per Ounce

The formula is supposed to have "buildable coverage" with a "hint" of dewiness that can be applied with fingertips, sponge, or a duo fiber brush and is recommended to be applied prior to powder products. I struggled to apply the formula, and I tried using fingertips, sponges, and various brushes both over foundation, under foundation, over bare skin, and even over powder (which is the opposite of what they say to do!).

For me, it seemed like the issue was that there was way too much slip in the product, so instead of applying and blending out, the color just pushed around. It had the worst application when I used fingertips to apply, which I'd apply by patting and pressing the color (gently!) onto my cheeks and using the edge of my fingertip to soften. This is my go-to method with cream-based cheek colors, and it usually works, but I couldn't get the color to stay and place.

I tried using a sponge, but the sponge seemed to absorb a lot of the color that it made it hard to get detectable coverage out of it. I found a stippling brush to work better, and I gently flicked the brush against my cheeks to deposit color, waited 10 seconds, and then tried to diffuse and even out the color. This worked somewhat and sometimes, but it did not always work, unfortunately, and when it didn't, there was almost no visible color.

Since it seemed overly emollient, for the majority of my application attempts, I squeezed out product on the back of my hand, so I could swirl or pick up product as it had dried out a little bit, but this did not help much! The "best" method I found was to gently dab the product onto my cheeks using fingertips, let it sit for five to 10 seconds, then use a synthetic brush to soften the edges with the gentlest touch and only do each area once, and then leave it alone and accept whatever the outcome was.

It did not play well with the various base products I tried--a mix of liquid foundations and tinted moisturizers, both set and unset--as it was prone to sliding them around or lifting them up. They were better over bare skin, but they were a real challenge to work with. They were also not buildable in my experience as this resulted in the first layer moving around and lifting away from the main area and leaving a raised edge of product.

The consistency was very fluid to the point where it felt runny; it would slide down the back of my hand with the aid of gravity and do so quickly. It took awhile to dry down, and it was somewhat movable with light dewiness in its finish but wasn't tacky. They lasted around six hours on me before fading visibly.

Browse all of our ColourPop Cheek Dew Serum Blush swatches.