I’ve said this before, but I’m not a blush girl at heart. I’m much more likely to opt for bronzer, which gives me that immediate “just got home from a tropical vacation” look that I so desperately want year-round. I started warming up to blush a couple of years ago, though, and it’s become a makeup product I try to add to my routine every time I get ready.
I recently tested one of the R.e.m. Beauty blushes with a group of other editors, and although I don’t usually like or opt for matte products, I immediately fell in love with the shade I used, as well as the formula. I even wore the product to Coachella, and I remember being shocked (and stoked AF) to find my blush firmly still in place after a night of sweating and dancing through dust storms.
Grande’s R.e.m. Beauty is still fairly new to me, and I haven’t had the opportunity to test a lot of the products, but the blush has made me a fan. So, when I was scrolling through TikTok late one night and saw the star herself showing off a new makeup hack using the aforementioned blush, I decided to test it out.
@r.e.m.beauty hypernova ombre blush as seen on @arianagrande 🎆🪐 here’s our new favorite way to add a cosmic burst of color to your makeup routine
In the TikTok video, which currently has over 700,000 likes, Grande shows off a heart ombré blush hack using two of the R.e.m. Beauty Satin Matte Blush ($20), and the result is stunning. Grande doesn’t name the exact shades she uses, but it looks like Strawberry Nebula and Pinking of You. I have Pinking of You, a soft, cool-toned pink, but not the other shade, which was a vibrant, almost hot pink, so instead, I opted to grab a color I had in my makeup kit that looked similar.
Grande starts by taking the soft pink shade and adding some product onto a blush brush. From there, she dabs it right onto the apples of both her cheeks. I, of course, followed suit. Next, she takes the darker hot pink shade and brushes it onto one side of the lighter shade toward her cheekbone. The two dots together resemble what looks like a two-toned heart. I tried to get my blush placement exactly like Grande’s, and I think I did quite well.
From there, she took the excess product that was left on her brush and added it to the outer corners of her eyelids, closer to the brow bone. Although I placed it on the outer corner because the brush is big and fluffy, the color ended up taking up a lot of real estate on my eyelid. The first time I watched the video, it was at this point that I started getting a little nervous because Grande had a lot of blush all over her face. However, I watched the video a bunch of times and knew that as soon as she blended everything, it all looked OK. To blend, Grande grabbed a different brush and used upward swiping motions, connecting the makeup on her cheeks and her eyes, so I did the same thing.
Next, Grande applied some bronzer to her her cheekbones and temples, and blended out into her hairline. Although the hack involves way more blush than I’m used to wearing on a regular basis, I genuinely loved how it turned out. I felt partially sun-kissed, and kind of like I had just spent twenty minutes making out with a super hot dude in his car. So, overall, it was a win.
Renee Rodriguez is a staff writer and social producer for PS. She writes across all verticals, but her main areas of expertise focus on fashion and beauty content with an emphasis on reviews and editor experiments. She also produces social content for the PS TikTok and Instagram accounts.
