The Canmake Powder Cheeks* is a powder blush that is probably always in the shadow of Canmake favorite, the Cream Cheek. As a fan of the cream formula, I had high hopes for this product. Recipients of the November BDJ Box got a chance to try this, since it was included in that month’s box.

PW05 is a super pale peach shade with a smattering of very fine golden shimmer. You can see here that it is quite pale and borders on dangerously ashy territory on my recently tanned skin. Swiped on the cheeks, though, it’s quite nice.

Because of the shimmer, it lends a pretty, subtly warm sheen to the skin. It certainly isn’t the most pigmented blush on the market right now, but it’s something that’s easy to wear and pull off. The texture is silky and quite buttery, but it’s not a soft blush.

Compared to the Cream Cheek, it is definitely not as pigmented. Here I am wearing the Canmake Cream Cheek in CL01, which is one of their shimmer-free jelly-ish colors. It is a straight up strawberry red, but sheers out considerably well if you blend it out. The color is buildable, too.

I prefer the Cream Cheek, as far as blush formulas go. There are a lot of pretty decent/better blush formulas in powder form, but I haven’t really found a lot of affordable cream blushes. Here’s another photo of the Cream Cheek, for comparison.

If I was getting only one, I’d get the Cream Cheek. If I got this Powder Cheek blush in a subscription box, I’d be happy, though. It’s so agreeable and it actually plays rather nicely with other blushes. If you want a super subtle highlight or glow, you can use PW05 on top of a more pigmented blush, as a blush/highlight hybrid.

* PR Sample.