Clinique Cheek Pop Powder Blush in Plum Pop, Berry Pop, Ginger Pop, and Peach Pop

It's not often that I am interested in a make-up product that Clinique has to offer. I mean, aside from the Chubby Stick Intense, there hasn't been much that they've launched in recent years that has really impressed me, and they're not the first (or even Top 20) brand that comes to mind for colour cosmetics (at least, for me). But when they launched the Cheek Pops last month, rave reviews appeared all over the place, and my interest was piqued. Cheek Pops are described as "vibrant yet natural-looking cheek colour that looks virtually powderless. In a silky smooth, stay-true formula with shades for every skin tone." Let's be honest, the blush fiend in me doesn't need much persuasion to check out a new cheek product. So I headed over to my local Clinique counter and swatched these babies. And I was completely blown away. So much so that I needed to buy every single damn shade. The Cheek Pop Blushes are packaged in clear circular compacts with the Clinique logo on the lid. Each blush contains 3.5 grams of product, and retails for $24.
Clockwise (from bottom left): Plum Pop, Berry Pop, Ginger Pop, and Peach Pop
Swatches: Plum Pop, Berry Pop, Ginger Pop, and Peach Pop

Plum Pop is a medium cool-toned cotton candy pink with a soft satin sheen. This is a permanent shade. It has a lightweight, silky texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is darker and brighter than MAC Dame, more pink and less shimmery than MAC Gentle Mineralize Blush, less matte and more muted than NARS Angelika, cooler and less shimmery than Tarte Adored, and darker and less matte than Tarte Dollface.

Berry Pop is a medium-dark vibrant cool-toned fuchsia pink with a soft satin sheen. This is a permanent shade. It has a lightweight, silky texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is cooler and brighter than MAC Dollymix, darker and cooler than MAC Whole Lotta Love Pro Longwear Blush, warmer and more muted than MAC Rhubarb (PRO), darker and warmer than NARS Desire, and lighter and more muted than Tarte Flush. 

Ginger Pop is a medium burnt orange-coral with a soft satin sheen. This is a permanent shade. It has a lightweight, silky texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is lighter and more coral than MAC Pinch Me, brighter and less bronze than MAC Peachtwist, darker and more reddened than MAC Style, softer and slightly less orange than NARS Torrid, more orange than Dior 676 Coral Cruise, softer and more orange than Tarte Charisma, and more muted and less reddened than Tarte Frisky. 

Peach Pop is a medium pinked coral with a soft satin sheen. This is a permanent shade. It has a lightweight, silky texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is more pink than MAC Melba, lighter and more muted than MAC Fleur Power, more coral and less shimmery than NARS Orgasm, lighter and more pink than NARS Deep Throat, more pink and less shimmery than Tarte Glisten, and lighter and less coral than Illamasqua Sophie.

All four of these are spectacular — super-silky, ultra-smooth, highly pigmented, and easily blendable. The four shades they chose to launch are fun, bright, and cheerful, but still incredibly wearable and lovely across most skintones. You can build them up very easily to create bright pops of colour, but buff them out effortlessly to create soft washes of colour. They have a gorgeous satin finish with a subtle sheen that leaves skin looking perfectly luminescent without being shiny or shimmery. They don't emphasize skin texture, so they are great for all ages and skin types, too. That having been said, these feel and execute an awful lot like MAC's Extra Dimension Blushes, which were limited edition. They might actually be the exact same formula, which wouldn't surprise me given that they are both Estée Lauder companies (in fact, they are both baked products and made in Italy, so they may very well share the same factory). However, the four shades here aren't similar to any of the shades that MAC has released in the Extra Dimension formula, so they are still ultimately unique to Clinique. The quality is beautiful across the board, so while the shade choice is personal preference, you really can't go wrong with this formula. And blush fiends like me will want all of them.