MAC Cosmetics Powder Blush- Melba

I think this boils down to personal preference but it was just too pigmented for a face product. I know everyone looooooves super pigmented items, but I find them artificial, hard to control and usually patchy. Not something I loved for me, or my kit. Shame, because it’s a beautiful colour!

I love this blush on my nc20/25 (I am exactly in between them) skintone. It makes me look healthy and fresh. I like the fact it is a mix of rose and brown, it is so natural. I also like to use melba as an eyeshadow, oh! So versatile!

MAC blusher are my holy grail blisters amazing quality price and pigmented colours good range and choice of colours. For £19.50 here in the UK you get a good amount and I sometimes use the darker brown shades as a contour and bronzer. The really light pink and pearlised shades can be used as a highlighter you can't go wrong. Light enough to carry when travelling multi purpose love these! I have the Melba shade it's a lovely subtle peach tone looks good on my Asian olive skin tone and is great for a daytime flushed look.

I’m NC20 & this blush is the perf blush for looking glowy in the winter! It doesn’t have sparklies like NARS “O” which sparkles enlarge my pores. This is 1 of my go-to’s #winning

A very flattering peachy-pink blush for olive undertoned people. It does oxidize a bit, which is annoying. Papaya by City Colour is a good dupe for this shade.

Update: I've found that this oxidizes significantly more when you apply MAC Fix Plus. It becomes several shades darker :( disappointing. I wish it stayed the same shade as when you swatch it.

I’ve been wearing MAC Melba every day for the last two months - I am that obsessed with it. It is the perfect shade to add a natural flush to warm skin. I have NC15 skin and it looks like a natural as healthy glow on the skin - it doesn’t lean too orange and it isn’t too bright. It is very well pigmented though, so I recommend using a light hand. It is buildable and doesn’t look at all cakey or powdery. It has a matte finish, making it the perfect natural, everyday blush. It lasts well over a wide variety of liquid foundations (I have not yet tried it over a powder foundation). This is now one of my must-have MAC products, I doubt I will ever be without it! Fair and warm skinned makeup lovers should all give this baby a whirl!

UPDATE: April 2018: This has been the only blush I have used since I bought it. I would never give up my other blushes, but for right now, this is my no brainer blush. I dare say, if I had to pick a desert island blush at the moment...it would be Melba. Melba has taken me through that post holiday winter phase into full on spring and I can see it being easily ushered into summer. If you have not tried this, you should give it a fair shot. (nw20, deep winter)

UPDATE January 2018: Ok, so I did not stop thinking about this blush specifically because of a few reviews I read where the reviewer says something like "I get so many compliments when I wear this". I still stand by my original review, Prism was a better pairing for those deep wine, reds of the holiday season. However, I have found a new love for Melba. It does impart this "wow look at my skin" glow. And when done right, it is gorgeous even on my NW20 deep winter complexion that pulls orange out of everything! I paired Melba with the Fenty lipgloss, Expensive Pink on my eyes and Brown Script in the crease (both MAC) and I looked so fresh and glowy. I was floored. I was even wearing a very "winter" berry colored shirt and it just looked so peaches and cream. Melba compliments my Naked Heat palette really, really well too. All of these years I stayed away from some of these warmer tones, it turns out, I just need the RIGHT warmer tones (soft, not too extreme ones). You can teach an 43 year old dog new tricks ;) Melba, I am glad I kept obsessing over you. Bumping up to a full 5 lippies. I finally get the hype.

I have read a few people saying it is just too pigmented. I have to wonder what type of brush or how heavy handed they applied this. I have used too pigmented products that take a ton of work to do right and can make you clown like in a second. I would not put Melba in the too pigmented category at all. It is just right and remember, different brushes give different results. The brush I use for Melba, I would never use for my really pigmented blushes. Also, I have learned one of the reasons this was coming off more orange on me was that I didn't have the appropriate complimentary colors to go with it. I can't take all the deep fall looks I wore with NARS Sin and do the same thing with Melba and vice versa.

ORIGINAL REVIEW: The blush itself is great quality and one of those neutral MAC colors everyone should at least try as it is super popular and when it looks good, it looks gooooood. All that said, I am nw20 , deep winter with 3n hair and brow eyes, and a skintone that brings out orange in any color that has an iota of it in the shade. So while Melba was nice as a daily blush on me, it skewed a bit on the orange side (depending on the lippie and eyeshadow I was wearing). With warmer to neutral shades or soft plums, it looked great. I wanted a blush to work with my deep berry and red lipsticks. Melba did, but not as well as Prism on me (with the deep berry & red lippies).

This must be my favorite blush of all time. It doesn't really work on its own when I'm at my very palest, I'd need help from my bronzer...but other times, it's great. It's a warm, muted apricot color, really brings out the golden tones (that I didn't even know I had) in my skin. It looks especially beautiful when I start to get a natural tan, gives me sexy sunkissed cheeks. For reference, I'm NC15 - NC20 and up to NC 25 in summer, with neutral-warm undertones. I've tried similar hues of blush from MAC (peaches, gingerly, etc), but this one looks the least 'orange' and is more muted, more natural looking on my face. I also like that its matte, makes it more versatile I feel, and I can build it up or tone it down depending on the time of the day or year. Love it.

A soft gentle pop of coral/apricot on my NC25 skin. Great for those with slightly enlarged pores as the matte formula does not accentuate your pores. Can sometimes turn a little muddy looking due to oxidisation. Adheres/looks better on my Mac C1 Face and Body foundation, than on Studio Fix powder foundation in NC25.

I love this blush, and it seems mine isn't as bright as the photos. I don't have it with me right now, but I was thinking it was more dusty, and not as peachy as Cantaloupe? I like subtle cheek color, and this is nice.

I get the one with a compact and keep MAC Sculpt and a highlight with four blushes in the 6-holed Pro palette. Then, for my purse, I put the Sculpt and one blush in a Makeup Forever duo palette. The MAC powders fit the duo one almost perfectly.

I wish MAC would make an empty duo palette for highlight/sculpting powders and blushes, like the smaller eyeshadow duo ones.

NYX Mauve is a dupe. (I added a photo comparing them.)