Giving Estee a Chance...

Estee Lauder is one of those brands that I really did not think about for a long while. It seemed to have a certain dated quality. The colors and textures didn't seem exciting or innovative. And then a couple of years ago, Tom Pecheux came on as creative director and suddenly, Estee Lauder had interesting finishes! Scaly gelee powders! Orange-red blush!

I had to try the new, Tom-ified Estee. 

I went to the counter intending to get a fuchsia blush or Arctic Sky (which never did turn up... moment of silence) but ended up drawn to an ombre light pinky-coral blush with a satin finish: Witty Peach. I guess you can  lead a horse to trendy bright colors, but you can't make her step away from the blush she's always going to buy anyway.

 

It looks like this. 

You can see a bit of powder dust here. Sadly, it's not one of my favorite textures. It's a bit comparable to other drier blush formulas with satin finishes like Sleek, NARS, and Shiseido, though I prefer it to NARS. (It's not as smooth as Shiseido and Sleek has a much better color payoff.)

Nonetheless, it has managed to survive many a purge since I got it last year because I am a sucker for how it looks. It's the perfect satiny, sheer but buildable coral. I have trouble with peach and/or anything too yellow, but this is practically perfect.

And a couple of swatches to show texture and color, respectively, a bit better.

Hello, armhairs! In case you ever doubted my Eastern European hirsute heritage...

The satin finish looks really nice and subdued on my cheeks. You can see how much better it looks swatched than the Physicians Formula or even the Lunasol, which I do like on my face...

I have a type.