You Beauty!

Blushes are charming because they signal that you’ve been caught out having a feeling that you may not be prepared to articulate. Let’s take attraction as a for instance: ‘I am surprised by this sudden urge to nibble you,’ isn’t something most women will say on a first encounter, but that subtle change in the palette of a cheek says it for them without risk of humiliation. A sharp rush of shyness is another time when confidence will be betrayed by a rush of blood that sweetly says, ‘My heart is pounding and I’m not sure what to do next.’

Blushing — unlike flushing, which can indicate guilt, shame or heat — is about vulnerability, the kind that doesn’t beg for sympathy but does, on some subliminal level, suggest an openness to protection. It’s a bit cavewoman and surrendered but, biologically, I’m afraid there is something in it.

Smashbox O-Glow is a clear gel with a silicone-y, highly blendable texture that delivers, on contact with the skin, a heart-breakingly authentic flash of femininity. This is a Sunday morning blush, a Friday night at the pub blush, a low-maintenance ‘Here I am’ transmission.

Because sometimes you need the kind of blusher that reads as though your capillaries have brewed it themselves. The kind that isn’t about being hibiscus-y or fudge-y, that doesn’t trouble itself with contouring or light reflecting, the kind that makes you look as though you are feeling… something.

Smashbox O-Glow Intuitive Cheek Colour, £21 (smashbox.co.uk)