Missha - Shimmering Oven Blusher

Color:  No. 11 Shimmer Blossom

Price: 17800won ($17) But it was on sale for $8!!

The author of the Lotus Palace Blog seems to adore baked shadows and blushes.  Since she is so often right about  these things I’ve been itching to try some myself. But since Oven baked products are usually twice as expensive as regular blushes and eyeshadows, and since I rarely use blush…. I haven’t been buying.

But then of course, Missha was having a sale, and their beautiful Shimmering Oven Blusher was 50% off!!!
I couldn’t possibly resist.

The packaging is beautiful. The blush comes in a surprisingly large shiny purple compact. The top is decorated with raised circular bumps and a clear crystal in the center. Pretty, but not frilly.
I am perplexed by the physical size of it. It’s nearly an inch and a half thick, and the blush is less than half that size. It’s nearly double the width of other baked blushers….
Weird.

As soon as you open the compact, the scent of the product wafts up. It’s far more scented than most powders I’ve used here in Korea. Which is saying something because Korean products generally do have some scent.
That being said the scent is not unpleasant, a very fresh rose scent (different than they cloying rose scent commonly thought of in North America).
And when wearing the product the scent is not noticeable.

Inside the compact is the rounded brush you get in just about every blush of this style.The brush is of surprisingly cheap quality, and too rough for me.

Below the brush is a cheap, throw away plastic separator. Keeping the brush from the product.
This is bizarre for a Korean blush, since generally compacts come with a solid plastic shelf to keep the brush on.  A flimsy throw away one is not what I’d expect from a nice brand like Missha.

The product itself is 4 colors, dark pink, very light pink, yellow tan and white.
There is some sparkle evident , but it appears to be minimal and finely milled.

When swatched, the product is not a blush at all!!!!!!
*sigh* it’s a highlighter.  I thought it was a blush. So in that respect I’m disappointed.
As a highlighter, it’s super pale, and very very low impact. It takes a lot of the product to show up at all.
Like it takes 3 or four heavy swipes to even create a super subtle effect.
If I drag my finger along the top, I can barely tell there is product there!!!

Can you see the swatch in this image? No? It's not the photo believe me.

3 photos, in decent lighting, but nothing. In real life, it looks the same. And all the pictures had like 4 or 5 heavy heavy layers.

Once it’s applied heavily enough to be visible, the product is let down by  the density of sparkles…
They are very finely milled, and for sparkles they are quite subtle, but by the time there is enough product on the face to be visible, you end up with a good layer of sparkle.

As it is, this is more like a baked body sparkle dust than a highlighter or a blush.
It’s quite disappointing.

Conclusion : Even on sale this was not worth it! It’s going to sit in my make up collection, un-used, collecting dust.