I Try Rare Beauty's Soft Pinch Luminous Powder Blush (2025)

Main image – @Rarebeauty/TikTok

If you know me, you’ll know I’m a huge Rare Beauty fan. The Soft Pinch Liquid Blush, the Brow Harmony Precision Pencil, the Warm Wishes Effortless Bronzer – I could go on and on.

I would say that around 80% of my daily makeup routine consists of Rare Beauty so, let’s just say, if the brand were to ever disappear, I would be pretty devastated (*champions Selena Gomez in every comment section*).

I’ve tried lots of their products but one I’ve not been able to get my hands on yet is the Rare Beauty Soft Pinch Luminous Powder Blush (£26 from Space NK UK /$27 from Sephora US) – until now. It’s a hybrid of Rare Beauty’s Soft Pinch Liquid Blush and Positive Light Silky Touch Highlighter and has been designed to add highlight and colour in one product – clever. A bit like the Charlotte Tilbury Beauty Wand but in powder form.

My blusher preferences are usually of the cream variety as I don’t like to use many powders, despite having oily skin. I like the radiance a cream formula gives me, and I don’t like how powders immediately dumb down my glow. So, I prefer to use mattifying products elsewhere (moisturiser/base etc).

However, I’d seen on socials that the Rare Beauty Soft Pinch Luminous Powder Blush has such a gorgeous sheen to it that I knew it couldn’t possibly erase my glow. I felt like it would more like add to it…or maybe even, dare I say, overdo it?

So did the highlighter aspect of the blusher prove to be too much for my already shiny skin? Or would it be too good to be true and prove to be the perfect balance between giving me the powder my skin type needs whilst also keeping my glow?

Keep scrolling to read my honest review.

The product details

This cruelty free and vegan blush comes in six shades – ‘Happy’, ‘Love’, ‘Joy’, ‘Hope’, ‘Truth’ and ‘Cheer’.

@rarebeauty

Soft Pinch Luminous Powder Blush Roll Call ? Hope – Nude Mauve Cheer – Light Warm Pink Love – Terracotta Joy – Muted Peach Happy – Cool Pink Truth – Mauve Maroon Available now on the @sephora app & online @SPACE NK ? #rarebeauty #rarebeautyblush #newrarebeauty #softpinch #powderblush #rarebeautypowderblush #sephora #spacenk #rarebeautyreview

? Another disturbance in time – Infinity Frequencies

They’re designed to be transfer-proof and water-resistant and promise to be lightweight and highly pigmented (though not chalky).

I was lucky enough to have in my hands two shades – ‘Happy’ (a beautiful baby pink) and ‘Love’ (a reddish terracotta).

Devastatingly, ‘Happy’ arrived crushed and crumbled in its compact. This is a shade I would naturally try first over a reddish shade, so this was a huge blow for me. But just because it had broken, didn’t mean I couldn’t still use it. I just needed to treat it with kid gloves and try not to spill it all over my cream carpet.

There’s a little mirror in the compact too which is always a welcome addition to any packaging and one that I think every brand should do. To me, it’s a no brainer and extremely annoying when there isn’t one.

First impressions

I mean, this is Rare Beauty. Obviously it was love at first sight for me.

Broken ‘Happy’ shade aside, ‘Love’ was just how I imagined it would look when I opened the compact – glowy, smooth and beautiful. It has such a gorgeous gleam to it, especially for a powder. I couldn’t wait to dust it onto my cheeks.

Like I said, the shade ‘Love’ isn’t what I would usually go for but there is a hint of coral in there – which I love – so I kept the faith. And the upside of ‘Happy’ being broken meant that I didn’t mind dabbing my finger into it to feel how smooth it was. Unsurprisingly, it was velvety soft – as smooth as icing sugar (and perhaps an indication of why it had broken so easily).

It’s worth noting that the compact clicks firmly shut so I knew my broken powder would be safe inside and that there would be no leakages, but I decided to keep it on my dressing table, outside of my makeup bag, just in case. I don’t want to waste any of that baby.

My results

The first shade I actually tried on my skin was ‘Love’. Using a medium sized blusher brush, I swished it around the compact and blew it lightly before applying it directly to my first cheek.

WOAH! And… panic! Too much, too much, abort mission. It claims to be highly pigmented, but I was not prepared for just how much – Selena Gomez is no liar!

My cheek was a luminous reddish-coral and no amount of blending or swishing was making it any better. To be fair, the glow was incredible, but the pigment was far too much, especially for someone who is already tentative when it comes to blusher (I’m more of a bronzer kind of girl).

Right, so when they say highly pigmented, they really mean it. Lesson learnt. The next time, I did more tapping than swishing with my brush – even then it was quite a strong finish on my skin but that was nothing a bit of dabbing with my finger to dilute it couldn’t fix (although be careful here as this can make it go a little patchy).

Once I’d got the right amount of product though, I truly loved the highlighting element of this powder. It sits beautifully on the apples of my cheeks without looking greasy on my oily skin and it catches the light when I smile. ‘Love’ though was too much for my fair to medium skin tone and it was affecting my overall (ahem) love for the product. I knew I could do better.

So the next day I carefully opened ‘Happy’ and dabbed my brush into the wreckage.

After blowing my brush a bit more vigorously this time (I had zero control over how much ended up on it, let’s face it) I applied it to my cheeks… and fell in love. Now this was how I wanted to feel about this product. It gave my skin the most beautiful glow and this shade really suited my skin tone.

Overall, I love how, even though I wear a matte base and use a mattifying moisturiser, the blusher makes me look radiant in all the right places. There is no need to apply a highlighter, I have my glow covered, and the powder feels super lightweight, soft and silky.

I lightly apply it at the top of my cheekbones then apply more pressure with my brush as I move down to the apples of my cheeks – this way, I get the best of both highlighting and blusher worlds.

One negative point is that I wouldn’t say the powder looks brand new, say, six hours later – the effects do wear off slightly (not completely) and I do find myself reapplying it once a day.

I realise this goes against the brand’s whole ‘transfer-proof’ promise but I think if you’re like me and have a habit of resting your face in your hands while working during the day, for example, a powder is bound to wear off and I hate to admit that. (And if you can’t bear reapplying halfway through the day though, the colour of the Soft Pinch Liquid Blush, really lasts FYI.)

Despite it not clinging on as much as I’d want it to, giving my makeup a little touch up is no hardship for me (though I realise it would be a non-negotiable for some) and I absolutely love how luminous and awake it makes my skin look. Not just through the gleaming, pearly formula but with the pretty pink shade too.

Plus my skin looks smooth and accentuated in all the right places when I’m wearing it too.

What other users are saying

It seems that there is a real debate over whether the addition of highlighter in this blush powder either emphasises or flatters users’ imperfections and skin textures. Personally, I felt it flattered mine.

Despite my cheeks not being a huge area of concern for me, I do have enlarged pores and the powder didn’t make them look worse, it actually made my skin look smoother.

However, Reddit user nutella435 writes, “the luminous one is like a massive patch of glitter on my face which makes my skin texture look awful – and I have clear, unproblematic skin.” Whilst PflugerLuger8 says, “I wasn’t a fan of it either. I feel like my face just ate up the pigment and I was left with a light wash of glitter on my cheeks.”

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I can see why it might end up looking too radiant on the skin – a little goes a very long way with this product, but I wouldn’t describe it as glittery. I do massively hold back when dipping my brush into the compact as you only need only a very small amount to make a difference. Interestingly, it is the same with the Soft Pinch Liquid Blush – I use only half a dot on each cheek and it spreads thick and fast.

Some users recommend applying a mattifying product beforehand if they don’t like how their skin texture looks with the powder on its own. Andreia16 says, “it’s best to mattify the cheek first. Then take a little bit of the blush on a brush, pre-blend it on the back of your hand, then apply it in layers to build it up.” Whilst MrsFrizz18 writes, “I wear it over a matte liquid blush. Apply it with a big fluffy brush.”

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There are comments though about there not being enough deep shades to suit all skin tones too. Passionicedtee on Reddit says, “these are so cute but there are not enough deep shades.”

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And, very interestingly, it seems I’m not the only one who has experienced a powder breakage! Pointclickvibe writes on Reddit, “I didn’t have any issue until I took it on a trip in an overnight bag. A part of it crumbled.”

Overall value for money

Like I said, this powder blusher costs £26/$27, which is a big chunk of money for a small compact powder (that seems to break easily…). I would say, think about what you want to get from your blusher – if you like yours to add a beautiful glow, with strong pigment then this will tick that box. It doubles up as a highlighter too remember, so it’s two for the price of one.

Also, as I mentioned, a little goes a long way so it’s not like it will run out quickly (unless it breaks and you spill it everywhere – don’t do that). All being well though it actually won’t break, and you’ll be able to keep using it for months and months. Trust me, this stuff doesn’t go down quickly.

I would personally spend £26/$27 on it again but maybe that’s because I’m fan girling. After all, Rare Beauty already had me as a solid customer before, but I’m even more invested now I’ve tried this.

The takeaway

I’ve fallen in love with this blusher, despite it being a powder – something I wouldn’t usually use – and it not having the best longevity. I am willing to touch up my makeup halfway through the day just to get a top up of *that* glow and gorgeous pink hue. And it only needs a tap, not a swish so it won’t run out quickly.

Remember, ‘highly pigmented’ is very accurate in this case so if you’re going for a deeper shade like ‘Love’ then proceed with caution. £26/$27 isn’t to be taken lightly but in my view, Selena Gomez has got me hook, line and sinker (yet again).