By Nars Blush in Orgasm Review
I have to be honest. I wasn’t always a Nars Orgasm devotee. I’d heard of it, sure — like you hear about MAC Ruby Woo and Essie nail polish in Ballet Slippers. But I hadn’t tried it. I was pretty sure all blushes made your cheeks look rosy and that was that. But a couple of years ago, the little black compact landed on my desk (as beauty products do when you’re a beauty editor) and I figured I’d give it a go. And this skeptic turned into a believer. If not an outright proselyte.
It’s the color of your face after you have the most perfect sex on the most perfect beach. Well, in a perfect world. The peachy-pink blush, with its tiny gold flecks, has made us look that good — for the market price of $30 U.S. dollars — since it launched in 1999. Since then, it’s spawned many more iterations: a lip gloss in 2005, a multi-purpose stick in 2007, a Super Orgasm blush-shade (heavier on the gold glimmer) in 2008, an illuminator in 2010, and a supersized version in 2016 that clocked in at .28 ounces, nearly double the weight of the .16-ounce original. And it has inspired almost as many dupes.
But no matter how many blushes continue to land on my desk, I still gravitate toward this one. And I’m not alone. You, our savvy Allure readers, have voted it your favorite blush 16 times over. Kim Kardashian wears it. The Duchess of Sussex wears it. Supermodels wear it. Real Housewives of Beverly Hills wear it. And for good reason.Â
“Aside from the notorious name, this blush looks good on practically everybody,” makeup artist François Nars told Allure in 2009. And it might be as much for its weightless texture as its ultra-flattering pigment. “I almost never reach for another blush,” one of our Readers’ Choice respondents wrote. “Their formula sinks right into my skin and doesn’t have that chalky look most blushes have. Orgasm works for me whether I’m winter pale or summer tan. LOVE it!” I couldn’t have said it better myself.
AWARDS: Best of Beauty 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, and 2004; Best of Beauty Hall of Fame 2016 and 2011; Readers’ Choice 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, and 2002