CHANEL: Spring 2012 ‘Horizon Soft Glow Blush’ (swatches, review & comparison)

When the CHANEL Spring 2012 Collection arrived at my nearest counter, I was there; from the earliest promotional photos, I immediately knew that several items would be coming home with me – ‘Horizon Soft Glow Blush’, without doubt, the crowning piece of this über-fresh collection, was the first piece I snagged. As luck would have it, I also benefitted from a $10.00 rebate (courtesy of The Bay), which makes this beauty that much sweeter!

Looking at ‘Horizon’ brings me back to this view: one of Key West’s famous sunsets

the outer box bears a colour image of the product – uncommon for CHANEL

love the clear markings

both the compact and the included brush come in individual velour sleeves

the iconic compact and the very useable brush

the brush comes in a wide easy to use size

‘Blush Horizon’ is a stunning multi-tonal cheek powder … and a complete surprise to me! Being of medium toned skin, I tend to shy away from pink hued blushes as they have historically clashed with my colouring, but I’m very pleased I took a chance with this product. The powder stays true to CHANEL quality by being exceptionally finely milled, and while several of the individual shades are much too narrow to be applied singly, they all work to compliment each other when swirled together. There was absolutely no powdery residue and applied over foundation primed skin, the colour lasted easily eight hours before any slight fading. The best part, is the subtle & refined “glow” this blush adds, seeming to get even better the longer I wore it. NOTE: Even though I have several blush brushes that I prefer using, it must be stated that the brush included here is actually quite well sized and helps distribute the powder quite well.

The following swatches are all on foundation primed skin, with the colours applied singly on the left and swirled together on the right:

in direct sunlight

seen indoors

with flash

I love the glowing flush ‘Horizon’ imparts

When the colours of ‘Blush Horizon’ were swirled together, I thought that they closely resembled NARS’ cult favourite ‘Orgasm’ blush (previously reviewed here), and while there’s definitely a similarity in the texture and shimmery output, ‘Orgasm’ leans visibly more to the peach/coral side, with the shimmer being somewhat more densely packed than that of ‘Horizon’, which is tempered by its warm pink undertones.

The following swatches are on foundation primed skin, with ‘Horizon’ on the left and ‘Orgasm’ on the right:

in direct sunlight

seen indoors

with flash

Final thoughts: This is an absolutely beautiful blush, both in terms of application as well as visually. The variation of tones gives it an excellent versatility, able to cross over into basically every skin tone with ease; keeping to the pink-er shades will ensure a more delicate flush, while straying more to the darker peachier tones of this blush will add a warmer touch. Even though this is rather steeply priced (CAD $76.00), it is quite generous in size and more importantly, the stunning glow it imparts makes it worth every penny. One of the limited edition products of CHANEL’s spring 2012 collection, you’d best pick one up now – before the sun sets on this “horizon” (cheesy, but I couldn’t help myself!).