Does It Live Up To The Hype? Clinique Ginger Pop (01) Cheek Pop Blush Review, Photos, Swatches

The Clinique cheek Pop blush is my first foray into the world of high end makeup. I bought it because of the beautiful gerber-daisy embossing on the pan & all of the hype around its one-of-a-kind formula. Beauty bloggers & vloggers had given it glowing reviews & it was touted to be a game changer in the world of blushes.

Clinique Claims :
Vibrant yet natural-looking cheek colour that looks virtually powderless. In a silky smooth, stay-true formula with shades for every skin tone. That just-pinched look, simply effortless

How to Use
- Swirl colour onto brush and sweep over apples of cheeks.
- Gently blend colour up towards cheekbones and temple.
- Reapply to build to desired brightness

All Shades : 
There are 10 shades in the Clinique Cheek Pop blushes that are categorized into 4 color families 
- Tawny/Corals : Melon Pop, Fig Pop, Peach Pop, Cola Pop
- Nudes : Nude Pop, Ginger Pop
- Pinks : Pink Pop, Rosy Pop, Berry Pop
- Plums : Plum Pop, Heather Pop,  Pansy Pop
In India I have seen only Ginger Pop (01), Peach Pop (02), Berry Pop (03), Plum Pop (04)
See how the shades look on your skin here

Ingredients:

Incase you’re wondering if the embossed design wears away…YES it does! Obviously this is disappointing because it’s half the reason why I bought the blush, but I’m not going to buy a blush just to stare at its beauty without using it, so inspite of the design wearing off, I continue to use it. I only use it from one side though, the design on the other half is preserved ^_^ Btw, you can take a look at the testers at Clinique to confirm this as well. I love how the blushes are in a transparent acrylic packaging, so you can really admire their design, if you own multiple Cheek Pop blushes, you can easily locate the shade you want.

Ginger Pop is a peach color. Its not a ‘reddened coral’ at all but maybe its darker on fairer skintones. It has a satin finish with silver shimmer running through it. It falls in the 'nudes' family so it is safe to say that it is best suited for fair to medium skin tones. 

Now there are a lot of claims about these blushes made by other bloggers that’d I’d like to debunk -

-intense color pay off : definitely not true for Ginger Pop, since it falls in the nudes range, I’m not surprised. You need to build up the color to the desired intensity. In the first swipe it gives a very soft, barely visible color. I need 2-3 swipes for it to show up on my cheeks & look a blush. However, once you make a dent in the blush with continuous use, the pigment your brush picks up is more intense & 1-2 swipes are enough for each cheek.

-can never, ever overdo them : This is a stretch & contradicts the previous point(intense color payoff). You may not be able to overdo the really nude shades but brighter ones like plum, berry pop will obviously look OTT if you keep layering it. Even with Ginger Pop, if I keep layering it, my cheeks will definitely look overdone.

-long weartime : this is where Ginger Pop fails to shine, it has an abysmal weartime. It lasts on me for barely 3 hours sans primer and I stay indoors in AC all day !!! I have normal skin btw, I can’t imagine how much less the weartime will be on oily skinned beauties.

-always looks fresh and intense – this does not even make sense to me. If your blush is intense, you have gone overboard with it(hence contradicting point 2). Speaking of always looking fresh, Ginger Pop fades away soon, so unfortunately it doesn’t look “fresh” all day.

-Luminous sheen : Ginger Pop has obvious silver shimmer. Silver gels with Caucasian skin so it makes the skin look ‘glowy/luminous’. On wheatish (& olive) complexions such as mine, the silver shimmer stands out. None of the reviews of Ginger Pop mentioned this but you can look up the ‘1 star’ reviews of Clinique Cheek Pop Blushes on Sephora.com to confirm this point. On my cheeks the shimmer is sometimes obvious, sometimes it isn’t. If its too obvious, I go over it with translucent loose powder. I don't know how this shimmer will look over open pores as I do not have any visible ones on my cheeks. 

Here are the claims that actually stand true based on my experience -

-Blends like a dream : Ginger Pop is extremely easy to blend.

-Feels like a cream blush : you won’t be able to realize this until you swatch the blush. I took out a tiny bit of the blush while swatching it & it crumbled like powder but felt like cream.

-silky smooth formula : Ginger Pop is very smooth, again this is something you realize when you’re swatching it. I also love how it doesn’t kick up powder at all, unlike the Inglot blush I have.

-Buildable color : yes the color is buildable, I have already explained this.

-the color you see in the pan is what you get : this is true for Ginger Pop, the color in the pan translates exactly to my cheeks. Even the swatches show the same color.

Product vs Price :

Price : Rs. 2100 in India (~ $32) however it is $22 in USA (Rs. 1460). 

The reasons for the massive price increase could be many, our govt believes in burdening the relatively richer population by levying import duties and luxury taxes on such products. 

Qty : 3.5 g / 0.12 oz

Availability : Clinique Stores & Sephora. It is also listed on Flipkart, but I don't know if the product is authentic. 

Overall Verdict : 4/5

Clinique may not be entirely responsible for the hefty price tag of the Cheek Pop blushes in India, but I certainly don't feel inclined on spending more of my money on the Cheek Pop range UNLESS their formula is better than other blushes in the same price range (MAC, Nars etc.). Now, to answer the question: Does It Live Up To The Hype? Yes & No. I surely enjoy using Ginger Pop, especially everyday to office because of the ease of blendability & the color is perfect for everyday wear. However the low weartime & the obvious silver shimmer is a let down. I hope the other shades in this range don't have the same cons.