The thoroughly lovely Annabella from SkinScrubs kindly picked this up for me from her local T.K. Maxx, I’ve been wanting it for quite a while and was really pleased when I finally got to lay my grubby hands on it!
The packaging is kinda cute… I guess… I dunno, I think I’d prefer a scantily-clad fella on it. Actually, I don’t really give a shit if I’m honest. The cardboard housing it comes in is thankfully solidly-constructed and has already survived a clumsy drop.
It looks scarily orange in the pan… a pink/bronzed orange. My kinda nightmare. Thank heavens for blogs and swatches that have shown me not to fear the Hot Mama!
Texture-wise, this blush is quite beautiful. It’s silky, smooth and doesn’t create masses of dust when I pass my brush over the surface though it is quite soft and easy to nick with a fingernail. It’s shimmery without being glittery unlike it’s famous dupe counterpart; NARS Orgasm which has a fine textured amount of glitter running through colour. The shimmer in The Balm’s Hot Mama! may be a little too much for those of you with particularly large pores though, definitely something that needs considering.
The Balm’s Hot Mama! wears a little pinker than NARS Orgasm on my skintone but the simillarities are plain to see. The swatch above shows one swipe from Hot Mama… the NARS Orgasm swatch took a few goes to build up to that intensity.
I love both… they’re sheer but incredibly buildable and probably some of the easiest to wear blushes I own. I can pair these with any look and it just gives me a flush of colour that brightens up my NW15 skin.
I would say that I get an extra hour or two wear from the NARS and the cardboard sleeve surrounding Hot Mama! is a bit finickity to remove and replace everytime I want to use it… but it does have such a delightfully blendable texture.
You get just over 7g of product from The Balm, compared to 4.5g from NARS and unless you can spot one in your local T.K. Maxx, Hot Mama! will set you back around £15 in the UK.
Are you a shimmer, glitter or matte girl when it comes to blush?
I recently got this in TK Maxx as well – its a little bit clowney on me but I usually just go with it!! I threw away the sleeve – you don’t need it!
I typed up a review of this just yesterday- still to take some snaps though I got mine in tk for £3 and love it, it is right up my street! I think I definately over do it on the application because I enjoy it so much….. oh dear.
Glad you got one to try out.
Bx
Wow can you get this for £3 in TK Maxx? I’ve been eyeing up some TheBalm products but they were too expensive without testing the quality – I’ll have to get hunting now!
Mine was marked up at £5.99 xx
i love the packaging very pin up girl and the color looks quite dark i dont know if i would use it, maybe in small amounts cause the shade is nice 🙂
It looks very pretty, I do love a nice peachy pink blush. I like a fairly matt blush personally, as I have large pores on my cheeks- they just don’t look as appealing in the pan as shimmery ones though!
This looks lovely, more weareable to my eye than the Nars maybe, certainly for me. I tend to stick with a cream blush rather than powder but I sometimes wonder if I am not missing some lovely things in my refusal to add powder to my face. I don’t think there is a law that states no powder blush over 40, is there?!
My comment is about the graphics on the front of this product: Has the maker of this product ever seen a naked woman or even one in a bikini? 😉
This looks so lovely! My friend has it and I think I’ll get myself this one too 😀
such a pretty blush…I’ve just done a review of their Make-Up Break-Up eye make up remover & its amazing! Glad to see their cosmetics are delivering too 🙂
Yay! So glad you like it, it was loads of fun going on an Indiana Jones style makeup mission for you! x
So pretty, love these velvety/glowy type of blushes, glittery ones are nice too… if you’re under 25 and clubbing…
I’ve been curious about this; I kind of like the packaging though it would be nice if it was a fella. Thanks for the swatch!
TheBalm is a brand I discovered in 2010 and I think they’re fabulous. Their concealer is AMAZING!
this is one of my all-time favorite blushes! i must say that i also just discovered cover girl’s silk rose (another dupe for orgasm that i think i discovered on your blog!) and i may never go back to nars 🙂
very pretty … i think i would go for the balm, being that i would save quite a few bucks! thanks for sharing! 🙂
So pretty! Gosh you’re super lucky to grab it at a discounted price!
This is my go-to blush. It’s super flattering – even on my Indian skin tone. Love it!
I honestly think the TK Maxx in my area is crap compared to others, can never find anything ;(
what a pretty blush!
I like my blushes matte, matte and taupe to be exact 🙂 hhaha I like the name of this blush xD
i just picked this up for a tenner in the harvey nicols sale which isn’t quite as awesome as the tk maxx discount price but seeing as it would cost me £3 to get to one with no guanantee of finding anything(damn edinburgh city centre) i’m pretty damn pleased and its sooooo purdyy 😀
I also have this blush i think is gorgeus and was cheap in tkmax. I don’t have the nars one but loking at the picture it seem very similar to the nars.
hi, i am living in abu dhabi , i am using hot mama, but i couldn’t find it at all for the main time, please can anyone help me to find it here, please it is urgent for me
thanks
[…] few weeks before Christmas I went on mission for über beauty blogger Charlotte aka Lipglossiping for The Balm ‘Hot Mama’ blusher. I mentioned that I saw some at my TK Maxx here in […]