Salma Hayek Nuance Flawless Mineral Cheek Trio

For the most part, I've stopped browsing the beauty section of my local CVS. Ever since they abolished the beauty manager position, it has been disorganized, and there are few displays of new products. Despite the unappealing nature of the offerings, Salma Hayek's newest display caught my eye as I breezed past to pick up my prescriptions. Pretty colors will grab me any day.

I'm sure I don't have to tell beauty-savvy gals that Salma Hayek has a relatively new beauty line. I had resisted until the four shade families of her Nuance Flawless Mineral Cheek Trio ($10.39 on sale at CVS online - look for in-store coupons) stopped me in my tracks. Pink, Apricot, Mauve, and Spice all looked lovely.

Having no experience with the Nuance line, I selected Pink. Mauve also looked like it would work with my coloring. Apricot and Spice looked too dark or too warm. The color names describe the blush shade, which is accompanied by a contour/bronzing shade and a highlighter. Even though there are no testers available in-store, you can see through the clear plastic top to get a good sense of the colors.

I swatched Pink with a sponge-tipped applicator, starting at the top of my arm with the shimmering highlighter, moving clockwise to the pink blush, and then swatching the contour shade. Then I used a dense blush brush to pick up all three shades, blended, and swatched below the individual shades. I took my photos in full sun.

The colors are very sheer. Those are heavy applications on my arm. That means you can build the color to suit your tastes. The highlighter is a slightly pink-tinted ivory with an overspray. Once the overspray is removed, the sparkles depart, leaving behind a beautifully shimmering shade. The pink is a warm pink - perfect for most pink lovers - with a satin finish.

The contour shade is a golden brown without noticeable shimmer. It's not my favorite contouring brown, but it would do in a pinch.  You can probably see in the blended swatch at the bottom of my arm that the brown dominates the blend, yielding a golden light peach result that makes the pink all but disappear.

Because of the size of the color wedges in the trio, you will need to use the right brush - a smaller one for the blush - to select only one shade. While the overall compact is relatively large, divided into three, it constrains a "sweep with abandon" approach.

All in all, I'm pleased with the Mineral Cheek Trio. I think it's a great value and I'd recommend it to anyone shopping for an inexpensive three-in-one face powder for summer. Now, I think I'm going to stay out of the beauty aisle. I don't really want to be snared again with all of the colors I've already purchased or reserved for summer.

Photo at top courtesy of CVS; other photos by Best Things in Beauty