Demi Moore and Elle Fanning at the 2026 CFDA Awards: blush swept up towards the temples and "ski cheeks" instead of a heavy flush

At the 45th CFDA Fashion Awards at the American Museum of Natural History - with Hailey Bieber, Lili Reinhart, Zoë Kravitz, Elle Fanning and Demi Moore in attendance and Keke Palmer hosting - the most talked-about thing was a small detail: blush. Not the heavy flush of past seasons, but blush that looks like you've just come back from a walk in the cold.

Demi Moore, 63, in a denim dress by Zac Posen for GapStudio, swept her pink blush upwards - from the apples of her cheeks towards her temples. That one move makes the face look lifted without a single needle. Make-up artist Raquel Linde, marketing manager at You Are The Princess, says the "blush no blush" approach has become one of the viral trends for those after an ever more natural look. She recommends soft pinks, peaches and shades that mimic everyone's natural flush.

The second trend is "ski cheeks": colour across the bridge of the nose too, to emphasise the centre of the face. Elle Fanning, in a dusty pink Coach dress and a long fur coat, used glossy, almost watery formulas, and after the blush drew freckles on her nose. Lola Tung of The Summer I Turned Pretty, also in Coach, chose a dewy-finish blush for "full" cheekbones.

Make-up artist David Deibis, official make-up artist for Perricone MD, explains that the shade depends on the skin tone: a baked beige suits lighter skin, more intense caramel tones suit darker skin. The colour has to melt into the skin, otherwise it looks like a brown smudge. The technique is simple: a very small amount, blended from the centre of the cheek towards the temple. Hailey Bieber, meanwhile, went monochrome - one pink shade on both lips and cheeks, saving the browns and golds for her eyes.

Prices range from 2.99 euros for Met's Pop Blush in Sugar Kiss to 45 euros for Prada Touch. The industry will tell you that you need the second one. The red carpet actually showed that the trick isn't the brand but the direction of the brush: upwards, towards the temple.