Raise your hand if you’re also addicted to the Rare Beauty Soft Pinch Liquid Blush. This viral TikTok sensation has made its way into every makeup lover’s collection. It’s weightless, easy to blend, and super pigmented. Plus, it comes an array of gorgeous shades.
Ever since I bought the shade Bliss, a soft nude pink, it’s become a holy grail. The formula is divine.
The A’PIEU Juicy-Pang Water Blusher in #PK03 Guava is supposed to be a dupe for the Rare Beauty blush in Bliss. And at nearly 3 times cheaper than Rare Beauty, the Korean blush dupe is definitely worth considering.
But is the A’PIEU Juicy-Pang Water Blusher a worthy dupe for the iconic Rare Beauty Soft Pinch Liquid Blush? This honest comparison post puts these blushes head to head, with a look at the packaging, ingredients, texture, pigmentation, swatches, and lasting power, to see which blush comes out on top.
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About the Rare Beauty Soft Pinch Liquid Blush in Bliss
The Rare Beauty Soft Pinch Liquid Blush is weightless and long-wearing with a second skin finish. There are both matte and dewy finishes available, which all look natural and give the skin a pop of colour. The blush is buildable, blends seamlessly, and is very pigmented. It works well over cream, liquid, and powder products, so it won’t disturb any base products.
The shade Bliss is a warm-toned nude pink blush. It’s soft and flattering.
About the A’PIEU Juicy-Pang Water Blusher in #PK03 Guava
The A’PIEU Juicy-Pang Water Blusher is a soft watery blush that’s easy to blend into the skin. It offers a dewy finish and a natural flush of colour. This buildable blush starts off quite sheer but can be layered seamlessly for more vibrancy.
The shade #PK03 Guava is a soft nude pink blush. It has a slightly cool tone and is very wearable.
The comparison
Price
A’PIEU is the more budget-friendly option. It costs £8.16 for 9g. Rare Beauty is almost 3 times as much, costing £22 for 7.5ml.
Packaging
The packaging of these 2 blushes is quite different. While both are plastic, Rare Beauty is weightier and bigger. A’PIEU is very light and small; it almost looks like a nail varnish bottle.
Rare Beauty has a very distinct gold lid with a ball shape at the top. This is designed for people who struggle to grip lids and make it easier for them to open the blush. Apparently, this design came about as Selena Gomez, Rare Beauty’s founder, has lupus and sometimes finds it difficult to open certain products. This is such a thoughtful consideration, and the lid is definitely very easy to grip. Rare Beauty’s blush also comes with a large doe foot applicator to easily dot the product directly onto your cheeks.
A’PIEU has a long white lid and a small brush as opposed to a doe foot applicator. This makes it easy to pick up the liquid blush and place it onto your cheeks.
Ingredients
Looking at the INCI lists, A’PIEU’s is longer. They share several of the same ingredients, including glow-giving mica, skin-softening trimethylsiloxysilicate, and moisture-binding 1,2-Hexanediol.
Rare Beauty features the emollients hydrogenated polyisobutene, sunflower seed oil, and hydrogenated poly (C6-14 Olefin). It incorporates fragrant and potentially sensitising gardenia florida extract, antioxidant lotus flower extract, and refreshing nymphaea odorata root extract.
A’PIEU is enriched with the humectant butylene glycol, the emollients cetyl ethylhexanoate and dimethicone, hydrating glycerin, and many other ingredients. However, it contains denatured alcohol, which, while it can help enhance the penetration of other ingredients into the skin, can be sensitising.
Texture
These 2 blushes have different textures.
Rare Beauty isn’t a runny liquid and has a very airy consistency. It genuinely feels weightless. It blends out seamlessly without going patchy. Plus, it can be layered without going cakey or disturbing other makeup products.
A’PIEU has a runnier consistency and feels hydrating. But it’s not going to drip down your face on application, so you’ve got time to buff it in. While it feels very light on the skin, it’s not as airy as Rare Beauty. This blush blends out and can be built up seamlessly. You won’t experience any patchiness or a cakey look with this blush either.
Pigmentation
Rare Beauty Soft Pinch Liquid Blush is undoubtedly the more pigmented blush. Like it’s seriously pigmented. 1 dot is enough to cover both cheeks. You can easily overdo it with this blush, so always go in with a small amount first and add more if you need to. The beauty of a liquid blush is that it’s easy to clean up if you do apply too much product, as you can soften the pigmentation by buffing it out lightly with foundation or concealer.
A’PIEU Juicy-Pang Water Blusher is fairly pigmented but takes a few layers to achieve the same colour payoff as Rare Beauty. However, the dupe is more beginner friendly, as it’s difficult to overdo it with application. It also offers a more natural look with a soft flush of colour.
Shade range
These blushes offer quite a similar shade range.
Rare Beauty just wins on shade range, with 13 shades available offering both matte and dewy finishes. Expect muted peach, cool pink, rosy mauve, true red, deep berry, and terracotta.
A’PIEU still offers a broad shade range, with 12 colours to pick from. Think natural taupe, bright coral, neutral pink, soft raspberry, vivid cherry, and cool lilac.
Swatches
To show you what these blushes look like next to one another, I swatched them. These were done on my bare arm without primer.
On the bottom: A’PIEU Juicy-Pang Water Blusher in #PK03 Guava
Rare Beauty, on top, is slightly warmer than A’PIEU. But both are soft nude pink shades that offer very similar depth. While the shades aren’t identical, they’re definitely similar.
I will say that it took me multiple dips into A’PIEU to achieve the same colour payoff as Rare Beauty. That Rare Beauty swatch was just 1 dip into the blush. It’s so pigmented!
On the cheeks
And now for the real test: what do these blushes look like side by side on the cheeks? I kept the rest of my makeup the same and simply applied 1 blush on 1 side of my face and the other blush on the other side.
On the left-hand side of my face: A’PIEU Juicy-Pang Water Blusher in #PK03 Guava
On the right-hand side of my face, Rare Beauty is a bit warmer, has a soft matte finish, and looks more vivid. On the left-hand side of my face, A’PIEU is softer, dewier, and a bit cooler. But these shades look so similar on my cheeks. Unless you were inspecting my cheeks with a microscope, you wouldn’t be able to tell a difference between the 2!
Again, it took several layers of A’PIEU to get this level of pigmentation, whereas Rare Beauty was just half a dot. But A’PIEU layers beautifully, so it was no trouble at all.
Longevity
Both blushes lasted well for a solid 8 hours. Rare Beauty remained unchanged and looked like I’d just applied it. A’PIEU had faded a bit after 8 hours but was still visible and didn’t go patchy at all.
Honest thoughts on the Rare Beauty blush dupe
I think the A’PIEU Juicy-Pang Water Blusher in #PK03 Guava is a great dupe for the Rare Beauty Soft Pinch Liquid Blush in Bliss. While there are some differences between the blushes, on the cheeks, they almost look identical.
A’PIEU has a gorgeous dewy finish, offers a slightly cooler nude pink tone, and buffs into the skin effortlessly. It’s not quite as pigmented as Rare Beauty but is certainly easier to work with. It’s very hydrating, easy to layer, and super wearable. And at £8.16, it’s an absolute steal.
If you want the Rare Beauty blush effect without spending £22, the A’PIEU Juicy-Pang Water Blusher is a sure win. I’ve fallen in love with it!
Use my code CONFIDENCE10 for up to 5% off YesStyle. For new customers, use the code YESSTYLE for 10% off with a minimum £28.70 ($35 USD) purchase. Shop the Rare Beauty blush dupe here.
Sarah Sarsby is the owner of A Woman's Confidence. With over 5 years' experience of writing in the fields of beauty and lifestyle, Sarah is passionate about all things content, makeup, skincare, wellness, and lifestyle. She has oily skin, is obsessed with lip gloss, and loves cookie dough.
This is a great dupe! I’d buy either one – I hear great things about Rare Beauty, but I love a more liquid blush that’s easy to layer and work with. The colour of both of these is stunning.
A beautiful, natural colour that would compliment any eye/lip look. Both are great colours, I have been using the dupe Apieu and would agree with your comments.It builds beautifully and gives a fresh, dewy glow. I would buy the dupe again .