SINGAPORE - Picking a blusher used to be the simplest thing; the shades were limited to varying hues of pink.

Now, blushers come in orange, brown and even purple.

The first thing to do when picking a blusher is to get your foundation colour right (foundation evens out your skin tone so that the blusher looks more obvious too).

Then choose a blusher based on how well it complements your base make-up.

If you are fair, most blushers would look good on you. Choose pink for a youthful glow, coral for a sunkissed look or lilac to brighten skin.

Laneige's new Pure Radiant Blushers (photos 1 and 2, $38 each) come in shades of pink, coral and a pale lilac.

Bright coral and orange blushers with flecks of gold look great on tanned complexions.

My favourite coral-pink gold-speckled blushers at the moment are the iconic Nars' Orgasm Blush (photo 3, $50) and Yves Saint Laurent Beaute's new limited-edition Rosy Blush palette (photo 4, $70).

On darker complexions, orange and deeper reddish-brown blushers look beautiful.

Chanel's new Le Blush Creme in Chamade (photo 6), a rosy red, and Intonation (photo 7, $57 each), an intense coral pink, would be perfect on chocolate-coloured skin.

For more natural-looking blush, look for palettes that come with multiple complementary hues that you can blend for a custom shade. The different colours can also be used to highlight and contour the face respectively.

Brands that offer such blush palettes include Yves Saint Laurent Beaute and Givenchy.

My current favourite is Givenchy's limited-edition Le Prisme Blush in Vintage Pink no. 22 (photo 5, $69). It comes with four blocks of powders in peach, light pink, baby pink and berry. I swirl the colours together before applying them. I also use the two pink blocks as a highlighter, and the berry and peach as a contouring powder.

Another option would be Anna Sui's new limited-edition Rose Cheek Colour ($49), which comes embossed with pearlescent roses in four different shades. It is available in the pink-based Princess Rose in 302 (photo 8) and the coral-based Magical Rose in 601 (photo 9).

To ensure that you do not put on too much blusher, always apply it in front of a well-lit mirror, and start with a little bit of colour before gradually building it into a subtle flush.

Invest in a good blusher brush; it will help you to apply the colour more evenly and with less effort. In my opinion, the best blusher brushes are by Bobbi Brown and Nars.

Get a copy of Urban, The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.