Earlier this summer, Glossier finally released Wisp, the lilac Cloud Paint for which fans had been clamoring for so many years. (Wisp and the other new Cloud Paint, Soar, are supposedly limited edition for this summer, but I have a feeling that means “limited edition unless they sell well.”) A purple-blush fiend since my early days of beauty blogging, I resolved to buy Wisp at the first opportunity, which turned out to be two weeks ago at the Glossier Philadelphia store.

Glossier designed Wisp as “a soft lilac,” and they took the “soft” part seriously. Most purple blushes I’ve tried are on the bright magenta side, but Wisp is a muted heather shade that still manages to remain in the purple category. I might even call it a true mauve; it’s certainly closer to mauve than most makeup shades with “mauve” in their names. It’s also my least pigmented Cloud Paint; I find that I need two coats if I want it to make much impact on my face, and I’m pretty pale (probably a G12 in Glossier complexion products, though I’m a little darker now that it’s summer). Below, you can see one swipe swatched directly on my arm, then blended out, though the color payoff here is misleading—my inner arm is obviously paler and less textured than my face.

My first order of business was to compare Wisp to my other purplish Cloud Paints: Eve, Storm, and Haze.

Swatches, L-R: Storm, Eve, Wisp, Haze. I’ve seen some speculation online that Wisp is merely a lighter Haze, but I don’t think that’s true: Wisp has a dusty quality absent from the redder, punchier Haze. In seasonal-coloring terms, I’d describe Haze as a “winter” color and Wisp as a “summer” one. Because of my own high-contrast winter coloring, I find Haze more flattering than Wisp (it’s probably my most-worn Cloud Paint).

My current collection of purple and purplish blushes, clockwise from left: Bbia Downy Lavender, ColourPop Night Bloom, About-Face Score, Wisp, and Haze.

L-R: Haze, Score, Wisp, Night Bloom, Downy Lavender. Wisp is clearly the most muted of the three, as well as the sheerest.

Like most of the other Cloud Paints I’ve tried, Wisp has unimpressive longevity, especially in the summer (to be fair, my face and head are very prone to sweating). If I’m walking around outside, Wisp vanishes in just a few hours, leaving a barely perceptible stain. And it’s so hard to take a photo in which the blush is visible on my face! I’ve tried different angles, different times of day, artificial light, natural light, close to the window, far from the window, you name it. In the images below, I’m wearing three coats of Wisp instead of my usual two, which was the only way I could get it to reliably show up on camera, and it was dicey even then. I don’t see much evidence of blush in this head-on shot, though it was more apparent in person.

Probably too close for comfort:

In less direct light (pardon the MySpace angle; we did twenty takes and that was the best one).

In these photos, I’m also wearing Glossier No. 1 Pencil in Muse, Glossier Haloscope in Moonstone, and Etude House Dear Darling Tint in Red Bean Red, which is a perfect match for Wisp. I’ve worn Red Bean Red so often this year that I’ll have to buy a replacement soon!

I’ve mentioned before that many Glossier products fall into the category of “X for people who are scared of X.” Solar Paint: bronzer for people who are scared of bronzer (me, for instance). Ultralip and Generation G: lipstick for people who don’t consider themselves “lipstick people.” And now we have Wisp, the purple blush for those who worry that Tower 28 Party Hour or Fenty Drama Cla$$ will turn them into Barney. I’m not trying to be snarky here; I think there’s a legitimate place in the market for subtle versions of trendy products and shades, and that seems to be the niche that Glossier has decided to occupy (though the recent launch of G Suit, an opaque matte liquid lip, suggests they’re not totally committed). So if you’ve been searching for a purple blush that you can pile on without coming close to the vibe below, you should consider Wisp…

…but if that happens to be the vibe of your dreams, Wisp might fall short. I’m glad I bought it, though, if only to maintain my reputation as a purple-blush completist, and I’m sure I’ll wear it often this summer and fall. It’s certainly the most natural-looking purple blush I’ve ever come across, and I’m not surprised that Glossier was the brand that managed to strike that balance.