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The only thing I love more than finding a good cream blush is finding an even better dupe. So when I saw that a £4 alternative for the Rhode Pocket Blush in Toasted Teddy was doing the rounds on TikTok, I had to pick it up and give it a try.
And what is this dupe, you might ask? It’s the 17 Melting Creme Blush in the shade Coffee Love.
Some context, 17 is a Boots own-brand makeup range which was sadly discontinued in 2018, but made a return in 2022 with a whole new look. All products in the new 17 collection are vegan, Leaping Bunny approved, and cost under £5 – which actually places the Melting Creme Blush near the top of the price scale!
Funnily enough, I actually picked up the 17 Melting Creme Blush a few weeks before I ordered Rhode’s Pocket Blush so I had the chance to test it out without interruption or comparison.
For a budget beauty product, it’s really impressive. Pigmented, creamy and super blendable, what more could you want in a cream blush?
But is it actually a good dupe for Rhode’s Toasted Teddy? I couldn’t help but feel that the two were more different than they first appeared…
In this post, I compare the Rhode Pocket Blush in Toasted Teddy and the 17 Melting Creme Blush in Coffee Love to see whether the 17 blush truly is the affordable alternative we’ve all been looking for. Keep reading to see how it stacks up!
Packaging
Right off the bat, the biggest distinction between these two blushes is the packaging. The Rhode Pocket Blush comes in stick form, while the 17 Melting Creme Blush is housed in a flat compact.
Both are made of plastic, so one doesn’t necessarily feel more luxe than the other, but the Rhode one looks slightly nicer (in my subjective opinion, of course 😆).
The name ‘Pocket Blush’ is very fitting for Rhode’s offering because it is quite a bit smaller than I expected. I feel like the case looks really bulky in photos, but in reality it sits pretty comfortably in the palm of your hand. It’s something you can easily throw into a bag to reapply on the go… but then again so is the 17 blush.
In fact, the 17 Melting Creme Blush feels even more portable and convenient, simply because it is so slim. You can slip into a side pocket in your purse or squeeze it into a packed makeup bag, it’s really not going to take up a lot of room.
Formula, finish & pigmentation
I expected the formula of these two blushes to be almost identical. After all, a cream blush is a cream blush, how different could they be?
But, surprisingly, they don’t really feel the same at all.
The 17 Melting Creme Blush is your classic cream blush formula. It’s soft, buttery, and rather opaque. Rhode’s Toasted Teddy blush is still very pigmented, but it’s sheerer and balmier.
You might be able to spot the difference in texture in the swatches below. You can see a lot more of my skin peeking through the Rhode swatch, than you can the 17 one.
Both are very easy to blend out, but the beauty of the Rhode blush (because it’s slightly sheerer) is that it’s fairly mistake-proof. If you’ve overdone it, just take a brush and keep buffing, it’ll soon start to look more natural.
The 17 blush is a bit thicker so it’s slightly harder (though not impossible) to tone down if you’ve gone in with a heavy hand. You’ll definitely want to diffuse this blush on your palm or on a makeup palette before you apply it onto your face.
Now, let’s talk finish.
These are both dewy blushes, and I think it’s that fresh, hydrated effect that makes them look so soft and natural. If the 17 blush was matte, it’d give off a completely different, full-coverage feel – especially given how intensely pigmented it is.
The Rhode blush is perhaps a tiny bit dewier, but only marginally so!
Shade match & swatches
Rhode’s Pocket Blush and 17’s Melting Creme Blush really do look quite similar in their packaging, so I’m glad the swatches show the slight nuance of shade. I feel like it’s only when they’re blended out that you can fully detect the difference between them.
These are both terracotta blushes but 17’s Coffee Love definitely leans more orange, while Rhode’s Toasted Teddy has a distinct red undertone.
On my fair skin, the 17 blush acts as a blush-bronzer hybrid, adding warmth to the edges of my face. If I decide to pair this blush with a bronzer, it can be a little too much so I tend to wear it alone. It’s a great two-in-one product in this sense.
Because of the red tone, the Rhode Pocket Blush complements a bronzer slightly more. It adds a ruddy touch to what would otherwise be a one-dimensional, orange-toned look. You can totally get away with wearing this in place of a bronzer too, but be careful not to go overboard – otherwise you risk looking a bit sunburnt (especially if you’re pale like me)!
Longevity
The Rhode website claims that the Pocket Blush blush is ‘clinically shown to last at least eight hours’, but 17 doesn’t give any indication of how long their Melting Creme blush is meant to last, so it’s hard to compare the longevity of the two without actually trying them out.
Having tested both blushes extensively over the past few weeks, I honestly don’t notice much of a difference between the wear time of the Rhode and the 17 blush.
The Rhode Pocket Blush may fade just a tiny bit quicker, because of its balmy texture, but I think the overall longevity is pretty good. And I’m happy to top up on this throughout the day if needed.
Since the 17 Melting Creme Blush is slightly thicker, it does have slightly more staying power. The difference isn’t noticeable enough though to make me choose one over the other.
Price
Obviously, the price point of each blush is where we see the biggest difference. The 17 Melting Creme Blush is £4 for 4g of product, which works out at £1 per gram. The Rhode Pocket Blush, on the other hand, is £24 for 5.3g (£4.50 per gram).
You do get slightly more product with Rhode’s blush, but you’re also paying six times the price. It’s easy to see why people are keen to find a dupe!
Final verdict
These are both great blushes and I honestly think you’ll be happy with whichever one you pick up. The 17 Melting Cream Blush is creamy, pigmented and long wearing. The Rhode one is soft, skin-loving and very dewy.
Now for the big question: is 17’s Coffee Love a Toasted Teddy dupe?
🥁 Drum roll please 🥁
It’s not identical to the Rhode Pocket Blush but it does come very close.
The two key differences for me are the pigmentation and the shade. The Rhode blush is light and sheer, so it blends into a natural, flushed look. The 17 blush is slightly more pigmented so you get a lot of colour payoff in just a few dabs.
The 17 blush is also a burnt orange shade, while the Rhode Pocket Blush seems like more of a brick red.
I think the difference in shade can be summed up this way: 17’s Coffee Love is for a bronzed look, while Rhode’s Toasted Teddy is for a sunkissed look. They’re both going to make it look like you’ve been in the sun, but just in different ways.
Would you give this dupe a go or is your heart firmly fixed on Rhode’s Toasted Teddy? Let me know in the comments!
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