There is no alternative to a physical blending brush. Smudge works if you use one of the textured brushes (sponges and grunge work or one of Kyle's brushes work best) and reduce the flow to 6-30% depending on how soft you want your smudges to be. However, the smudges destroy the fine texture. So, if you want to preserve it, use clone brush with "soft light" blending to make it slightly lighter or "multiply" to go to the darker side.