Choose a bronzer in two steps: the texture, then the shade. Powder suits normal to oily skin and a powdered base; cream, liquid and gel suit dry skin and a dewy finish, and melt into foundation rather than sitting on it. For the shade, go no more than one or two shades deeper than your skin, with an undertone that matches it, so the result looks like warmth rather than colour. Then place it where the sun would naturally fall, in the shape of a 3 down each side of the face. Below, each texture, the shades by skin tone, where to apply it, and bronzer versus contour, with the bronzers we have chosen.
What Does Bronzer Do?
Bronzer adds warmth. Swept over the outer edges of the face, it gives the healthy, lightly sunlit look of skin after a few days outdoors, and it brings back depth when foundation has left the face looking flat. Blush, by contrast, adds a flush of colour to the cheeks, and highlighter adds light to the high points. Bronzer is make-up, not sun protection, so keep your sunscreen underneath it.
Powder Bronzer
Powder is the classic bronzer and the easiest to control. It wears well on skin that turns shiny through the day, and it goes on last, over foundation and setting powder. Use a large, soft brush, tap off the excess, and build in thin layers. Matte looks most natural; a soft shimmer adds glow.
Clinique True Bronze Pressed Powder Bronzer is a featherweight pressed powder for building anything from a soft wash of warmth to a deeper bronze. Estée Lauder Bronze Goddess Powder Bronzer is a silky pressed powder with a matte finish, and its compact comes with a mirror and a mini brush. Guerlain Terracotta Bronzer is a pressed powder in brown and beige tones, enriched with argan oil, in a refillable compact with a tortoiseshell-style lid. Bare Minerals Gen Nude Bronzer is a beige powder with fine luminous pearls, for a soft shimmer rather than a matte finish.
- True Bronze Pressed Powder Bronzer
- Bronze Goddess Powder Bronzer
- Terracotta Bronzer
- Gen Nude Bronzer
Cream, Liquid and Gel Bronzer
Creams, liquids and gels give the most skin-like result and suit dry skin. Apply them after foundation and before any powder, and blend with your fingertips, whose warmth helps them melt in, or with a damp sponge. Because they are fluid, most can also be mixed into foundation or moisturiser for an all-over glow.
Essence Drop Of Sunshine Bronzing Drops are a buildable liquid concentrate with pearlescent pigments and glycerin: shake gently, then add a few drops to your foundation or skincare, or apply them directly for more intensity. Essence Baby Got Bronze Bronzer is a creamy stick to swipe straight onto the face and blend with fingertips, a brush or a sponge. Clinique Sun-Kissed Face Gelee Complexion Multitasker is a lightweight gel with sheer, buildable colour and a dewy finish, to blend evenly over the whole face. Max Factor's Pure Golden Glow Bronzer is a creamy formula in a tube, with squalane and hyaluronic acid, in a light-to-medium golden shade that can bronze, highlight or contour.
- Drop Of Sunshine Bronzing Drops
- Baby Got Bronze Bronzer
- Sun-Kissed Face Gelee Complexion Multitasker
- X Miracle Pure Golden Glow Bronzer
Which Bronzer Shade Suits Your Skin Tone?
Depth and undertone decide it. Go one or two shades deeper than your skin, never more, and match the undertone: a bronzer that is too warm turns orange, one that is too cool looks grey or muddy. If you are unsure of your undertone, the checks in How to Choose a Foundation Shade and Undertone apply here too.
- Fair skin: a light, soft bronze with a neutral or gently rosy base. Deep or very orange shades look like a stripe on fair skin.
- Light to medium skin: a light tan with a golden or neutral base.
- Medium and olive skin: a warm golden bronze. Olive skin often looks best in neutral shades, which do not pull orange or grey.
- Deep skin: rich, deep bronzes with a red, copper or golden base. Pale bronzers can look ashy on deep skin.
If you would rather not choose a single shade, a multi-tone compact lets you mix your own. Avène Couvrance Bronzer Palette arranges beige, brown and peach shades in a circle, to sweep together or use one at a time. Bourjois Always Fabulous Bronzing Powder is a quartet of brown and beige tones with a shimmery finish. Catrice Sun Glow Matt Bronzing Powder is a matte powder made for medium skin tones. Institut Esthederm Soleil Modéré Moderate Sun Bronzer is a single shade the house describes as universal, in brown and beige tones with a subtle golden glow.
- Couvrance Bronzer Palette
- Always Fabulous Bronzing Powder
- Sun Glow Matt Bronzing Powder Medium Skin
- Soleil Modéré Moderate Sun Bronzer
Where Should Bronzer Go?
Where the sun would naturally reach you first. The simplest guide is the 3: on each side of the face, trace the shape of a 3 from the temple to the jaw. On the left side it is a 3, on the right a reversed one.
- Top curve: from the temple along the outer edge of the forehead, at the hairline.
- Middle point: in under the cheekbone and back out, stopping level with the outer corner of the eye.
- Bottom curve: along the jawline, blended down onto the neck so there is no edge.
A light touch across the bridge of the nose, where the sun catches, finishes the look. Keep the centre of the face clear and blend every edge.
Order matters as much as placement. Cream and liquid bronzers go on after foundation and concealer and before powder; powder bronzers go on after setting powder. Blush follows bronzer, on the apples of the cheeks, and highlighter comes last, above it on the cheekbone. We explain each in How to Choose a Blush for Your Skin Tone and How to Choose and Apply Highlighter.
Bronzer or Contour?
Many compacts do both, but the jobs differ. Bronzer is warm and adds colour where the sun would fall, across the outer face. Contour is cooler, greyer and always matte: it imitates shadow, and goes only into the hollows, under the cheekbones, at the sides of the nose and beneath the jaw, to sculpt. Shimmer has no place in contour, because shadow does not shine. A matte bronzer one or two shades deeper than your skin can do light contouring; for sharper definition, choose a dedicated contour shade.
Nyx Professional Make Up Conceal Correct Contour Palette holds six cream shades for correcting and contouring that work over foundation. Magic Studio Rostro Compact Powder is a mosaic of matte and luminous powders: the house suggests it in the hollows of the cheeks, at the temples and down the bridge of the nose for contour, and across the shoulders and décolletage for warmth. Glam of Sweden Bronzing Powder Shine Matte splits its pan into a matte side for definition and a shine side for glow. Lancôme Teint Idole Ultra Wear Bronzer is a matte, buildable pressed powder that layers from a soft glow to defined contour.
- Conceal Correct Contour Palette
- Rostro Compact Powder
- Bronzing Powder Shine Matte
- Teint Idole Ultra Wear Bronzer
In Short
If you are choosing your first bronzer, take a matte powder one shade deeper than your skin, with your undertone, and a large, soft brush. Trace the 3 lightly on each side, blend until there are no edges, and check in daylight before adding more.
