Summer Bronze: Your Guide to Bronzers, Part 2

If you’re living in a naturally warmer climate (cough, California!), it’s easy to confuse spring with the beginning of summer as blue skies dominate and the sun shimmers down. But whether you’re jonesing for a touch of summer in your life or are already breaking out your booty shorts, bronzers are often turned towards for a subtle, sunkissed glow that is an earmark of summer and fun.

Estée Lauder ‘Bronze Goddess’ Soft Matte Bronzer ($29.50) is part of their summer Bronze Goddess launch. It’s a smooth, silky bronzing powder that minimizes oil to keep skin looking more matte throughout the day. The compact comes with a contoured brush, which I adore. I don’t love sponge applicators, and usually, that’s what you get in a compact. Instead, you can tote this easily transportable compact with a fabulous little brush inside for last minute touch-ups.

Dior Essential Bronzing Powder ($40.00) is very much like your typical bronzer, though I will say it goes on like velvet and feels like silk. It also blends incredibly well with my natural skin tone so that it really does create a subtle bronzed look without being too heavy or unnatural.

GlowFusion Micro-Tech Intuitive Active Bronzer GlowFusion ($39.00) is Fusion Beauty’s answer to giving you glowing skin. It is supposed to help fill in fine lines and wrinkles to help give the appearance of healthier skin that glows. There are “soft-focus luminzers” to help give you that bronze color by their InvisiSkin complex. With all their techy and patent-speak, it makes me skeptical. I actually happened to get this when I attended a Nordstrom Beauty Trend Show a season ago, and while it is deliciously smooth and feels like silk on skin… I can’t say that I would ever splurge $39 on it.

MAC Bronzing Powder ($20.00) come in three shades that have a touch of shimmer (very fine, very subtle!) to help highlight and color naturally. I only own one bronzer by MAC, and it will probably last me a lifetime. I think the shade I own is Golden Bronze or something like that. Each summer, MAC launches their summer skin/bronze line, and that’s usually a great place to pick up a bronzer.

Stay tuned for part three (did you miss part one?)!

Find these bronzers and more at Nordstrom.com or Sephora.com.