Best Powder Bronzers 2018 | Top 10 + Share Your Favorites

Today, I’m asking for your Best Powder Bronzers (specific shades, please!).  The 10 most recommended Powder Bronzers are listed below, and the list will automatically update as more recommendations are made!

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10 Best Powder Bronzers

18 Comments

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Christine Avatar

I don’t know what brush you’re referring to – there’s a Bronzer, Cheek Brush Cream Foundation (02), and regular Foundation (01) brushes. Please keep in mind that my Tom Ford brushes are from several years ago, and the brand could have changed their descriptions or how they’re produced since the time I posted my review. Nordstrom and Tom Ford both list the Bronzer, Cheek and, Cream Foundation brushes as “natural-hair.” The Foundation Brush 01 is listed as synthetic, but I don’t think I have that brush so I’m really uncertain what brush you’re referring to as I’m not seeing the face brushes, aside from that one, listed as synthetic but actually listed as natural.

Vicki Avatar

These are all my favorites as well. For a great non matte bronzer, I like the Too Faced Sweethearts bronzer in the heart shaped box and also the Hourglass bronzer. Both of those are really good as well as the L’Oréal Glam Bronze.

Bella Avatar

Hi Christine,
I really really appreciate the work you do on this blog (which I check upwards of 10 times per day). I wanted to add in my recommendation for bronzers that I use since finding bronzers for deep skin tones is an uphill battle. I know you are a big and authentic champion for inclusivity in the makeup world. However, when I go in to select my skin tone, I dont see an option for me. (Fairest, Fair, Light, light-medium, medium, medium-tan, tan, dark tan, deep dark). Im neither tan nor deep dark. When i see deep dark, I’m interpreting that as Fenty 490. More options could include, dark, medium dark, deep, golden deep, deep dark, ebony etc, something more in between tan and deep dark. Just a suggestion. Keep up the fantastic work!!!

Christine Avatar

Hi Bella,

We are in the process of adding three additional skin tones and one undertone (and changing it to be an undertone spectrum), but it requires an overhaul of over 18,000 shades and related data so it will take me about 1 year to get through that data… maybe longer.

FYI, all of the skin tones are loosely based on MAC’s system, so it should still encompass just about everyone. We are only adding some more in-between as we’ve noticed self-selection has caused some impossible matches.

We have tan, dark tan, and deep dark. If you aren’t tan or deep dark, would dark tan fit? Because skin tones are related to undertones, the light to dark spectrum we have is set up to reflect the spectrum we’ve seen – including a comparison against Fenty’s system – you’ll notice that it’s more separated by undertone than skin tone – you can see their chart here, https://www.sephora.com/contentimages/pdf/Fenty_ProFiltrFoundationShadeFinder.pdf, which categorizes only by Light, Medium, Tan, and Deep – we have 9 skin tone groupings and then pink, yellow, olive, red, and neutral undertones, so there are 45 possible skin tones.

Fairest – NC/NW10
Fair – NC/NW15
Light – NC/NW20
Light-Medium – NC/NW25
Medium – NC/NW30
Medium-Tan – NC/NW35
Tan – NC/NW40-43
Dark Tan – NC/NW45-47
Deep Dark – NC/NW50-55

We are adding a Deepest Dark to address the end of the spectrum, Fair-Light, and Medium Deep (which goes between Medium and Medium-Tan) based on what we’ve seen users categorize certain shades that are on the bubble (or we see too many Medium say “too dark” while Medium-Tan then says “too light”). This is after looking for gaps across years of data across the Matrix.

Bella Avatar

Thanks for the detailed response! See, I’m perhaps mac nw45/47 and dont consider or desrcibe my skin tone as dark tan. I wear fenty 430/mufe 520 and describe my skin tone as medium deep with red undertone. I definately do not use the words ‘tan’/ dark tan/deep tan’ to describe my skin tone. Since living in the US, I always interpreted ‘tan’ as ‘olive’ or a skin tone that is acheived when Caucasians are exposed to sunlight or UV lamps for long periods of time.
Now, the breakdown using the Mac template now puts things in perspective. I think its the word ‘tan’ that is somehow throwing me off- lol
I’m happy to hear that you’ll be expanding the skin tone descriptions!!! Looking forward to next year or 2020 or 2021 or whenever its complete. Knowing me, I’ll still be on ur blog 10+ times per day!

Christine Avatar

I understand what you mean! It is confusing (like “tan” isn’t really a complexion… since everyone can TAN!) but it’s common in other brands (even Fenty has Tan and then Deep but nothing in-between!) as a descriptor that when the system was implemented almost a decade ago, it made the most sense to try to work within the industry’s more “standard” terminology.

I’ll definitely go back through and see if it makes sense to add an additional tone between dark tan / deep dark or tan and dark tan. What I was seeing most of the time on that end was a lot of medium-ish complexions being more of a deeper medium but self-categorizing as medium or “deep dark” shades coming in as “too dark” (which showed the need for a deepest dark – and I think it’s something seen solely in the last few years as more brands have actually gone even deeper than NC/NW50).

CoverFX is probably one of the best brands at describing their shades (skin tone with undertones), but they’re also using tan as their point between medium and dark. How would you describe your skin tone?

Bella Avatar

Outside of the beauty world, i would describe my skin tone as dark with a little red undertone. Thats because i think of deep skin tone as skin tone similar to duckie thot or nyma tang which is so unbelievably gorgeous!! But within the beauty world, i find myself ping ponging between dark (warm dark in bare minerals) and deep (fenty, mufe, clinique). I guess it depends on the brand and how wide (or narrow) their range is. Thats the predicament when there is no standard skin tone description in the industry. But the shade range is getting better! One step at a time i guess/ Rome wasnt built in a day.

Christine Avatar

Gotcha! Over the last couple of years, I’ve actually readjusted my own thinking as I think that NC/NW40ish isn’t “dark” given just how deep the spectrum can go (like Nyma Tang). Something that really showed just how wide the skin tone spectrum can be on the the darker medium / deep side is when I saw Jackie Aina and her boyfriend, Dennis, swatching some foundations in a video (don’t remember which), and it just goes to show you that width in range and why one “dark” shade can’t possibly suit all deeper complexions.

Christie Avatar

Oooo I can’t believe there isn’t a Becca up there! Capri Coast and Bronzed Bondi… I can’t get enough! They’ve made me stop using blush, and THAT is something!

Beth Avatar

I did and can’t believe I did. I pulled the trigger and purchased the most expensive bronzer to date. The Sisley Phyto Touché-Sun Glow Bronzing Gel. Tati-Flam Life Guru raves about it!
Where do I put in my request for you to possibly review this? Thank you.

Bonnie Avatar

My favorite is an unsung yet very affordable hero. My HG is Lottie London Tan Time, which comes in 2 shades, and the darker of the two is actually a dark enough bronze for my already tan skin. It’s on Ulta.com for 6 or 7 bucks, and it’s cruelty free.

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