Share: Tell us what you love, hate, or are otherwise indifferent to about bronzer. What drives you bananas? What makes them necessary?
my answer: I very rarely reach for it. Perhaps because I’m naturally warm-toned and medium in color I don’t think about bronzer, but the only time I ever wear it is to test it out, LOL! They can be nice to add a little sunkissed glow.
Thanks to Amy for today’s question!
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I’m not thrilled about them. In the summer I do get tan on my face so sometimes I’ll use a light, barely there shade of bronzer (Physician’s Formula “Light Bronze Pearl”) as a powder but I don’t use it to add color throughout the year. One of my biggest pet peeves is when people have a light complexion on their neck and a dark orange face in the middle of winter.
I’ve never really figured out how to use them. They usually make my complexion look sort of muddy.
I’m too pale, even the lightest application of the lightest bronzer looks unnatural. I rarely use it, i don’t want to be the girl with the orange face and white neck. the only way i can make it work is using it under my blush kind of like a contour.
I like to see people use bronzer in a way that looks natural and glowing. I hate it when people overdose on self tanner then pile on shiny, muddy bronzer.
I don’t actually use a bronzer in any way that is unique to the bronzer, most of the time. I have “bronzers” and bronzing products that I use for blush, highlighters, contouring… but I hardly ever actually “bronze”. I have a fairly light, cool/pink skintone and I think I look better when I don’t mess with that too much.
I don’t use it a lot either. And when I do, I only use a little on my cheekbones. So I basically use bronzer as a blush.
I normally don’t wear it, as it turns my skin too orange or red. If I need some color during the winter months, I reach for my MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in Dark. That does the trick for the perimiter of my face.
I’m naturally pale and I’ve never aspired to the bronzed look, so I don’t really use them. I have some bronze-y blushes, which I use more to sculpt my face or add some dimension to my cheekbones. The only proper bronzer I’ve ever bought is Guerlain’s Terra Inca, which I adore, but which is really more of a pinked amber shade on my cheeks.
I only use a bronzer to contour the side of my nose and hollows of my cheeks. Never as an all-over.
I hate that 99% of all bronzers has shimmer in them. What’s up with that?
Bourjois used to do some fantastic matt bronzers, I don’t know about the newer ones but they could be worth checking (DÉLICE DE SOLEIL BRONZING POWDER)
THANK YOU! I never reach for a bronzer with shimmer unless it’s super minimal. Wet ‘n Wild actually makes a nice matte bronzer. :>
I have a Shiseido bronzer that doesn’t have shimmer in it!
How about to contour? I love it for contouring! i do think some people over do it and use colors that are too dark for them. But if you do it right, it’s gorgeous!
I am very, extremely, ridiculously fair in the winter and I have very neutral undertones. Basically I look like a corpse without some color on my face. I use a light dusting of matte bronzer on a fluffy brush around the perimeter of my face to warm up my complexion a little; then use my normal contour, highlight, and blush. It just makes my skin a little more golden and a little less beige, but you would (hopefully) never look at me and think I had on bronzer. I adore matte bronzers, but I hate that they can look like orange mud when not used judiciously.
I mainly just use it for contouring, it adds definition to my face if i’m having a day where my complexion feels particularly flat. I like my Clinique Fresh Bloom Allover Color compact, it’s more peachy, less tan…y. lol
I never use it. I’m fair-skinned, and while all the magazines and blogs tell me I should, I don’t. I’m very happy with my skin tone, and some coral or pale pink blush does a lot for me. It ain’t broke, so don’t fix it!
I just don’t think they look good. I think naturally tanned skin is lovely on some people, of if your complexion *is* naturally tan, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone get a natural tan look from a jar… And when it looks bad it looks BAAAAD.
Never use them.
I like being pale and interesting, and I never liked the fake tan / bronzer look. Also anything yellow or orange based looks horrible on me, the last thing I look for is added ‘warmth’, so finding a good bronzer would be very difficult.
agreed
I don’t reach for them exceptionally often, but I do like to lightly brush them over my face on days when I think my skin looks wan or tired. I’m very cool-toned and fair, so in the winter months, I need a touch of warming up from time and time.
The only downside to this is that it’s hard to find bronzers that aren’t too orange or dark for my skin tone. Rimmel has a matte bronzer that I reach for quite often, but even that has to be done with a light hand else I risk looking muddy!
I have pale cool skintone and i love bronzers for adding colour and shaping my cheekbones.
My favorites are YSL TERRE SAHARIENNE in No.1 and LANCOME STAR BRONZER MATTE in shade 01 both work perfectly for my pale cool skin.
Too weird, I rarely reach from bronzer, but coincidentally, I did today. I felt like I looked so crap that I put a very light dusting with a big fluffy brush on my cheekbones and a just a tiny bit around my hairline and I instantly looked better.
I’m not a fan of noticeable bronzer, particularly really warm shimmery shades. I do not have the right complexion to pull that look off. I’ve gone through many in the search for something that works on my neutral skin (Illamasqua 5.5) and the best for me comes from Guerlain. Today I used Guerlain Terracotta light in 01 Blondes which gave me just the right amount of shape to my face to not look so washed out and sickly. I’m thankful I had it in my stash, but I by no means use it every day.
I use bronzer to contour and on my cheeks. I’ll somtimes put a little on my jaw line. I also love to use bronzer in place of blush on my cheeks. I also use Bobbi Brown “Bronze” shimmer brick as a highlighter. I can’t imagine putting it all over my face.
I don’t like it, and will never use it. I don’t like looking “warm”, “golden”, “sunkissed”, or any of that. I look absolutely terrible with a tan (which is odd, since I tan easily, as opposed to burning right away).
However, if somebody wants to look tan, I’d rather that they use bronzer or self-tanner instead of lying out in the sun or using a tanning bed.
lol i say amen to your entire point
Only for contouring! I’m also very warm toned and medium so I don’t have a real need for it.
I’m super pale, so I feel like bronzer is only going to make my face look a different shade than the rest of me. I’m just not interested in going the extra mile to self-tan or whatever. I like being pale. It suits me.
I’m very pale and very cool-toned with dark hair. When I was younger, I really worked the pale and dramatic look. I’m 39 now and I’ve only gotten in to bronzers in the past couple of years. I’m so pale that marks and discolourations show up very strongly on me and bronzer actually helps even out my skin tone more than concealer.
I’ve got over a dozen bronzers for different effects. It’s really hard to find ones that aren’t orange.
Which are your favorites? I don’t own any and I have similar coloring to yours – pale, cool-toned, dark hair.
A couple of my favourites aren’t marketed as bronzers but as foundations or powders. Those products have a better shade range and often aren’t as pigmented so they’re easier to use if you’re really fair. The ‘bronzer’ I use the most is Laura Mercier Illuminating Tinted Moisturizer in Golden Radiance.
I only use a matte bronzer for contouring. I don’t see the sense in using bronzer all over the face, because then the neck and chest have to match.
I’m super pale but I really don’t feel the need for bronzer. I typically find that bronzer does not make a good look on me. I only have one bronzer that is occasionally used for contouring, but lately I really haven’t been using it at all. I find that I reach for it less and less.
Bronzer is a must in my makeup collection, and it is rare for me to not use it when I do my makeup. And no, I do not look fake or muddy. I have a hard time finding foundations that are a perfect match, so a light dusting of bronzer on my face, neck, shoulders, and chest just helps to even me out. I don’t like looking too light or too dark.
My only complaints are overly shimmery, frosted, or metallic bronzers and shades that are too red or too orange.
What are your favorites?
MAC MSFN (I just pick a shade that is a little darker), Too Faced Chocolate Soleil in either version, and NARS Laguna. My *favorite,* though, is Guerlain’s! A bit more than I’d like to spend on bronzer, but it’s one of the one’s I have found to be the most natural.
I’m about an NW25 with golden undertones, so in the winter, when I’m pale, I love to use a little bronzer. I’ll sweep it across my cheeks and on my forehead, and I look a lot less pallid. I don’t generally use it in the summer, though, when I’m a bit tanner.
I can see, though, why bronzer might not be someone’s cup of tea. In the same way that I despite any shimmer in blush.
Too shimmery, too orange, too muddy, too expensive, ugh. I like bronzer to add the golden tones I lose after foundation but those are my main rants.
im pale with fairly neutral cool leaning skin and chose my black hair out of bottle and wear sunscreen to keep my pale and pink i don’t like my tan skin tone and don’t like my natural blond i feel most beautiful with the high contrast cool toned look so i have no interest in bronzer for that and feel really good about my bone structure so don’t use it for contouring either
I don’t bother with them; I quite like being “pale”. Also, my skintone is *extremely* neutral, like the color of saand at the beach, so alot of bronzers tend to lean too warm for me, and look too obvious. Besides, I like deeper eyeshadows & vampy or “corpse” lips, so again, bronzers just don’t fit with my aesthetic.
It really peeves me that bronzers are included in so many palettes. I’d much rather see a matte contour/blush shade than a pan of orange shimmer I’ll never use.
i have neutral undertones and am pretty fair (light to medium)…
i NEED to use a bronzer to sculpt my face otherwise appears flat and very 2 dimensional 🙁
also helps to add warmth to my face!
I’m around NC15 and I like to keep my skin as light as possible because being pale draws more attention to my eyes and away from my nose.
However, I own Too Faced Snow Bunny and I like it a lot for some reason. It adds color, but doesn’t look tan, just makes my skin look softer and more healthy.
I hate bronzer. Its often misused (like for contouring) instead of on the high points of the face to give color. Lot of the times people are mismatched with bronzer or clash with their undertones. Its one of the worst things ever invented.
Like Roo, my skintone is light but, I have discolorations (red spots left over from a blemish, natural beige freckles and some post-pregnancy melasma). Once I found my HG bronzer, I use it in place of blush on most days as lots of blushes can highlight the redness in my skin and this bronzer seems to hide most of my coloring imperfections.
I use Edward Bess’s bronzer in Daydream (the lightest color). It’s amazing in color and texture. A dream to blend, too.
My face seems to look dirty when I use powder bronzers, and they always look way too orange. I like using liquid bronzer sometimes because I find it give a more natural and less orange affect, but rarely do I use that either. Maybe in the summer.
it’s an essential item for me. i’m about nc 10-15, and i don’t like being pale, at all. i love my bronzed skin with very dark brown or charcoal black eyeliner. even if i don’t go very dark with my bronzers, just a touch of bronzer on the cheekbones and jawline and around the outer edge of my face, give my whole face a more lively, healthy look.
I’m only just getting into it, and I’m still struggling a bit to get it looking right. So I don’t often use it. I’m NC15-NC20 – sometimes in summer I’m a little bit darker than NC20, but nowhere near NC25. I do like the dimension it gives to my face, but I get SO paranoid that it’s muddy looking.
A few weeks ago I was talking to my brother, and he asked me why my hairline/temples were brown! I asked if it looked orange, he said no but he thinks I look nicer with pale skin 😛 I think I agree!
Bronzer is a daily staple for me. I use Nars Laguna to contour. It does not have shimmer, and blends nicely to slim my nose and wide face.
I also use Nars Laguna or NYC Sunny to contour since they have no shimmer and are just the right shade. I contour under the cheekbones and jawline. Perfect contour shade for us pale girls!
Reading all this comments makes me think OH NO…
Because I do love bronzers and have a ton of them, matte and shimmery, I have used them for years, I just hope I never over did it (LOL). I like bronzer because I am so pale (even though I am not fair skinned), I usually use it as a blush, not as contour.
Lately I have been partial to softer bronzers, I use a lot one from Mac, the careblend pressed powder in Lush light bronze released last year in the Surf baby collection. I like that it has some amount of pink so it looks natural, not orangey or red.
Definitely reading all this comments will make me more cautious when using my beloved bronzers!
I’m medium toned and I love bronzer! It gives my face a nice glow
I think most people don”t know how to use bronzer, and now that I couture I don’t really need bronzer. I really do like NARS laguna, beautiful texture and not orange at all but I am going to wait for spring and summer to wear again!
I really love Perfekt’s skin perfecter in the exotic color. It is the only bronzer I found that really makes my skin tone glow. It doesn’t have too much glitter in it and I’ve never had a problem with it rubbing off on my clothes. I rarely wear it though.
Christine, I would love to know how to get that sunkissed look all over. I really don’t know how to use highlighters or how to contour. The only reason I haven’t bought that YSL Eclat pen is because it would probably sit in my makeup bag. I have a concealer pen from Makeup Forever and I hardly use it. I don’t know if it would do the same thing as the YSL Eclat or not…??? A tutorial on glowing skin for all skin tones would be wonderful!