How Bronzer Can Help You Look Like Your Best Self In Winter

Summer is over for another year, but that doesn’t mean the sun-kissed glow you’ve built up has to fade into oblivion. Enter: bronzer.

Like driving in a foreign country, bronzer is scary if you’re not familiar with it but it is honestly an instant cure-all that helps you achieve healthy colour and radiance, especially when you’re feeling under the weather.

But with a growing number of formulations, brands and colours out there, where should you start? Sephora Australia National Artistry Lead, Alphie Sadsad gives us the rundown.

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Cream, liquid or powder?

Powder bronzer will last longer on oilier skin girls, while creamy or liquid textures better complement drier skin types due to their moisturising properties.

Sadsad recommends choosing a shade one or two shades darker than your skin tone and lightly building that up. “When using powder, tap your brush into the pan rather than swirling and grinding,” recommends Sadsad. This ensures you get good colour transfer.

A liquid bronzer is best used when your face is much lighter than your body (hello, fake tanners!). Applying a little bit under or mixing it into your foundation will make you look less yellow or orange. Also use it when you’re going sans foundation for a healthy-looking glow.

A cream or stick bronzer is another natural-looking option, but requires more blending action. Sadsad advises using a synthetic brush like SEPHORA Collection Contour Bronzer Brush # 46 to blend because it won’t absorb too much product. Money saver!

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Placement

Ideally, you want your bronzer to mimic your natural tan, hitting all the places on the face that the sun does – just like you spent the day at the beach. According to Sadsad, the key areas to place colour are the “cheeks, temples, chin, nose and jawline”. Essentially, wherever you tend to get sunburnt. For this beauty writer, that also includes the brow bones.

Lightly apply your bronzer of choice over these key areas and build up the colour. Most importantly, don’t neglect to bronze your neck and chest, or your ears if they’re showing! If you accidentally apply too much product (it can happen to the best of us), blend over the area with your foundation brush or sponge. Problem solved!

Another good place for bronzer is the eyelids. Soften out a smokey eye with bronzer or use it alone as your eyeshadow. We love the limited edition Dolce & Gabbana The Bronzer.

Common faux pas

As for bronzing faux pas to avoid? Sadsad says: “For blondes, don’t add to much bronzer along your hairline or else you risk creating a brown halo on your hairline”. No, thanks.

“Generally speaking, the under-eye should also be avoided in order to keep you looking bright and awake,” he adds. Sadsad also recommends using a brush to apply bronzer, no matter the texture of your product, to avoid your complexion looking too monotone.

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Colour Matching

Gritty Pretty’s quick guide to finding the right bronzer shade –

FAIR/LIGHT
Those on the paler end of the skin spectrum should steer towards a sheer rose or peach-coloured bronzer, as this prevents the skin from looking too muddy or dark. Try: Guerlain Terracotta Light Sheer Bronzing Powder or BECCA Shimmer Skin Perfector Liquid in ‘Opal’.

MEDIUM/OLIVE
Women with medium to olive skin best suit warm-golden, copper and earth-toned bronzers that mimic the a natural glow on their complexion. Try: The Base Velvet Matte Bronzing Base or Napoleon Perdis Total Bae Fake It! Bronze Believer.

DARK
Darker-skinned ladies should ditch the golden shades and opt for rich, chocolatey-brown bronzers with a cinnamon undertone. Try: Benefit Cosmetics Hoola Stick Quickie Contour Stick or NARS Sun Diffusing Bronzer in ‘Casino’.

Tell us, what’s your favourite bronzer?

Do you wear bronzer daily?

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