6 minute read

Bronzer is a tricky one. When used correctly it looks fantastic, when used incorrectly it looks absolutely awful and is one of the most dulling and ageing things you can do when it comes to beauty in midlife. All those matte powders in dark brown, beige, and sometimes, a weird deep grey, look unnatural and false and should be run from at top speed.

Here’s what works. Print it out and stick it on the fridge, hand out flyers, arrange a rally - whatever you want - this is a public service announcement to benefit us all.

What matters when it comes to bronzing products are two things: texture and tone.

Texture

The solution, friends, is to go cream. The days of a fully matte face are thankfully over (for now). Beauty trends come and go. Like all things, they are cyclical, hence us living our early nineties all over again lately with Spice lip liner and matte brown lipstick being a thing once more. Should we tell them brown lips suit no one? Nah, they’ll figure it out themselves when they ‘discover’ the flattering sheen of lip gloss in a year or so. In the same sequence we, the actual nineties kids, did. Ah, life and its cycles!

So, back to texture - cream is better as it is the antidote to flat, matte, dull powder. It adds physical glow and light reflection, but not only that, it is much easier to apply - soft and forgiving, there are no tiger stripes here.

Tone

Naturally, colour is key and I am always suspicious of a brand that says, one shade suits all, especially when it comes to bronzer. One shade does not suit all. It never has, it never will, and if we were to stop and think about that sweeping statement a while, we would see it for the sheer laziness it is. Human skin comes in a myriad of colours comprised of varying undertones that are important to match to as closely as you can. Thinking along the lines of a sort of a base tone or colour family works well. The way Trinny does. Her Match2Me technology on her website is ace and should be tried - even for the fun of seeing an entire regime prescribed to you without ever having to be swatched at a badly lit cosmetics counter.

As a general rule, a bronzer with an underlying peach tone is better - it’s more enlivening, especially for paler skins for whom dark bronzers look wrong. Also, in a range with a good shade selection, go lighter than you might think; it’s always more natural. Your instinct may be to go deep to look tanned, but it will only look muddy - instead, go lighter and you will look sunkissed.

Three of the best

Chanel Les Beiges Healthy Glow Bronzing Cream

Considered the Grand Dame of Tan, this creamy, light bronzer is one of those beauty products people are devout to once they try it. As an ex-makeup artist, I can fully attest to its excellence on the skin - the texture is light, velvety and sheer and it blends softly and easily with a good blending brush.
Now, that said, they had only one shade for years, so it was only an option for fair to medium toned skins, but this summer they have just released a darker tone to suit medium to olive shades. It has a great undertone that looks lively too, so no flat, dullness. The pot is huge, it will last you a lifetime(ish). Buy it here

Trinny London Golden Glow

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of this range. She pretty much knocks it out of the park with both product and user experience, and it all just works so well for skins over 40 as it’s glowy, flattering and more or less faff-free - a win for me - most of my makeup is applied with my fingers these days - I just can’t be bothered to blend and buff with brushes anymore.

Golden Glow is a little pot of holiday skin. It’s creamy, it’s sheer and it’s light. It also comes in four shades so there is one to suit most of us. I wear the lightest one, Jensta, and I love it. There is no orange in it, just a peachy, golden hue that perks me up no end even when I feel like one of the undead. This one will be a constant purchase for me. Buy it here.

Sculpted by Aimee Cream Luxe Bronze

Irish makeup artist, Aimee Connolly is killing it this summer with the recent launch of her glowy face base, Tint & Glow, and her overall range contains an excellent offering too with lots of her products focussed on delivering a sheer glow, rather than a flat matte. She’s like the Trinny of Ireland and has a loyal consumer following to rival her UK counterpart too.

She has two tones of cream bronze, that, like the two above, offer good texture and tone and will certainly enliven and brighten your skin. Her price point is great too at only €18 for this one (versus €44 for Chanel and €30 for Trinny) and her face brushes to apply with are excellent too.
But do bear in mind that cream products can be tapped lightly on the skin with your fingers too, as you would do with a cream blush. Faff-free is the goal with all these, and having no specks of dark powder falling from compacts to clothes is one of the key wins too! Buy it here.

Lastly, just a note on bronzing powders, if you want to stay on that side of the fence - the same rules apply regarding texture and tone - go light and velvety to avoid looking flat. Not shimmery, you’re not a disco ball. Go to NARS, you’ll find your tribe there. Ask for Laguna, that will set you right.

Ellie Balfe, June 2021