Are you in need of a beauty pick-me-up? Feeling a little pale? Longing for a mid-year break somewhere sunny? Save your money and cheat your way to being a Bronze Goddess during the bleak midwinter.
The most realistic bronze comes from a matte bronzing powder or translucent bronzing gel.
There are several fabulous matte powders available. Try Bobbi Brown Bronzing Powder – this soft matte, silky-smooth bronzer instantly gives skin the look of a natural tan. Darker skins will like the new shade Deep Chocolate, and fair to mid-tone skins will love Golden Light.
Dior’s Matte Sunshine powders are also great. Available in 4 matte shades, with an SPF of 20 to help shield you from the surprisingly harsh winter sunshine.
I love BeneFit Dallas powder – an outdoor glow for an indoor gal, with a hint of pink to warm up your winter complexion. Hoola is also a good bet for allover subtle bronzing.
My new beauty crush, though, is MAC Magically Cool Liquid Powder. This feather-light silky powder, formulated with 70% water, dusts on to the skin as a cooling mist to set and enhance the look of any foundation. What’s more, this magical melange contains just enough optical blurring via its light-diffusing pigments to render skin’s surface into line-softened, natural luminosity. How magical is that? Three shades – one silvery, one translucent, but the bronze Cajun is my pick for winter loveliness.
To apply bronzing powders correctly, start with a large kabuki brush – round, flat-topped and with long, fine bristles which trap the product for precise application, and then shorter bristles to buff it into the skin. Try Mac’s 187 Duo Fibre Brush – a large full circular brush made from a soft blend of goat and synthetic fibres. A soft powder brush will also work, but the application is easier with a flat-topped brush.
After completing your foundation, start bronzing at the outsides of your face – bear in mind that you will get the greatest concentration of colour where the brush is set down, so don’t start mid-cheek or on your nose ! Using light strokes, and minimal product, sweep the bronzer inwards towards the centre of your face. Target areas that the sun would naturally catch, such as cheekbones and jawline, but do blend over your whole face, and down on to your neck. Apply your blusher after bronzer, so that you can gauge the amount of additional colour needed, and don’t end up looking radioactive or feverish !
Don’t neglect your body when going bronze – you need to keep the look realistic.
Sally Hansen Airbrush Legs has long been a favourite quick fix when a dress is required and there’s not enough time (or inclination) to do a fake, and works equally well on arms and décolleté. Coverage is medium to full, and it covers face blemishes and scars just like pantyhose. Also try MAC Skinsheen Leg Spray – a smooth-on, gel-based bronzer that’s soft and mousse-like to apply, yet provides sheer to low coverage with subtle sheen and radiance for perfect pins.
If you have a friend or relative headed overseas, ask them to bring back L’Oreal Sublime Bronze One Day Tinted Gel, available in 2 shades each for Face and Body. Goes on as a sheer wash of believable colour, and then washes right off with soap and water. Gorgeous ! Sadly not in SA yet, but it’s available at Boots and most chemists or drugstores in the UK, Europe and USA.
For a complete spoil to your bronzeness, I love Guerlain Huile de Voyageur Dry Oil.
Its tiny golden particles make tanned skin glisten as it nourishes, perfumes and enhances tanned skin leaving a subtle iridescent sheen. Decadent…
The Body Shop has just launched their The Body Shop Honey Bronze range in the Northern hemisphere, with a Shimmering Dry Oil and Bronzing Gel for Face as more affordable alternatives, this range will be available in South Africa in August. Rumour has it that the entire Bronzing range has been discontinued and will be replaced by the Honey Bronze range, so we’ll have to wait until summer down South for these little beauties to arrive on our shores…
Article By: Janine Catlin
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