How To Bronze Beautifully (With Video)
Use bronzing powder to add dimension to your makeup
Whether you are looking for a sweet sun-kissed glow or just to add a hint of extra color to your look, mineral bronzer is a great addition to your makeup kit and can be used in oh-so-many ways!
A Little Flat
You may be able to get away with nothing more than foundation and concealer, but it might leave you looking a little flat.
Enter Bronzer
Since the purpose of a bronzer is to subtly kiss your skin with a depth of color, the one you choose will depend on the color of your skin.
Generally, it should only be 1 or 2 shades darker than your natural skin tone.
Test a little on your wrist to make sure it "warms" your skin tone without making it look fake.
(pictured above: Natural Glow on the left, Glimmer Goddess on the right)
Featuring Natural Glow and Glimmer Goddess
Though we have several options for Bronzers (which, btw, double as blush), today we are featuring two of our four Bronzers.
Our 4 Bronze Options
- Warm Glow Mineral Bronzer/Blush for deep complexions
- Timid Mineral Blush/Bronzer for fair complexions
- Natural Glow Mineral Bronzer/Blush for fair to medium complexions
- Glimmer Goddess Bronzer/Blush for anyone who truly loves to glow
Our Featured Two
Natural Glow (a great matte mineral bronzer) and Glimmer Goddess (a beautifully shimmery mineral bronzer).
Natural Glow
Natural Glow is a wonderful choice for adding a sun kissed glow since it is a really gorgeous matte that offers buildable color– you can start off with just a little tiny bit on your brush and add more as you go to work up to the intensity of color you would like.
Of course, you can also load your brush up with a little more Natural Glow on the first go if you want an intense color payoff right from the start!
Glimmer Goddess
Glimmer Goddess pairs perfectly with an easy breezy makeup routine– for you beauties who want a bronzer they can easily sweep across their temples and cheekbones for a quick kiss of color and little extra shimmer and glow.
And BAM! You can also use it as a gorgeous mineral eyeshadow if you’d like to match your bronzer to your eye look, or as a stand-alone (it is an especially beautiful crease color).
Application
You can use both of these mineral bronzers in any way your heart desires.
Choose your brush
It is ideal to have a dedicated bronzer brush, so you aren't darkening your foundation as you switch between bronzer and foundation, or adding pink to your bronzer as you go back and forth with blush and foundation.
Which brush is best?
Here are our recommendations:
With brush in hand, pick up a small amount of minerals, and starting at your forehead, lightly sweep the brush in the shape of a 3, applying the bronzer along the side of your face, into the hollow of your cheek, and down to your jawline.
Brush the bronzer lightly over your chin, nose, and neck to finish.
If you’d like to use one of them in place of a blush, they are both perfect for that too.
Add A Bit of Contour
In addition to adding a bit of warmth to your face with bronzer, you can use it to contour. For this, you want a matte powder, such as Natural Glow, Timid or Warm Glow.
My favorite way to apply bronzer as a quick contour for my cheeks is to take my Flat Top Buffer & Bronzer Brush, swirl a little bit of bronzer (Natural Glow in this case) and then squeeze it between my fingers (see below!) just so to create a slimmer profile with the bristles.
This allows you to apply the bronzer with greater precision in the hollows of your cheeks right below your cheekbones so that you're not applying too much bronzer everywhere.
If you pinch the bristles together to form a line, it can easily be used to contour.
After I have the bronzer where I want it, I let go of the brush so it goes back to its original shape and use it to blend upwards just a little bit so that my contour isn’t just a sharp line.
It’s important to blend upwards rather than downwards because you want to pull your face up, and not have a super thick or wide streak of bronzer going every which way which will end up overwhelming the rest of your makeup look.
After that’s all done, I like to blend up towards my temples as well, and just generally smooth everything out.
Safer 'Tan'
Bronzers are a great way to add a little color to your overall look in a super safe sunless way– rather than tanning and harming your skin, investing in a high quality mineral bronzer can give you a gorgeous glow without all the unhealthy skin-damaging effects of too much time in the sun– in fact, you can wear your favorite sunscreen right along with your favorite mineral bronzer...
Now that’s what we call a win-win situation!
Bronze vs. Contour?
Bronzing is to add a touch of sun glow and depth, and contour is to help with facial definition.
We will be back with a full post on contour.
Abby is a photographer and blogger who never says no to a hot cup of tea or a new shade of lipstick. She lives in Monterey, CA with her husband where they enjoy hiking, cooking/eating everything vegan, and basically living the (neat and tidy) hippie dream. You can follow her @abby.roe.photo on instagram
