RSS2 Beautiful Bronzers for Early Summer
June 13, 2008
As soon as warm weather arrives, we want a little more color on our face. It looks great and it’s a lovely way to celebrate the prospect of several months of summer. In Canada, it matters.
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Bronzer is the best way to get that color. I think it’s also the most attractive. You can put it where you want it and never look burned. A real tan just looks old these days.
Despite your most diligent sunscreen efforts, skin has more color by the end of July than it does in early summer. An August bronzer may feel too colorful to wear now (or maybe we’re just not used to seeing it yet). . Finding light colored bronzers is challenging. Many of them are too brown, too peach, too deep, too pigmented. And those are the good ones. The rest are variations on orange, red, brown, and mud.
AboutFace Oil Control Face Powder (Tawny)
I saw Jenepher Reynolds last Christmas. I’ve mentioned Jenepher a few times because her approach as a makeup artist is to create a very wearable look . I was looking for a beige blush that could add a little color and act as contour as well, to heighten the angles of the face slightly. Jenepher uses the About Face Cosmetics line.
Makeup artist Jenepher Reynolds
I want to show you the beige blush I bought because it has turned out to be a perfect bronzer to welcome the summer. It is actually a face powder intended for women of slightly deeper coloring than mine. It has the slightest bit of golden peach, rather than being just a flat beige so it is ideal to warm up the face and define the features at the same time. It is very matte, quite sheer, and just flawless.
Jenepher’s studio is located at The Cocoon Esthetic Clinic in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. She can be reached by calling 902-569-2256.
Instead of applying it as a blush, I apply it the way I do a bronzer. That’s described a little further down.
Here is a picture of the 2 bronzers featured today, both on my arm. Please appreciate that this is a far heavier application than you would ever wear. Both colors are so wonderfully sheer that it would have been impossible to show you the color well unless without a very heavy layer.
Paula’s Choice Healthy Finish Pressed Bronzing Powder SPF 15 (Healthy Tan)
Now, you might prefer a tan color with no peach, since peach is a little pink and a little yellow. This pressed powder from Paula’s Choice is incredible. The application is completely blendable. It goes out quite sheer for women of softer coloring than mine. I’m not even careful with it, so well does it disappear into my skin.
Here is one fantastic color, a perfect soft golden beige. I mean, it is impressive for its absolute color neutrality. That fact, along with its sheerness allow it to blend with skin so you can’t even see it. The color is very natural. It has an SPF 15, which is good but of course you wouldn’t use it alone for sunblock.
Because the color is so believable, I apply it along the sides of my neck and on my upper chest if I’m wearing a low-neck or scoop-neck top. It evens out the skin color and provides some sunscreen, without adding so much color that it looks like blusher. This is a great and subtle way to make the face, neck, and upper chest match. It’s fast and easy. You’d have to break a sweat to get it wrong.
This product can be used as a contour as well but it is too neutral to work as a blush. You’d need some kind of rose accent high on the cheek or you could look a little flat. Actually, that’s probably true for any bronzer. The color neutrality of this one is what makes it unique.
In the picture below, the swatches are all applied in equal (heavy) quantity to compare the colors, and also to show you the bronzers next to a standard pressed face powder. I used Paula’s Choice Pressed Face Powder SPF 15 in Neutral, suitable for light to medium type coloring. You can see that the Healthy Tan swatch has more pigment but it is an extremely versatile golden brown for almost any light to medium skin.
If you’re a Summer
Remember what this coloring looks like? Your skin has pink undertones, rather than yellow. Your hair color is more ash, less warmed up with gold or chestnut. Check the excellent book Color Me Beautiful by Carole Jackson if you’re uncertain.
Where yellow gold looks great on Kate Hudson, it doesn’t suit Drew Barrymore. Kate could wear a cantaloupe-colored blouse, peach cheeks and lips, and look great. Drew would run screaming and find herself a pink top and a pink lipstick and cheek color. She doesn’t radiate yellow like Kate does.
Some summers are very fair, like Michele Pfeiffer. Her hair, eyes, and skin are all of a soft color intensity. Putting any powder on her with too much yellow in it will look a little jaundiced.
For women of very pale cool coloring, the best compromise is to buy a face powder that’s a little deeper than the perfect match. You’re looking for a soft beige. If you’d like to try the Paula’s Choice powder, just ask them to send you a sample. Look for Samples, in the left column under Shop Paula’s Choice. Since a natural tan is always a little golden, many summers will be able to wear Healthy Tan very well. Just follow with a cool rosy blush high on the cheekbone, a little closer to the center of the face than you might usually apply it, right under the eye.
A different way to apply bronzer
We’re told to apply bronzer where the sun would hit the face – so cheekbones, forehead, chin, bridge of nose. Somehow, that seems opposite to me. You don’t want brown cheeks or a glowing forehead.
You might try dusting a bronzer all around the outside edges of the face, and working it a little inward on the sides of the forehead, just under the cheekbones, just under the jawbones, along the sides of the nose, and a little on the chin. Then use what’s left on the brush to blend it really well on the rest of the face. Don’t forget to work a touch of color over your ears and around the back of the neck so there are no lines of demarcation.
This is me with the AboutFace bronzer. I look a little sideways because I’m hoping you can see it on the forehead, sides of the nose, and around the cheek (but not right on top of the cheek, that’s where the rose blush goes). And, because this is my life after all, there’s a kid bugging the photographer and I’m requesting that he cease and desist.
You can easily create an incredibly healthy and natural look to greet summer and transition seamlessly from winter pale into the stronger colors of deep summer. Enjoy these products. They are both superb.
[Edit April 22/09: A week ago, I finally became a color analyst myself. While I think Ms. Jackson's book is deserving of the popularity it achieved in the 1980's, the color analysis world has gotten much bigger for me. It now encompasses several different systems, each with its particular strengths.]
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Comments
8 Responses to “2 Beautiful Bronzers for Early Summer”
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Just found your site via a referral in Paula’s weekly newsletter. Thanks for the demo of bronzer and how you use it.
Like you, I have looked at various bronzers over the years, and found them too—well, you know..lol. You left out irridescent—why do manufacturers feel compelled to make everything shimmery?
I need to order some other items from Paula’s, so will give this a try. And btw, love your haircut—-looks easy. I may “steal” it!
You have a nice site here—enjoying checking it out.
I just found your blog (via Paula Begoun, you famous woman!) and I love it. It’s a gentle glove-slap on the face of The Man, who tells us that we shouldn’t grow older–that aging is bad. Look at you! You’re fabulous! And now I want to try a bronzer. Thanks for this wonderful, though-provoking blog. I’ll visit often!
Found your site via a mention in Paula’s weekly newsletter. Like what I’ve read so far, and will check out your older posts.
Thanks for the tips and demo of bronzer use. I’ve looked at many, tried a couple, but never had much luck. Colors not right, too much shimmer (why do folks think shimmer looks good in broad daylight? Dunno…) The rare matte looked muddy.
Need to order some skincare anyway, so will give this powder a try.
@ Mary , What was I thinking ?? or more correctly, NOT thinking ? You brought up the most important thing in a bronzer : no sparkles!! And you’re right, most of them are glittery. It doesn’t matter how old or young you happen to be, it looks silly.
@M – thanks so much for stopping by. Glad you found some good things. I hope you enjoy the bronzers. As I said in the article, the only woman who would have to take care with too much gold pigment is a very light cool type. And one of the many great things about Paula is that you can request samples.
@Mary , as you can see, there are many women like us who don’t want to sparkle. It should be a diffusion of colors into one another. I seem to prefer more sheer color as I get older, so these bronzers are perfect in that respect. I also refuse to spend $45 or whatever the high end ones go for. Good to hear from you.
loved your article on blusher and your picture is just lovely— very inspiring– saw your site today on Paula Begoun’s webwsite— she has good judgment, I think. I am eager to read more on your site. thanks, karen raulerson
Karen,
Thanks, and welcome!