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BECCA Cosmetics / Business Insider
With bronzer, getting a sun-kissed glow can be easier - and safer - than sunbathing for hours.
There are a ton of formulas and finishes, but instead of having you try them out yourself, we did all the hard work for you.
For the ultimate sun-kissed glow, Becca's Sunlit Bronzers are our top pick for their creamy powder formula and blendability.
Whether you have fair skin like me and want a radiant, sun-kissed color all year round, or you're trying to maintain a post-vacation glow, bronzer should be a must-have product in your makeup arsenal.
But before we even get to the products themselves, application is key.Use a big, fluffy brush to sweep bronzer almost like you're writing the number 3, starting from your temples, going under cheekbones, and finishing along the jawline. You can also use what's left over on the brush across your nose and chin, and make sure you blend it out to your ears and neck too. Less is definitely more so don't cake product onto the brush, but build up the color instead.
Bronzing powders with a matte finish are ideal in the winter months and can also be used as a contour powder, while bronzers with a shimmer are great in the summer to maintain a glow or to give you some sparkle for a night out.
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There are a lot of bronzers out there but some can be too shimmery or sparkly, others might make you look like an Oompa Loompa or even like you've just done Tough Mudder. That's why we've gone through hundreds of expert and buyer reviews to find the best bronzers, and then tried and tested them for ourselves to see if they live up to the hype.
Updated 5/30/19 by Jada Wong: Updated copy, formatting, prices, links, added Benefit Hoola Matte Bronzing Powder as our best bronzer for medium and deep skin, and swapped our best gel bronzer pick as it was discontinued for Cover FX Custom Enhancer Drops as our pick for best liquid bronzer.
For a fabulous year-round faux glow no matter your skin tone, Becca's Sunlit Bronzers are the best you can buy.
The Becca Sunlit Bronzers are my favorite. Available in five shades for a variety of skin tones, they deliver the perfect natural, luminous glow.
There are five colors to compliment any skin tone. The colors range from Bali Sands, a soft golden beige for fair skin tones, to Maui Nights, a rich sienna shade for deep skin tones. Bali Sands was amazing on my fair skin and made my complexion look radiant and healthy.
Becca's range of matte bronzers come in a creamy powder formula with a hint of luminosity. The bronzers give your skin a healthy-looking, gorgeous glow without adding too much shimmer. The powder is buildable, too, so you can go from a hint of color to just-stepped-off-the-beach bronze.
Don't just take our word for it. Allure and Byrdie recommend the Becca Sunlit Bronzers and buyers on Ulta give the range glowing reviews — no pun intended.
Pros: Variety of shades to suit all skin tones, compact is easy to carry in your bag
If, like me, you have pale and pasty skin but love a bit of color year round, the right bronzer can give you a natural-looking, healthy glow. But it can be hard to find a bronzer that doesn't make you look orange. It's ideal to go for lighter shades like peach, warm beige, or honey hues. You should avoid bronzers that have red or brown tones because it'll look comically deep and unnatural.
Laura Mercier's Matte Radiance Baked Powder is my favorite bronzer for light skin. It gives you a subtle, natural, and radiant glow. I use Bronze 02, but it comes in two other shades, one lighter and one deeper. It's great in winter months too, as it has a matte finish.
Baked powders differ from pressed powders as they are actually creams that have been baked until they're dry. This gives them a soft, velvety texture and luminous finish.
The lightweight formula is easy to apply, delivers a flawless, no-makeup look, and glides on evenly without streaking. Unlike many other bronzers, Laura Mercier's last for up to eight hours, but they don't feel heavy on your skin.
Ingredients include vitamin E, which is a powerful antioxidant, and jojoba oil to moisturize and soften the skin. This bronzer is also the perfect handbag size.
Eighteen years after Benefit debuted the original Hoola bronzer powder, it's still an iconic and best-selling item. Three more shades of the bronzer have launched since then, two of which are great for medium and deep skin tones.
People with medium and deep skin tones usually have issues finding a bronzer that actually shows up on their skin — and looks natural too. But Hoola Matte Bronzing Powder in Caramel and Toasted have been well-reviewed by shoppers and beauty editors for its blendability, versatility to double as contouring powder, intense color payoff that you can actually see on skin, and just that all-around "finally!" moment.
Several editors at Refinery29 praised the two deeper shades, with one editor who tried Caramel saying, "When Benefit announced it was creating darker shades of Hoola, my immediate reaction was: 'OMG, it's happening.' As a makeup lover, I've always heard about the greatness of this product, but when I applied the original, the shade disappeared like a setting powder. But as soon as I swiped Caramel on my hand, I knew my time had come (Alexa, play Etta James' "At Last")."
Another editor who tried the shade Toasted said, "I've known about the Hoola bronzer for years, but never tried it because — well, the original shade looked more like a setting powder for me than a bronzer. And when I saw this Toasted shade in the box, I thought it would be too red on my skin (my expectations were rather low, I admit), but the color is just the right shade to give depth to my cheeks."
The bronzer holds a 4.6-star rating on Influenster with 36,000+ reviews, and a 4.6 again on Ulta with more than 1,300 reviews. Most reviews on both sites are for the Original shade but recent reviews tout the new shades, with one Ulta shopper saying, "For reference, I'm about NC45 in MAC and 420 in Fenty and I find that the color Toasted looks very nice on my skin. It's the perfect shade to give my face some warmth and add some dimension." — Jada Wong
Pros: Great for medium and deep skin tones, very pigmented, matte finish provides versatility as a contour powder, comes with brush
For a natural, streak-free golden glow at a very affordable price, Milani's Baked Bronzers are our top pick.
You don't need to splurge to get a gorgeous, glowing complexion. In fact, we were amazed that Milani's Baked Bronzers deliver such great results for less than $10.
Milani Baked Bronzers come in three shades including Dolce, a light natural bronze that has more of a matte finish and is ideal for fairer skin, and Glow, a terracotta-toned bronze with gold shimmer suited for medium to deeper skin tones.
These bronzers are easy to apply and you only need a use a small amount for a beautifully radiant glow. Dolce looked great on my pale skin. The two other bronzers have quite a bit of shimmer, which makes them better for summer or a night out.
It's not just us who love this drugstore bronzer. As well as being highly rated by Total Beauty, Rank and Style, and Allure, Target buyers love it too. However, a few buyers reported that the color looked orange-y on their skin tone, which can happen if you're fair and use a bronzer with red or brown tones.
Pros: Great price, long lasting, includes a mirror and brush, vegan, paraben-free, phthalate-free, and sulfate-free
Cons: Some might find the two deepest colors too shimmery
For an all-natural, sun-kissed glow without a single ray of sunshine, the Bio Bronzer from W3LL People is your best bet.
I love W3LL People's products and this mineral-based loose powder bronzer is no exception. It delivers a gorgeous, radiant glow without any toxic ingredients. It's free of artificial preservatives, parabens, chemicals, dyes, fragrance, silicone, dimethicone, phthalates, sulfates, petroleum, and talc. The bronzer contains organic aloe, chamomile, and green tea to soothe and protect your skin.
The W3LL People Bio Bronzer is designed to warm the complexion, even out and balance the skin tone, and correct excess redness. Don't be put off by its cocoa color, the natural tan shade flatters a variety of skin tones from light to medium-dark and looked amazing on my fair skin. As it's a loose powder, you only need to use a small amount to give you a truly natural, healthy-looking complexion that lasts all day long.
Not only do we think this is a great bronzer, it's an Allure Best of Beauty Winner and is highly rated by Bare Beauty and most Birchbox buyers.
Pros: Free from artificial preservatives, parabens, sulphates, talc, fragrance, and phthalates, universal shade suits most skin tones, a little goes a long way
If you want to mix your bronzer with your foundation or base makeup for a seamless all-over glow, try the Cover FX Custom Enhancer Drops.
Sometimes, no matter how well you blend out your bronzer, you might still find that it can look patchy or uneven. It could be the brush you're using, the base makeup you're wearing, any dry skin you might have — and it's just too much to think about when all you want is to just glow like the sun. That's when these Cover FX Custom Enhancer Drops come in.
True to its name, this is a liquid formula that you add to your existing base makeup or even facial moisturizer to take the look from 0 to 100. This makes it look more seamless and natural, and saves you the additional step of blending.
The shade Candlelight is a really nice warm and shimmery bronzer that you can use all over when mixed in with your moisturizer or foundation, or in the 3 technique we mentioned earlier. Either way, it'll give you the healthy sun-kissed glow you've been waiting for.
At $42 for a small half-ounce jar, it can definitely seem expensive but instructions and shoppers on Sephora say you really just need one or two drops with each use. It has a 4.4 out of 5 stars on Sephora with more than 1,500 reviews. Some shoppers were disappointed by the lack of shimmer effect they saw after they applied the product, while others were blown away by the multi-faceted effect. I'd definitely say that it's subjective based on how much or little you use and your own skin tone, but it's hard to argue the efficacy of these drops when more than 1,100 Sephora shoppers rate it 5 stars. — Jada Wong
Pros: Great for many skin tones, can be blended into base makeup for an all-over glow or used on top
Cons: Expensive, shimmer levels might not be what you'd expect
