It's In The Details

Today's post is a little snippet of what I've been reaching for a lot in the past couple of weeks - just a quick insight into my current loves.

Nars Sheer glow is the perfect day time foundation for me. I apply it with a beauty blending sponge (I love the Real Techniques Miracle Sponge), creating a thin layer for a natural day time coverage. You can also use a slightly heavier application, by layering the foundation for a more full coverage, yet natural, appearance. Although my skin tends to get slightly greasier on the t-zone area, I have had no issues with this product in terms of excessive oiliness - I tend to carry my Mac MSF with me everywhere anyway. For concealing any stubborn blemishes, I dab this Bare Mineral's 'bisque' concealer and it does a great job at covering scars!

Nars Laguna bronzer is a very natural 'glow' looking colour on my yellow tone skin, and although it doesn't add much in the bronzing department, it does a great job at creating a defined and *contoured* face. If you want a lot of warmth and depth of colour added to your complexion, and you have medium-yellow toned skin, I would suggest you give Nars Casino a go.

On lazier days, I ditch the winged liner and apply a swipe of this Sephora brown eyeliner closer to the lash line, just enough to add slight definition and then I coat the lashes with a mascara that separates the lashes whilst creating volume - this Mac Haute & Naughty mascara is great for that! I also put a stroke of this 'highlight' shadow by Mac, into the tear duct area to create the illusion of a wider and brighter eye. Finally, I've been finishing my minimal look with my one of my all time favourite Mac lipsticks, Yash.

As a self acclaimed lover of all things silver, I'm always reaching for a few silver bits of jewelery to complete my outfit. I've rediscovered this aztec inspired piece from Primark - the assortment of stone colours really stand out on an all black outfit, and this necklace just gives off a very vintage vibe. Love it.

Top 5 bronzers – Featuring: Soleil tan de Chanel, Nars Laguna, Dior Bronze Amber etc.

 

Finding the right bronzer for your skin tone can sometimes be a tiring task, some are wary of looking too orange, or perhaps looking ‘dirty’. And despite the thrill that comes with purchasing new makeup products, sometimes a splurge can end up being a waste of money if you are left with a product that just does not work for you. Factors such as tone, colour, texture, are all definite things you should consider, however you must also ask yourself what look you want to achieve. A natural, healthy glow? A sun kissed skin effect? A heavily structured and contoured face? Or perhaps you lean towards the Jersey-Shore-girls side of things? All that is entirely up to you and will play a part in the product you choose whether it be one shade darker, or more, shimmery or matte etc.

Here, I have created my top 5 favourite bronzers, and I hope this insight will help anyone on the hunt for a new bronzer. (In order of swatches left- right: Soleil Tan de Chanel, Mac Format, BareMinerals Warmth, Dior Amber Bronze, NARS Laguna)

Chanel  Soleil Tan de Chanel: This product is ideal for those who are looking for a multi purpose-bronzing product. It works well as a standard bronzer, a tanning effect makeup base to be used under or in conjunction with foundation, a complexion enhancer to be used alone, cheek colour, or as a contour colour. It consists of a light creamy-mousse texture leaving a velvety finish on the skin. The colour could be applied with a light hand to create a subtle apricot glow. I find this product to work best with the Real Techniques Expert Face brush.

 Mac's blusher  in Format appears shimmery in the pan, but actually applies as a subtle golden glow throughout the super pigmented pink toned brown bronzer. This is definitely another buildable colour, and depending on your skin tone you should decide on application. For lighter skin tones this will make your skin appear way too red, although I think this will work as a great bronzer for medium-darker skin tones. The depth to this blusher works as a great 2in1 bronzing and contouring colour on my skin and I use this with the Real Techniques Contour brush.  

Bare Minerals  all over ‘warmth’ is a heavily pigmented mineral loose powder, which requires careful application. Due to the powders colour depth it can be quite dark, and therefore a little goes a very long way! It has slight shimmer passing through it, adding to the flushed glow it creates. As it’s very pigmented and quite dark I use this as a contour colour and I find the Real Techniques Contour brush collects the right amount of colour on the tip of the slight tapered brush for controlled application.  
 

Dior Amber Bronze: This bronzer is my favourite as it’s perfect for medium skin tones, the finely milled powder is orangey-brown in tone and can definitely be applied in layers to build up the colour intensity. If your complexion is already warm in tone, this powder will enhance a golden sun kissed colour. This bronzer has an ever so slight hint of shimmer running through it, which complements the glow it creates. I do not recommend Amber Tan for those with lighter complexions, as it will probably end up creating the dreaded Oompa Loompa orange. To create an overall glow to the face, I apply this with the Real Techniques Blush brush.

Nars Laguna  is well raved about and I can understand why. This is my go-to bronzer on casual days where I am looking for a ‘no makeup-makeup look’. Laguna is a finely milled dusky brown powder defused with subtle golden shimmers. This bronzer is not orange at all and therefore can be used for a natural golden tan glow or as a contouring shade. I use this to add colour to my complexion using Sigma’s F25 Tapered Face brush.

What are your favourite bronzers? 

xo