Deminishing the Fears of Bronzing

*Press Samples

My hesitation to bronze stems from a fear of the unknown. The fear of not knowing what shade to use and the fear of not knowing how to apply it. On some base level, I knew that "too orange" was bad. "Too orange" sounds like something I should avoid and its the automatic descriptor of bronzers gone wrong. But whenever I swatch bronzers, I have no real base comparison for what "too orange" even means. As with some other beauty topics, I'm just bumping around in the dark, trying to figure it out.

Make Up For Ever has released their Pro Bronze Fusion* ($42CDN, 0.38oz) powders. These come in a luminous matte and a softly iridescent finish for light, medium and dark skins making a range of six shades. They are supposed to blend seamlessly, have a waterproof gel-powder formula, and give a weightless, silky smooth glow with a non-powdery finish. I approached these with hesitation but curiosity.

The two light shades are 10M Natural Matte Honey and 15L Soft Iridescent Amber. I've noticed that all bronzers are a bit orange and at least some level of skin darkening is necessary to make them work. For someone who prefers to maintain her winter paleness throughout entire year, bronzing might not be a good beauty fit, add on my fears of bronzing and I've got solid product avoidance complex.

Still, I swatched this with the intent to get over it. 15L has a definite sheen in comparison to 10M. It leans more grey, is slightly darker and might be more suited towards my skin tone. 

I tentatively applied these with the 136 Pro bronze Fusion Kabuki* ($38 CDN) which is flat, dense and has a combination of straight and wavy 100% synthetic fibers. Pressing and swirling the brush into the pan is absolutely necessary. The powders don't seem to get picked up that easily and 10M was slightly harder to pick up than 15L. First application may be sheer depending on product pick up.  Bronzer noobs can safely apply this without fear of over application. The shades build up well and if you did press your brush into the pan, you can get good color right away.

My eyes were a little more pleased with the results and color from 15L. This shade seems to work a bit better for me and the luminosity is just the perfect amount of sheen that I like. This has been my first real experience with bronzing (I even watched the MUFE tutorial on how to use the powders to make sure I did it right) and I'm actually quite liking the look. The powder stayed on through the day and I noticed how attractive and Summer appropriate the face appears with a slight dusting of bronze around the perimeter of the face. The build-ability and blend-ability of these powders have decreased my fear of bronzing and I might even get on board with getting a slight tan this Summer..maybe. This has just been a nice reminder that sometimes you just need to try something to get over your fears. 

Do you bronze? Do you know how to bronze?