Choosing Bronzer… Liquid or Powder?

Ah, May. Flow­ers are bloom­ing, birds are singing, and flocks of women are descend­ing upon makeup coun­ters, try­ing to achieve that St. Tropez glow with­out the actual St. Tropez vacation.

The urge to fake a faux glow is under­stand­able. We all know how naked we feel when strip­ping off our com­fort­able jeans to bare our legs in pub­lic for the first time. And its so easy to feel washed out when wear­ing some of spring and summer’s brighter color palettes.

But with so many dif­fer­ent bronz­ing prod­ucts available, choosing bronzer can be over­whelm­ing. What kind of bronzer will give your skin the most nat­ural beach glow.? Liquid? Powder? Mousse? Wipes? Oh my!

So let me help with that. Here are some quick makeup tips for choosing bronzer. To keep it simple, we will only cover the two main bronzer types: liquid and powder.

*And don’t worry, I have created a FREE download called The Ultimate Bronzer Guide which you can print out to remember all of these tips!

To deter­mine what kind of bronzer is right for you, let’s first con­sider your makeup lifestyle: What kind of skin do you have? Normal, oily or dry? What type of foundation do you use? On what part of your face or body do you want to focus your faux glow?

Once you have iden­ti­fied your skin type and makeup rou­tine, we can fig­ure out which kind of bronzer will work best for you. To make it eas­ier, here is a break­down of the two main types of bronzer; liq­uid and pow­der, and how you can use each one most effectively:

Liq­uid Bronzer

Liq­uid or gel bronz­ers are used best on nor­mal to dry skin types. The reason? Adding liq­uid bronzer to the already moist sur­face of oilier skins can result in a shiny hot mess. So, if you skin is oily, then you should definitely opt for powder bronzer.

Liq­uid bronzer is a very versatile product that can be worn in several ways. It can be applied with­out makeup for a nat­ural, healthy glow. If you want a little more coverage for your skin, then you can also mix it into your foundation for a sheer, shimmery coverage.

Or, if you still want the skin smoothing effects of your foundation, then lay­er your liquid bronzer on top of your foundation. You would simply add the bronzer on top of your foundation in strategic places. For more makeup tips on applying liquid bronzer, check out How to Fake it… How to Apply Liquid Bronzer .

Liquid is also the best bronzer type for use on the body. All liq­uid bronz­ers will have a “pearl” fin­ish to them, so if the dewy, glow­ing skin look is what you seek, then this is the right type of bronzer for you.

Pow­der Bronzer

Pow­der bronz­ers can be used on all skin types, and are espe­cially suit­able for oily skin. Pow­der bronz­ers are the more pop­u­lar deliv­ery sys­tem for adding glow to the skin, because they are the most user friendly. It’s hard to overdo it with pow­der bronzer.

Although most pow­der bronz­ers have a shim­mer to them, the pearl is much more refined and tends to look more nat­ural. There are also a num­ber of shimmer-free, matte bronz­ers on the mar­ket. These are an excel­lent choice for men, and are also the best option when using bronzer to con­tour your bone structure.

Be sure to check out How to Fake it… How to Apply Powder Bronzer to get some great makeup tips on applying powder bronzer.

And don’t forget to download the FREE Ultimate Bronzer Guide below! It’s packed full of makeup tips for applying both liquid and powder bronzer:

I hope these tips will help you when choosing bronzer, and happy bronz­ing! Do you have any makeup questions I can help with? Please visit my Get Glam page or ask me on Facebook @GuideGetGlam !