Starting Off: Bronzer

Hey guys and welcome to this weeks installment of the Starting Off project. In this post we're talking all about bronzer. I do much prefer using bronzer in the summer months to enhance my natural tan, but there are other uses for it that I shall delve in to. This isn't going to be a long post because I don't really feel there's an awful amount to say on the topic, but I'll let you know which product I use and how to apply it.

So I use a mega cheap bronzer and it is this little delight from VIVO which is available at Tesco. This bronzer costs a mere £5 and I really do love it. The shade I have is Healthy Glow. This bronzer has the absolute tiniest amount of shimmer in it so it really does give you a healthy glow.

I apply this bronzer using the Real Techniques Contour Brush, which can be found in the Core Collection set. This brush is the perfect size for applying bronzer in the hollows of your cheeks to contour your face.

But what is contouring? Basically, it is using makeup to sculpt your face in order to enhance your bone structure - it can even make your face look slimmer. Sounds scary, right? Well, done wrong it can look pretty scary. In order to fully contour your face you will need highlighter, blusher and of course, bronzer. Now take a look at my scary clown face below. The brown areas are where you should apply bronzer, the pink areas for blusher and the white areas for highlighter. 

If this all looks a little overwhelming for you I would stick to applying bronzer to the temples of your forehead and the hollows of your cheeks. The reason we apply bronzer to the hollows of our cheeks is to make our cheekbones look more prominent. Simply suck in your cheeks and pout like a fish, then sweep bronzer where the hollows appear. Make sure you blend very well so there are no obvious makeup lines. You really only want to use a bronzer a couple of shades darker than your skin colour to keep it natural looking. If you would like to move on to more advanced contouring then read on...

Right, so you can also make your nose look slimmer with the clever use of bronzer. Take a small, slim brush such as a small eyeshadow brush and draw two lines down each side of your nose, where the cartlidge ridges. Join these two lines at the septum as shown in the diagram. Then take a larger brush and blend, blend, blend! You can also apply a cream or powder highlighter down the centre of your nose to enhance this look. Applying highlighter to the very tops of your cheekbones can also enhance the killer cheekbones you have created with your bronzer.

Really that's all there is to say. Just follow the diagram and blend like your life depended on it. I tend to stay away from bronzer in the winter months when my skin is paler, but if you're lucky enough to have olive-toned skin then you can use bronzer all year round.