June 25, 2012

Bronzed Face for Fair Skin

I noticed that a lot of people have questions about bronzer and application so this post is just to give you my advice on applying it to the face and creating a nice natural tan appearance for fair skinned individuals.
For some reason I've noticed a lot of people say to apply bronzer where the sun would naturally hit your face. I find that to be horrible advice, especially for fair skinned individuals like myself that naturally sunburn and possibly freckle. However, if you want to add a light highlight shade to your face than you would want to apply that where the light would naturally hit your face. I find that applying bronzer to the contours of your face is much more appealing and doesn't give you that dirty appearance if it had been applied to where the light naturally hits. You also want to blend your contours expanding it out a bit on the areas where light doesn't naturally hit your face but focus most of it around the sides of the forehead, under the neck, along the jaw line and the sides of your nose.

Applying a blush will look more natural than just adding a tan shade to a fair complexion and it can also make for a more youthful appearance. Being fair skinned and knowing that when you get sun you probably turn a pinkish shade I like to use a very light pink blush on the apples of my cheeks and sometimes the bridge of the nose (avoid the tip of the nose so you don't look like Rudolf!) during warmer months. During winter months I'd go with a bit more intense blush shade since you will be exposed to the cooler climate and you probably won't get sunburn (unless you happen to be skiing!).

I'd also advise using a tinted moisturizer (or mix some of your liquid foundation with your face moisturizer) all over your face and neck if you're fair skinned and want to look a bit tanner or add more color to your complexion, this will help give you an all around tan appearance when followed with my bronzing advice above.

You probably don't want to neglect your eyes when going for a naturally tan look so apply an off-white matte shade (or skin tone shade) all over the lid (or a gold shade) along with an off-white shimmer shade under the brows, you can then either use the bronzer you applied to your face or a similar colored eyeshadow blended into your crease. You may also want to darken your brows slightly with an eyebrow shadow if they are blonde in color. Add some brown or black-brown mascara to your lashes and your eyes are complete (you can also line your eyes or add a bit more depth to the eye with a dark brown eyeshadow if you want to be a bit bolder).

With a nude tan face on fair complexions almost any lipstick shade will work but I'd probably avoid the pale pastel shades which can make you look too washed out, especially during summer months. For a more natural tan approach try a bronze lip color (like Rimmel's lipstick in Summer Angel).

No comments: