My favorite cream bronzers for pale skin
Who doesn’t love a sun-kissed makeup look year round?
The key to finding the right bronzer for fair skin is to make sure you only buy a shade or two darker than your natural skin tone. Undertones are crucial to choosing the right bronzer so test and swatch whenever possible.
As someone with a pale complexion it can be tricky shopping for a cream bronzer. The purpose of bronzer is to help warm up the face but depending on the undertone, it can look orange or muddy. For reference, I have fair skin with a neutral, leaning cool undertones.
1. Makeup by Mario Skin Enhancer in Light
It’s marketed as a “tinted complexion balm” but basically it’s a glorified cream bronzer… and totally worth every penny in my opinion. Can you tell from the pan how often I use it? The formula is sheer but buildable and very natural looking. It gives me a pretty sun kissed glow and layers beautifully on top of foundation. This may be my favorite one out of the bunch.
2. Glossier Solar Paint in Flare
Luminous is the word I use to describe this whipped cream bronzer with a doe-foot applicator. I own two shades – Flare and Ray. I’m a G11 in Skin Tint and I found Flare to be the most flattering for my skin tone. Ray had too much of a red undertone for my complexion. If you have dry skin, applying moisturizer beforehand is a must – otherwise, it will cling to dry spots. You can shop Solar Paint here.
3. Rare Beauty Warm Wishes Bronzer Stick in Power Boost
The packaging reminds me of Clinique Chubby Sticks! The formula is creamy, easy to blend and dries down to a powder finish but the lightest shade pulls a tad more warm than neutral. I hope they expand their shade range and add more cool-toned colors because the stick makes it super convenient to travel with.
4. Tower 28 Bronzino in Sun Coast
Here’s another ‘barely there’ bronzer that is creamy and blends with just your finger. It’s made with green tea extract (which proves to be a calming antixoidant) and mango butter. It has a shimmery finish, which may not be ideal if you want something more matte or natural looking. If you have sensitive skin like me, you’ll love that it’s fragrance-free.
5. Fenty Beauty Cheeks Out Freestyle Cream Bronzer in Butta Biscuit
This was the very first cream bronzer I ever purchased and really sparked my interest in bronzers in general. No need to be a makeup artist pro to apply this. The undertone leans very neutral so it won’t be nearly as warm as the Rare Beauty stick. That said, I still found it to be slightly stiffer compared to the other cream bronzers, which may be a deterrent to purchase.
If you love powder formulas, check out another blog post on the best powder bronzers for fair skin.
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