Bronzer Blitz

So it’s the beginning of October and, as the rain pouring down my window confirms, summer is officially over.  It is a sad fact of life that university lifestyle can quickly reverse the rejuvenating effects of two months of travelling and that by week two the Joyful greetings of “you’re so tanned!” will inevitably be replaced by the not-so-helpful observation that “you look tired.” Fresher’s week is undoubtedly the prime culprit for this premature loss of summer glow. One (or two) weeks of heavy drinking, sleep deprivation and late night pizzas miraculously accelerates the inescapable effects of British winter, leaving us looking less San Tropez and more sick bay.

It is at this time of year that a decent bronzer becomes essential. I know that there is a trend for nude make-up at the moment (I read a horrible article the other day encouraging women to ditch mascara) but I strongly believe that unless you’re going to spend a lot of time painstakingly applying and blending perfectly matched concealer, there is nothing like a good sweep of bronzer to perk up a flagging complexion. Don’t get me wrong here. I am certainly not advocating that we all follow jaundiced Julian’s lead (Bridget Jones’ Diary anyone?). No. In the house we all agreed that a natural glow was the goal, we all wanted to look sun kissed rather than sun-abused.

So with this in mind I tentatively embarked on my first mission to find five bronzers for under £5. First impressions suggested a surprising range of products available within my price range. Nevertheless, closer inspection revealed that a lot of these were in fact bronzing pearls. Now in my opinion these are pretenders to the bronze crown, all style over substance and irritatingly impractical. They’re either too hard and require significant grinding before they can be used or they’re too soft and get stuck in a large brush. Also if you’re applying them post-first beverage and are as clumsy as I am, chances are a high percentage of them will end up on your bedroom floor. However there is no reason to despair. I did manage to dig out five real bronzers for testing and the results are as follows...

1st Maybelline Dream Sunglow in 03, (£4.99) – 4/5 We unanimously agreed that this was the winner. Despite its strong smell (a bit like Talcum powder) it had a good natural colour, very much on the golden, sandy spectrum. Although fairly dark, it had a firm consistency which worked well to build up layers. This made it versatile- a hit with Bekki (my olive skinned) housemate but also Grace who’s more English rose.

 

2nd 17 Instant Glow Bronzer Powder (Light), (£3.99) - 3.5/5- Now this was an interesting one. It was a lot looser texture-wise than I’d normally go for but because it was fairly light (pinky/peachy undertones) it produced decent, natural looking coverage. It warmed up the skin nicely and could be used carefully as a powder foundation but was a bit disappointing as a bronzer.

 

3rd Natural Collection Suntint Bronzing Powder in Golden Glow, (£1.99) - 2/5- A controversial one. Again it was quite powdery so unless you were careful it was easy to end up with patchy results. Bekki found it suited her skin tone and interestingly enough Grace (pale) also rated it highly. However as her reason for doing so was that you didn’t need much of it, I’m not sure whether that wasn’t the stingy student in her taking it one step too far. The rest agreed that it was too dark for the majority and that the Natural Collection did not produce natural results.

 

4th Bronzing Powder by H and M, (£4.99) - 2/5- This scored very highly on packaging but really it was a bit of a terracotta terror. Good things about it were the size (good value for money) and the fact that it had an inbuilt mirror which none of the others tested did. Nevertheless it was definitely too red, consequently producing alarming results when applied to Grace. It was also far too big to take on a night out unless, ironically enough, you are Grace and like to take a small suitcase out with you.

 

 5th Miss Sporty Ooh! Tan So Fine Bronzing Powder 001 (£1.99) - 1/5 A perfect example of a good idea poorly executed. Comprised of two tones, this bronzer promised the possibility of colour mixing according to personal preference. However, as the large metal ridge running through the centre quickly puts pay to any attempt at combination, unless you want stripes, there’s nowhere really you can go. Thankfully it’s so hard that unless you beat it to a fine pulp you’re not going to get much colour from it anyway. Nims, in a moment of rare generosity, commented that it would be a good one to take out as you wouldn’t mind it getting smashed on a club floor. The biggest compliment Bekki bestowed was that it smelt like her old furby. Nice.