Like any bronzer, this one (which comes in two shades) was made to be used on cheeks, forehead, nose and chin. But we've actually been using it on eyelids for the easiest-to-apply shadow — it delivers a sheer wash color that makes blue eyes pop. No matter where you put it, the burnished shades (made with moisturizing mango butter) make skin look as if we've spent the day in a sunshine daze, not a makeup studio.
Technically, this vegan, prebiotic liquid-gel is billed as a skin serum, made with bio-fermented kombucha black tea and marine enzymes to reinforce the skin's barrier and hydrate. But thanks to the inclusion of caramel extract, the serum imparts a beautiful amber tint to the skin, effectively warming all-over skin tone and erasing the need for a separate bronzer.
The bummer about using powder bronzers directly over liquid or cream foundations and tinted moisturizers? They tend to grab onto base makeup and look patchy instead rather than glide across the skin for optimum blending (unless you've set your base makeup with translucent powder first, Apanasewicz says).
Cream bronzers glide over makeup and moisturizers, no setting powder step required. This vegan cream bronzer is made in an easy-to-swipe stick form for speedy application and packs hydrating mango seed butter, anti-inflammatory chaga mushroom and a shimmery gold tone that made our complexion look supremely healthier with a single swipe.
"There's a fine line between glowy and oily," Apanasewicz notes. If stacking cream products amounts to more of an oil slick than a believable faux California tan, a powder bronzer may be your best bet. After using a translucent powder to set foundation, dust your forehead, chin and cheekbones with a matte bronzer, like this vegan version — made with hydrating jojoba seed oil and silica beads — which takes the shine off of pores with a blurring effect.
A few swipes of this shimmer-flecked cream on the high planes of the face not only make us look like we've been at the beach all summer, it adds another layer of chemical-free sun protection too, thanks to a generous 12.5 percent helping of zinc oxide. (When used on lips and eyelids, this stick also makes for a very pretty tinted lip balm and sheer shadow, too.)
