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Bronzers are a makeup staple, adding warmth and dimension to our faces, but finding the perfect shade can be a challenge, especially for those with cool undertones.
You don’t want a bronzer that’s going to make you look orange the second you apply it to your face, but that doesn’t mean you want to completely do away with achieving a bronzed complexion.
In this post, we’ll be sharing some of our top tips on how you can find the best bronzers for your skin undertone and skin type. Keep reading to find out more!
How do I choose a bronzer for cool undertones
Selecting the perfect bronzer for cool undertones is like finding a soulmate for your skin, which isn’t always as easy as we’d like it to be. First things first, know your undertones. Cool undertones are characterized by hints of blue, pink, or purple, so opt for bronzers with neutral or ashy undertones to complement your natural coloring.
When swatching potential candidates, consider how they interact with your skin under natural light. Warm-toned bronzers may clash, resulting in an artificial warmth that’s less than flattering.
Don’t be afraid to test and play around with different shades. Apply a small amount on your jawline or wrist and look at how it blends with your skin tone. Remember, the goal is to enhance, not overpower.
For those with cool undertones and fair to medium skin, steer clear of overly deep bronzers. Opt for shades that offer a gentle warmth, providing a sun-kissed radiance without compromising your cool undertones.
In the world of cool-toned bronzers, it’s all about harmony. Finding the right match involves a bit of trial and error, but once you’ve nailed it, your complexion will thank you with a naturally sculpted and effortlessly chic glow.
The best cool toned bronzers we think you should try
Finding the best cool-toned bronzers can enhance your makeup routine, providing a natural, sun-kissed glow without appearing too warm or orange. Here’s a list of some popular cool-toned bronzers across different price ranges.
L’Oréal Paris Infallible Fresh Wear Bronzer
L’Oréal Paris Infallible Fresh Wear Bronzer is a radiant essential that effortlessly enhances your complexion with a sun-kissed luminosity. The lightweight, long-lasting formula seamlessly blends, ensuring a fresh and flawless look throughout the day. With buildable coverage, this bronzer lets you customize your glow, adding a natural warmth to your skin without looking to orange.
This bronzer shade, Light, in particular is great for fairer complexions that want something a little more cool-toned. Like other powder bronzers, this product has a matte finish which will work great for oily skin. Just apply with a fluffy brush and you’re good to go.
Milani Silky Matte Bronzing Powder – Sun Kissed
Milani is a great drugstore brand, and their Silky Matte Bronzer Powder in the shade Sun Kissed is great for people who want neutral undertones to their bronzers. You don’t need to worry about finding the right shade anymore as this bronzer will seamlessly blend into the skin for a natural skin tone.
Use a large fluffy brush and a light hand to apply this matte bronzer all across your cheeks, forehead and nose for a beautiful warmth. Some of other shades in this range complement warm tones, but Sun Kissed is our go-to for cool-toned looks.
FLOWER Beauty Heatwave Luminous Bronzer Sunrise
FLOWER Beauty’s Heatwave Luminous Bronzer in Sunrise is a radiant delight that imparts a sunlit warmth to the complexion. The luminous formula features a perfect balance of shimmer, creating a natural and healthy glow.
Sunrise is a fair bronze shade with cooler undertones that caters to a variety of skin tones, delivering a seamless, sun-kissed finish even when it’s not the warmer months.
This bronzer looks great on everyone, it has a beautiful finish and lasts a long time on the cheeks. The finely milled powder blends effortlessly, allowing for buildable coverage and a customized level of luminosity. For those that have a hard time trying to find a cool or warm shade, good news because this product has them all.
Tarte Matte Waterproof Bronzer Park Ave Princess
Tarte’s Matte Waterproof Bronzer in Park Ave Princess is a matte bronzer boasts a waterproof formula, ensuring a long-lasting, sun-kissed glow. The shade Park Ave Princess is universally flattering, with neutral undertones that enhance the contours of various skin tones.
They do have some other shades that are more warmer tones, but this shade in particular will be a favorite among people with cool undertones and fair skin. In terms of finish, it is a matte finish but won’t look dry or cakey in any way.
Elf Putty Bronzer in Feelin’ Shady
Elf’s Putty Bronzer in Feelin’ Shady is a makeup treasure, providing a velvety formula that effortlessly melts into the skin for a sun-kissed radiance. The putty texture is uniquely satisfying to the touch, making application a delight, even for dry skin. Feelin’ Shady’s cooler undertones complement a variety of skin tones, adding a natural and luminous dimension.
This is one of the more budget-friendly cream bronzers, like the rest of e.l.fs products, which proves that luxury doesn’t have to come with a hefty price tag.
Fenty Beauty Match Stix in Amber
Fenty Beauty’s Match Stix in Amber is a contouring game-changer, offering a blendable and buildable formula that sculpts with ease. This is a proper contour shade, so it’s extremely cool-toned, but don’t let that scare you.
This product is intended to go right into the hollows of your cheekbones to give a extra sculpted look. The easy way to apply this is by sucking in your cheeks, look straight on, and see where your cheekbones are and then applying a small amount of product to this area and blend out with a brush.
Although it goes on as a cream, it does dry down quite a lot to almost give a powder finish to the cheeks. This definitely isn’t a warm bronze at all, and people with fair skin rave about it.
Physicians Formula Butter Bronzer
Physicians Formula Butter Bronzer is a tropical escape in a compact, delivering a sunlit glow with a luxurious finish to level up your bronzer game. The velvety, buttery texture effortlessly sweeps onto the skin, imparting a soft, luminous warmth.
Normally with powder formulas, you have to worry about it looking dry and cakey, but this looks so much more natural and radiant than the other makeup products we tried, it’s definitely one of the best you can get at the drugstore.
Its buildable formula caters to a customizable sun-kissed effect, suitable for various skin tones. The unique combination of pigments ensures a natural finish, steering clear of any orange undertones – perfect for achieving a natural look even on a fair skin tone.
Elf Cosmetics Halo Glow Contour Beauty Wand
Elf Cosmetics’ Halo Glow Contour Beauty Wand is a radiant secret weapon for a luminous complexion. The liquid bronzer wand’s innovative design ensures precise application, effortlessly highlighting and contouring with a single swipe.
Its creamy formula blends like a dream, leaving behind a natural, dewy finish that catches the light without drawing attention to fine lines or irritating sensitive skin. As this is a contour wand, the shades are more cool-toned to give that nice sculpted look, but they do have some warmer shades if you’d like them.
If you have fairer skin, you’ll probably like the shade ‘fair/light’ which is a very cool-toned shade that will look great on a fair complexion.
Milk Makeup Matte Bronzer
Milk Makeup’s Matte Bronzer is like sunshine in a stick – a game-changer for that effortlessly radiant look. The creamy formula feels like a dream, gliding on smoothly and blending like a breeze.
It’s one of our favorite bronzers, we just wish they’d work on their shade ranges to be a bit more broad. Packed in a handy stick, it’s a trusty sidekick for on-the-go glow-ups, and has a really nice neutral tone that will look great on cooler and warmer skin tones.
A lot of bronzers are leaning on the warmer side now, think Rare beautys warm-toned bronzer sticks, so it’s nice to have similar options that are more cool toned.
Patrick Ta Major Sculpt Creme Contour & Powder Bronzer Duo
The Patrick Ta Major Sculpt Creme Contour & Powder Bronzer Duo from celebrity makeup artist Patrick Ta, this duo is a makeup essential for achieving a flawless, sculpted look. The creme contour effortlessly blends into the skin, defining and accentuating facial features with a natural glowy look.
Paired with a complementary powder bronzer, this duo adds warmth and depth, creating a sunlit glow. The finely milled powder sets the cream contour, like a pressed powder would, ensuring that the pigments lasts for a long time.
For people with light skin tones, you’ll love the shade She’s Statuesque which is a light shade with cool undertones. For darker, or more olive skin tones the next shade up called She’s Sculpted is just a little darker, but still has those cool undertones.
Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Matte Bronzer Milk Chocolate
The Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Matte Bronzer is one of those bronzers that everyone loves for adding a touch of color to the cheeks, and now that they added a couple of new shades, people with pink undertones or yellow undertones can all enjoy this silky powder product.
Perfect for light to medium skin tones, the Milk Chocolate shade offers a natural radiance, enhancing contours and providing a fresh, healthy appearance that will make your skin look incredible even in the dull winter months. The finely milled texture allows for seamless blending, ensuring a smooth application.
NARS Laguna Bronzer
At first glance, you might not think this bronzer is going to be one of the best beauty products to achieve sun-kissed skin, but don’t let first impressions get in the way of finding your perfect bronzer.
NARS Laguna Bronzer is an iconic beauty staple celebrated for its ability to deliver a sun-kissed, natural radiance. This matte bronzing powder, with its finely milled texture, seamlessly blends into the skin, providing a warm, luminous finish without shimmer. This is one of the first bronzer products that most people will try, and never feel the need to try out another bronzer again.
There are now darker and lighter options from NARS that you can choose if you need a slightly different shade, but the original is universally flattering.
Benefit Hoola Lite Bronzer
Benefit’s Hoola Bronzer has achieved cult status in the beauty industry for good reason, it provides a universally flattering and natural sun-kissed glow. This matte bronzing powder is renowned for its smooth, blendable texture, providing a seamless application for various skin tones. The neutral undertones prevent an orange or muddy finish, ensuring a realistic tan effect.
They’ve expanded the shade range now to include golden tones for darker skin tones which is great to see. Just remember a good trick with this powder, a little goes a long way so don’t get carried away and apply too much.
Do I need a warm or cool bronzer?
Deciding between a warm or cool bronzer boils down to your makeup preferences and your natural undertones. If you’re aiming for that classic sun-kissed look with a touch of golden warmth, a bronzer with warm undertones or warm peach hues is your go-to. It seamlessly adds a radiant glow, enhancing warmth in your complexion.
On the flip side, bronzers with cool tones are perfect for those seeking a subtler contour without introducing additional warmth. Ideal for mimicking shadows and sculpting the face, they create a more natural and sophisticated appearance.
Consider your undertones—warm undertones harmonize beautifully with warm bronzers, while cool undertones align effortlessly with cooler shades. For versatility, a neutral-toned bronzer can bridge the gap, offering both contouring and a touch of warmth. Ultimately, it’s about personal preference, so whether you lean towards warm or cool, the key is to enhance your natural beauty and glow with confidence.
If you’re not sure what undertone you are, start by examining the veins on your wrist. If you have green veins, you likely have warm undertones, making warm hues like yellows, oranges, and earthy tones complement your complexion. If you have blue veins, you probably have cool undertones, making cool colors like blues, purples, and pinks flattering on your skin.
For individuals with dark skin tones, identifying undertones can be a little trickier. If you have an olive skin tone, which often has a mix of green and blue undertones, benefit from colors like gold and warm greens. Deeper skin tones with blue undertones will look better with jewel tones and cooler shades. It’s essential to experiment with various colors to see which ones look the best with your skin undertone.
Which bronzer is best for pale skin?
When it comes to choosing the best bronzer for pale skin, subtlety is key. Opt for lighter cool-toned bronzers that impart a gentle warmth without overpowering fair complexions. The goal is to achieve a natural, sun-kissed glow that complements your pale undertones. Look for buildable formulas that allow you to control the intensity, gradually enhancing your glow for a customized look.
Undertones play a crucial role, so select a cool-toned bronzer that works with your skin’s undertones—whether they’re cool, neutral, or slightly warm. Experiment with cream or powder formulations based on personal preference, keeping in mind that creams offer a dewy finish, while powders provide a matte effect. With the right bronzer, your pale complexion can radiate a luminous and effortlessly chic warmth.
