Bronzers! My Favorites, Swatches, and How-To

It's Summer time which means the perfect makeup (for me at least) is looking sun kissed and glowy. The way for me to achieve that is following my bronzing routine! Here are the bronzers I own (and love <3) and how I use them:

1. NARS 'Laguna' bronzer (this is a sample size so only 2.5g) full size: $34 for 8g
2. MAC bronzing powder in 'Refined Golden': $24 for 10g
3. Hoola Bronzing Powder by Benefit: $28 for 8g
4. NYC Smooth Skin bronzing powder in 'Sunny': $2.89 for 9.4g

NARS Laguna is described as a 'diffused brown powder with golden shimmer.' This one is really soft and natural looking when applied. Since I have such a small container, I like using this for contouring my cheek bones. The shimmer is very subtle but leaves your skin glowing. This color is also said to be ideal for all skin tones.
MAC bronzing powder is a 'finely spun golden with soft pearl.' This is their lightest bronzer and I like it for bronzing all of my face.  It is pretty sheer on application but certainly buildable.  Due to the shimmer, it is a bit gritty to the touch, but you don't feel it at all on your face.
Hoola by Benefit is an extremely pigmented and soft matte bronzer.  Since it's matte, I apply this first to the hollows of my cheekbones and temple area as well as under my chin. I use this more as a contouring powder. It is super soft but warning: It is very easy to put too much product on the little brush applicator!
NYC Bronzing powder is wonderful especially considering how inexpensive it is. It is matte and a lovely color for a quick brush over the whole face for some color. It is soft to the touch and I really like this one! If you're just getting into bronzers I highly recommend this one!

NARS, MAC, Hoola, NYC

Contouring vs Bronzing:

Contouring the face is when you are making the natural angles of your face a bit more defined. You can make this is dramatic or as subtle as you like.  To contour, you can focus color on the hollows of the cheekbones (right underneath where your cheeks stick out. If you can't find this then make a fishy face!), as well as your temples (diagonally up from your eyes).  You can also lightly focus color around your hairline which helps blending of color into your hairline, and you can place color right on the edge of your jawline to emphasize your jaw structure.
Bronzing the face is kind of the opposite of contouring.  Rather than placing color in the hollows of your face where there would naturally be shadows, you are going to place color where the sun would naturally hit you! That means you are placing color on the top of your cheekbones, your forehead, down the center of your nose, and just a touch of color on your chin.  This will give you that sun kissed glow everyone's after in the summer!
Contouring and bronzing is all about playing with shadows and lighting, basically tricking an onlooker into seeing more definition than is really there. When you get really good at it, you can really dramatize your look while still not looking like you're wearing a ton of makeup.
I would recommend using darker matte colors like Hoola for contouring and using the more sheer colors like the MAC or NYC bronzing powders for bronzing all over the face.
I hope this was helpful and let me know what your favorite bronzing powders are!

xxSJ