Channel Your Inner Bronzed Goddess With These Expert Bronzer Tips For South Asian Skin Tones

Summer is all about light and energy, and a bronzed look, without tanning, is the best way to integrate the spirit of summer into your beauty routine.  Bronzing for South Asian beauties is about enhancing what you naturally own so that you look like you have captured the light, like a Goa Gal who takes morning walks along the beach.  In this blog, I will take you through the steps, from novice to advanced so that you can find your sunny spot for the bronzed look.

Bronzing – Confronting The Discomfort On The Issue Of Skin Tone

Growing up, like many South Asian children, I was chided for playing out in the sun because my skin would get darker. I still played and swam but when my acne scars became prominent as a teenager, I avoided the sun because I was embarrassed and frustrated by the contrast between my skin and the scars, as being in the sun made my scars darker.  I saw little benefit in embracing my Goa Gal, because I associated looking sun kissed with being scar prominent.

Moreover, I grew up in a time when looking tan meant resembling tangerine, as in when I experimented with bronzer I could look like a laddoo or worse, gajjar ka halwa.  Looking orange was never an ideal goal, and out of frustration I consigned bronze make-up as something for California Girls, not girls like me.  However, with time, the technology changed and the unfortunate, orange-tinged shades were replaced with warmth and more importantly, bronzing products started to be produced for women of colour, so our nuances and shades were enhanced, not covered in unfortunate shades of orange.

The shift in technology caught my attention, and the Goa Gal that I had set aside all those years ago, now occupies a hallowed place in my repertoire of looks because brown skin should be celebrated all year round especially when the sun is at its brightest.

Novice – Add A Few Drops And Glow

If you have never tried a bronzing product, I recommend using glow drops such as Tula Bronze Boost Glow Bronzing Drops, which is a bronze liquid that serves two purposes: i) the bronze pigment infuses your face cream, skin tint or foundation with a sunny glow so you look sun kissed, and ii) adds to the skin, copper peptides and niacinamide that brighten the complexion and strengthen the skin barrier.  You can add a pea-sized amount to your cream and massage it in to get an instant beach look.  This method of bronzing affords you a maximum control over intensity because you decide how many  droplets to add.  Moreover, since you moisturise your skin, the bronziness is extended to your neck, so the look is natural from forehead to neck.

Tinted – Level 2 And Lots Of Fun

Skin tints are a summertime staple because they are lightweight, sheer and infuse the face with freshness.  Skin tints, unlike foundation, are about intensity, so you do not need an exact match as with foundation since the product is sheer.  The tintm should be selected based on tone (warm, neutral, cool,) and intensity (light, medium, tan and dark).

If you are unsure of your skin tone, I recommend that you look at several factors to determine your skin tone:

• If your skin glows with gold jewellery, this indicates warm.
• If you skin shimmers with silver jewellery, this indicates cool.
• If you rock both gold and silver jewellery, this indicates neutral.
• If the veins on the inner wrist are green, this indicates warm.
• If the veins on the inner wrist are bluish, this indicates cool.

I am impressed with the newly launched Benefit Dew La La All Over Liquid Highlighter (6 shades available) because it is subtle and sophisticated. When I think highlighter, I think ethereal, pearlescent effect, so I was a tad nervous that I would look like a brown pearl when I tried it.  I divided a pea-sized amount between my chin, cheeks and forehead.

I then used my favourite brush, the Shiseido DAIYA FUDE Face Duo: Double-Ended Makeup Blending Brush, because it a thick, softly bristled brush that blends liquid seamlessly into the skin, leaving no streak marks.

The product is sheer, and since I have some brown spots on my cheeks and some darkness at the corners of my mouth, I used the other end of the brush, which is covered in a dome shaped jelly applicator, to spot apply a brightening concealer.  I recommend a sheer liquid formulation such as the Kulfi Concealer (21 shades available), because its lightness will work smoothly with the highlighter. The result was that I spent the day strutting around with a luminous, softly lit look that evokes the start of the crepuscule.  I felt so confident in my brown skin because my shade, Nova, worked with my skin tone and colour to bring it to its best look.

Level 3 – Powders Are Classic!

What I love about a compact powder bronzer is that they are portable, so if your bronze look fades, you can freshen up using a fluffy powder brush (see below for application tips).  In this category, I found three types that are worth examining should you decide to embrace your Goa Gal by using a powder formulation.

If you are looking for an overall sun kissed glow, Guerlain’s The Sun Kissed Natural Healthy Glow Powder (6 shades available) is a wonderful product because the compact is composed of a mosaic of shades of similar intensity which when swirled together add a subtle boost to the skin.  It can be worn alone or atop a foundation, and it never settles in lines and adds freshness to the complexion.

If you are looking for a classic single bronzing shade that looks like you came back from a sunny beach vacation, the Vasanti Mineral Bronzer (3 shades available) is a fantastic option.  The shades were formulated for brown skin in mind, and each shade contains a hint of gold.  You only need to swipe a single swirl across the planes of the face to show off a post vacation glow.  The powder is also infused with antioxidant rich ingredients such as lotus, pea and algae extracts that nourish the skin.

If you have oilier skin or want a classic seventies bronze look, the Benefit Hoola Matte Bronzer collection (4 shades available) is a great option. This bronzer intensifies your lovely brown skin, so you look unapologetically tan, and since it is matte, you do not need to worry about looking greasy.  In this instance, matte does not mean flat, because the powder is silky and smooth, so it hugs the skin and never settles into the lines.

For all three powders, I recommend using a smaller-sized powder brush such as the IT Cosmetics Heavenly Luxe Wand Ball Powder Brush #8 because its bristles are soft and splay out easily when pressed against a surface.  The splaying effect is important because the sun’s rays are imprecise, so bronzer should be applied in a soft swirl on the raised areas of the face, i.e. the cheeks, forehead, lower tip of the nose and chin.

Level 4 Sun In A Stick

Over the past few years, cream bronzers in a stick format have become increasingly popular.  I like their portability because the sticks tend to fit easily into all types of makeup pouches and you can literally swipe on the sun.  The creaminess of the formula means that beauties with normal to dry skin would enjoy it.  I am impressed with the Rare Beauty Warm Wishes Effortless Bronzer Stick (8 shades available) because it glides on easily, blends in seamlessly and stays on for a full day.

Given its stick format, it is tempting to apply the bronzer as one would a contour stick but remember, a contour stick is designed to add shadow to the face to create dimension, whereas a bronzer is designed to create the illusion of the sun’s kiss.  For a bronzing stick, I recommend applying dots to the raised areas of the face (see above) and then using your fingers to tap and blend it into the skin.  I like the tapping motion because again, as with the powder, the goal is to apply a sunkissed look to a general area in an imprecise manner.

Bronzed Body

My face and neck are always darker than my legs because for 8 months of the year I wear pants and during the summer, I do not sit on the beach and tan.  However, when I wear a skirt the paleness of my legs is painfully obvious.  I recommend adding a tan product to your bodycare routine so that you looked sunkissed all over.

If you have a caught a few of the sun’s rays, an oil like the Nuxe  Huile Prodigieuse® Or is a great option because it hydrates the skin with rich, repairing oils such as Tsubaki, Aragan, Macadamia, Borage, Camellia, Hazelnut ands Sweet Almond.  Additionally, the formula contains  little  flecks of golden mineral pearls that create a soft shimmer on the skin, making the legs in particular look longer and sexier.

If you are like me, and have pale, pasty legs, Clarins Self Tanning Instant Gel will create the illusion of sunned gams.  Prior to application, exfoliate your legs using a loofah or a cream exfoliator so that the cream will not settle on clumps of dead skin or hair.  Once the legs are smooth, hydrate them with a lotion so that the surface is smooth and ideal for tanning.  I use a tanning mitt and apply 2 teaspoons of product on it and apply the gel using an upward strokes on the leg, starting from the toes, moving up to the thigh.  I wait for a few minutes and if I need more colour, I add a second layer.  The product imparts an instant sunny glow and you are ready to go.

Bronzed Brown Beauties

Summer’s light belongs on brown skin, because we are designed to look warm and festive.  Depending on your comfort level and previous experience with bronzing products, you can find your inner Goa Gal and strut like a bronze goddess as we saunter into warm weather and endless summer nights.

Featured Images: @kareenakapoorkhan. Photo Credit: Instagram