Terra-cotta hues with a slightly reddish undertone beautifully complement tan and olive skin. Makeup artist Kasey Spickard says fair skin tones will look best with a bronzer that has neutral undertones-i.e., shades that don’t lean too warm or cool. Identify the deeper tones that surface on your chest, shoulders, and arms, and use that as a gauge.”Ī safe place to start is a color two shades deeper than your natural skin tone, then go darker if you want a contrast that’s more intense. “When selecting a bronzer, think about what naturally happens when you’re in the sun,” says Myricks. With bronzer, the goal is for it to look as natural as possible. Best Bronzer for Deep Skin: Mented Cosmetics Bronzer, $22.Best Bronzer for Medium Skin: Chanel Soleil Tan De Chanel, $50.Best Bronzer for Light Skin: Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Matte Bronzer, $35.Best Bronzer for Fair Skin: Maybelline City Bronzer, $11.Best Bronzer for Dry Skin: Saie Sun Melt Natural Cream Bronzer, $32.Best Bronzing Powder: Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Bronzer, $58.Brush up on your bronzer basics below, and then scroll on for the best bronzers according to makeup artists.

But once you know exactly what to look for, the ability to fake a glow and Bella Hadid–level cheekbones becomes far simpler. Here’s where it gets complicated: Despite bronzer’s ability to wake up your skin, so many formulas tend to be too orange, too ashy, too glittery, or just overall fake-looking. But a fantastic one can do so much more-like give the illusion of cheek filler or make it look as if you’re fresh off a trip to Ibiza when you haven’t left your couch the entire weekend. There’s the obvious: At its core, a bronzer’s purpose is to add “depth and warmth” to your skin, says Danessa Myricks, makeup artist and CEO of Danessa Myricks Beauty. But what makes a formula the best bronzer is complicated. Few things have the power to instantly transform your look the way a great bronzer does.

Brush of Shade by Jan Harman