How-to: wear bronzer if you're fair-skinned

Having fair skin can be both a blessing and a curse. You’re often envied for your milky-white complexion, but while other women get tans during the summertime, all you seem to end up with is sunburn. Thankfully, there is a way to cheat that lightly bronzed, glowing look with a bronzer that works with your fair skin. Here’s how to find the one that’s right for you and work it like a make up artist…
Bronzers suitable for fair skin
Opt for honey coloured bronzer powders or bronzers with pink and peach undertones to add warmth to your light skin. Try The Body Shop Honey Bronze Bronzing Powder in Light or Benefit 10, with it’s light pink highlighting powder, perfect for creating a soft glow.
How to work it like a make up artist
For true make up artist prowess, apply a light sweep of a peachy hued blush before your bronzer to soften the look, like Natio Blusher in Peach Glow. The peach pigments layered beneath the bronzer will create a much more realistic natural glow. Next, grab a big, fluffy bronzer brush. If you use a small brush, you will end up with a much harsher result, so invest in a really good large brush to lightly disperse bronzing particles evenly over your face, like Clinique’s Bronzer Brush.
To apply, simply swirl the brush in your honey bronze shade a couple of times then tap the base of the wand on a counter to get rid of excess. Now sweep the brush in light, even strokes over your face, taking care not to go over any area more than once. A white neck can ruin an otherwise natural looking glow, so be sure to sweep over your neck and down to your collarbone once you’ve finished on your face.
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39 Member Comments
This article does not seem to talk about the placement of bronzer on fair skin. Bronzer needs to be applied much like a contour on fair skin, and then blend out to create a slightly more bronzed look. I usually overlap the placement of a peach-coloured blush with the edges of where the bronzer stops to create a more blended and natural look.
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Some girls are so skilled in this, you would never tell their real complexion
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I am fair skinned so alway like articles about how to improve my look.
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Interesting read, the comments are helpful too.
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I am not fair skinned but my daughter is, she won't wear bronzer. I'll have to show her this article.
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Look for those brands who have lighter shades
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I only just recently started using bronzer
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I find it hard to apply the right amount of bronzer. But a trick I use is to dab the dots on the face first to evenly distribute the products on both cheeks (or wherever needed) then blend it out when the brush isn't loaded with product. Also blending out with a loose powder can help to get a seamless contour
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Interesting article for fair-skinned people like me to read. I have avoided bronzers as I've seen them on others and they look fake and not flattering.
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i would never have thought to apply flush first! great idea bh xx
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Thank you for the bronzer recommendations! Big help!
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Funnily enough I'm very fair - NC15-NC20, but I tan up in summer quite well. Without actively trying at all I go quite golden! I try to wear SPF as often as I can, but I still darken. I think I'm going to turn into a hat person this year :P
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Great advice!
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I've always been afraid of applying bronzer to my fair skin, but no more!
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I found the body shop bronzer had too much gold in it and didn't give me a natural sunkissed look
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I'm fair skinned so I only like to apply a little as sometimes it can look a little too obvious if your heavy handed and this isn't a good look.
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I'm still looking for the right brush. Everything seems to be either too small or massive.
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As a very light skinned girl, these tips were very helpful..thanks!
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I will have to practice this thanks bh!
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I have found a lot of bronzers make my face look dirty. Now I have some ideas of what to look for. Thanks!
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I'm fair skinned and have got bronze wrong so many times, so i'm loving this article.
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this helps...ALOT! ive used bronzers in the past where it looked like i had been punched in the face.
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