2026 Was the Summer of Bronzer—These 7 Formulas Give Me My Best Glow

Gone are the days of the heavy-handed, often orange-hued bronzers of the past. Today, the best bronzers have had something of a facelift, with more nuanced undertones, easily blendable textures, and finishes designed to mimic a natural sun-kissed glow. Not to mention, many now incorporate skin-care ingredients as an added benefit, resulting in lightweight formulas that can be worn on bare skin or layered seamlessly over other color cosmetics.

Vogue’s Favorite Bronzers

• Best Stick: Rhode Pocket Bronze, $25
• Best Airbrushed: Charlotte Tilbury Bronzing Powder, $59
• Best Sheer: Merit Bronze Balm Sheer Sculpting Bronzer, $32
• Best Bronzing Drops: Westman Atelier Sun Tone Bronzing Drops, $58
• Best Neutral Undertones: Saie SuperSuede Radiant Baked Bronzer, $32

Take, for example, Rhode’s buzzy summer launch, centered entirely around bronzed, sun-kissed skin. The collection introduced what would quickly become a bestseller for the brand: a peptide-infused bronzing stick in a format identical to its Pocket Blush. It was a reminder that bronzer is no relegated to full glam—it can be the missing puzzle piece in an everyday, pared-down makeup routine too (that’s right, minimalists! There’s no need to be afraid.) At times when sunshine is difficult to come by, bronzers can be a speedy way to make skin look healthy with little effort. Even as we bask in sunny days through the end of summer, it amps up the warmth with ease.

Plus, a good bronzer does more than just deposit a luminous sheen—with proper placement, it can enhance cheekbones, define the jawline, and add dimension to collarbones. Playing with light and shade allows you to create depth for a lit-from-with-radiance that looks deceivingly natural.

Whether you’re searching for a shimmering golden hue that doubles up as a great highlighter, or a matte brown ideal for contouring, find Vogue’s pick of the best bronzers below.

In This Story

• How to Choose a Bronzer
• How to Apply Bronzer
• What’s the difference between a contour and a bronzer?
• How We Tested
• Meet the Experts

Best Stick: Rhode Pocket Bronze

Rhode

Pocket Bronzer

Vogue’s Kiana Murden uses Rhode’s Pocket Bronze.

Best Sheer: Merit Bronze Balm Sheer Sculpting Bronzer

Merit

Bronze Balm Sheer Sculpting Bronzer

• Why We Love It: Beloved for its easily blendable texture, Merit’s Bronze Balm is one of the simplest beauty products to apply, enriched with emollient fatty acids to aid in skin’s moisture levels. Given the semi-sheer finish, it’s pretty hard to mess up the blending of this balmy stick—there’s no fear of muddy overdone bronzer here. Pro makeup artist Anastasia Vavina previously told Vogue this stick is an excellent choice for a paired-down makeup routine for a “one and done” color stick—swipe it along the eyes too for an easy, bronzed look.

More to Know

• Key Ingredients: Microfine pigments, fatty acids, silica
• Type: Semi-sheer balm
• Finish: Satin
• Shades: 5

Best Bronzing Drops: Westman Atelier Sun Tone Bronzing Drops

Westman Atelier

Sun Tone Bronzing Drops

Vogue’s Conçetta Ciarlo uses Westman Atelier Sun Tone Bronzing Drops

• Why We Love It: Both Jennifer Aniston and Helena Christensen have mentioned these bronzing drops as their go-to product for achieving a freshly-tanned look. “They lend a glow to the skin and help me build a believable tan on a variety of skin tones,” says celebrity makeup artist Suzy Gerstein, emphasizing their blendability and versatility.

More to Know

• Key Ingredients: Glycerin, mica, corn starch, carrot sativa seed oil, sunflower seed oil, vitamin E
• Type: Serum
• Finish: Radiant
• Shades: 4

Best Neutral Undertones: Saie SuperSuede Radiant Baked Bronzer

Vogue’s Conçetta Ciarlo uses Saie SuperSuede Radiant Baked Bronzer

Saie

SuperSuede Baked Bronzer Powder

Best Powder Bronzer: Charlotte Tilbury Bronzing Powder

Charlotte Tilbury

Bronzing Powder

• Why We Love It: Fans of Charlotte Tilbury’s airbrushed setting powder ought to give its corresponding bronzer a try to. Similarly, the pressed bronzing powder offers a buttery smooth texture, thanks to hyaluronic acid and silica, while mica prevents the product from going patchy. Meanwhile, the micro-milled powder blends for an airbrushed effect. Plus, given it’s soft matte finish, this bronze particularly matches a natural look.

More to Know

• Key Ingredients: Mica, hyaluronic acid, silica
• Type: Pressed powder
• Finish: Soft matte
• Shades: 8

Best Shade-Inclusive: LYS Beauty No Limits Cream Bronzer Stick

LYS Beauty

No Limits Cream Bronzer and Contour Stick

• Why We Love It: There’s much to love about Black-owned beauty brand LYS, from its shade inclusivity to its high-performing formulas. Its contour stick—a viral TikTok phenom—boasts seven shades, covering fair to deep skin tones. The formula packs green tea extract for soothing and antioxidant-rich rosehip oil for skin brightening.

More to Know

• Key Ingredients: Rosehip oil, green tea extract, sodium hyaluronate, watermelon seed extract
• Type: Cream
• Finish: Natural
• Shades: 7

Best Cream: Fara Homidi Essential Bronzer Compact

Fara Homidi

Essential Bronzer Compact

• Why We Love It: Fara Homidi knows more than a thing or two about high-end skincare-makeup hybrids. Case in point: This powder bronzer is packed with humectants and botanically- derived oils which do more than just impart a natural-looking, post-beach day glow. The formulation also delivers a dose of hit moisture with added antioxidant protection.
• Editor’s Experience: I love the way this bronzer blends. A hybrid unlike anything I’ve ever used before, it offers the best part of cream and powder formulas. The matte finish is perfect to diffuse skin while adding dimension. —Kiana Murden, beauty shopping editor

More to Know

• Key Ingredients: snow mushroom, passionfruit seed oil, squalane, hyaluronic acid
• Type: Powder
• Finish: Natural, diffused
• Shades: 4

Everything You Need to Know

How to Choose a Bronzer

It’s all about working with your natural skin tone. The experts advise looking for a bronzer one or two shades darker than your natural tone, but it also pays to understand your undertone, and whether you are cool, warm or neutral. Those with warm undertones can get away with a lot of the golden bronzers on the market, while those who are cool should look to peach hues. If you’re neutral, it can be tricky to find the perfect powder, but pink tones are best overall.

As for what consistency to go for, that’s really up to you. Oily skins typically lean toward powder formulas for their mattifying effect, but for dry or normal skin types, cream and liquid bronzers impart a very natural, glowy finsh.

How to Apply

The idea is to create sun-lit skin by applying bronzer to the areas of the face that the sun would hit naturally. While many of us grew up applying it in a “3” shape on either side of our face in pursuit of contoured cheeks, makeup artist and global senior artist for MAC, Dominic Skinner, has debunked this particular age-old trick.

“You end up with hamster cheeks!” he says. “Instead, get your brush and buff in from the top of the ear to the corner of the mouth for your first line. Then, at the same angle, apply from the corner of the eye to the temple. It creates this idea of cheekbones, whereas the ‘3’ shape blocks out the whole cheek with one color. Placement is everything.”

His other key tip is to find a blusher that is neither a traditional bronze nor blush shade—try a pinky brown hue in order to bridge the gap between your contour and skin. “It becomes a transitional color—apply the blush on the cheeks to help it all seamlessly blend in.”

What’s the difference between a contour and a bronzer?

Pro makeup artist Alexx Mayo explains the difference between a contour stick and a bronzer comes down to two aspects: undertone and product placement. Bronzers are used to add warmth to the skin to create that just-back-from-vacation look, and placed on the high points of the face, mimicking where the sun would hit. Meanwhile, contour, often a cooler and more “shadow”-like tone, is used to chisel out the natural hollows of the face.

How We Tested

When we test and review a product, we take a holistic approach to deliver well-rounded product recommendations. First, we lean on Vogue’s vast network of experts to gain professional acumen on the industry’s standout products, ones these specialists would actually use on their clients. We pair their expertise with our editorial best practices to curate the thoughtful edits you read on our site.

As it relates to bronzer, we selected the best based on the following characteristics: formula, texture, undertone, and wear time. To do this, we paired our tests of each formula with expert guidance and reviewer insights to determine which we would recommend to you.

Meet the Experts

• Tasha Reiko Brown is a Chanel makeup artist and groomer whose clients include Gabrielle Union, Michael B. Jordan, and Alicia Keys.
• Suzy Gerstein is a celebrity makeup artist whose clients include Leighton Meester, Tory Burch, and Karlie Kloss.
• Alexx Mayo is a Los Angeles–based celebrity makeup artist whose clients include Lizzo, Yvonne Orji, and more.
• Dominic Skinner is a pro makeup artist, global senior artist for MAC, and judge on BBC’s hit show Glow Up.
• Kasey Spickard is a professional makeup artist based in New York and Los Angeles with more than 10 years of experience in the beauty industry. Spickard has worked with clients such as Jenna Lyons, Kamie Crawford, and Brynn Whitfield.

Source link