The Best Bronzers for a Healthy Winter Glow in 2024
Looking washed out and pale is just part of the winter package, or at least it used to be. Nowadays, with all the great products that are available, there are plenty of good options to get that healthy glow all year round with your bronzer.
There are other ways to achieve a healthy winter glow, like fake tanning, but those are for another post and another time.
This post is all about getting a glow with bronzers! Easy to apply and customize for your skin and your mood!
We’ve put together the best bronzers for a healthy winter glow for all budgets and skin tones. There’s something here for everyone!
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1. Hourglass Ambient Lighting Bronzer
The Hourglass Ambient Lighting Bronzer is the perfect bronzer to create a subtle winter glow. And it happens to be stunning too!
Hourglass is known for its beautiful makeup that often is made from multiple shades to give you the perfect color balance.
The bronzer comes in 4 shades, including one light enough for the palest of skin colours. (Yes, that’s me!) It’s highly pigmented and applies really evenly and smoothly.
Its combination of highlight pigments and bronzing ones helps it apply beautifully and softly. Extremely lightweight, yet buildable at the same time, it’s favoured by many. And to be honest, it’s easy to see why!
Its soft coloring makes it perfect for the winter months when you don’t want anything too intense in color. A natural-looking healthy flush is what we’re after and the Ambient Lighting Bronzer gives exactly that!
The only disadvantage to the Ambient Lighting Bronzer is the price. Like all Hourglass products, the bronzer is on the pricier side. That being said, it’s a quality bronzer that will give you your money’s worth!
Hourglass Ambient Lighting Bronzer can be bought from Nordstrom / Harvey Nichols
2. Chantecaille Real Bronze Gel-Powder
Don’t be put off by the dark appearance of the Chantecaille Real Bronze Gel-Powder Bronzer. It may look really dark in the pan, but in actuality, once applied to the face it has a gorgeous, natural tint that adds the perfect amount of life to your face!
The Chantecaille Real Bronze Gel-Powder Bronzer is ideal for the winter due to its lightweight and smooth texture. It’s really easy to apply and very blendable too.
Available in two shades, none of which are orange or red, it has a neutral base which gives a gorgeous winter glow. I’d say it’s a winner!
Chantecaille Real Bronze Gel-Powder Bronzer can be bought from Nordstrom
3. Laura Mercier Matte Radiance Baked Powder
The Laura Mercier Matte Radiance Baked Powder is another super natural-looking bronzer. It comes in matching highlight shades too.
The radiance gives the bronzer a lovely glow, without making the skin look oily. It blends smoothly and is very buildable due to its beautiful velvety texture.
Perfect for the winter due to its subtle glow that is also glitter-free, the bronzer has a sheer finish and is non-drying making it ideal for the dry, cold weather! It gives the skin a beautiful healthy-looking colour with just the right amount of tint in it.
Laura Mercier Matte Radiance Baked Powder comes in 4 bronzer shades and one highlighter. The shades are perfectly right in the middle, they are not too warm, nor too cool. They are the ideal bronzers for a sun-kissed winter glow!
Laura Mercier Matte Radiance Baked Powder can be bought from Nordstrom / Look Fantastic
4. Kevyn Aucoin The Neo-Bronzer
If you love a multi-functional product then you will love this 3-in-1 powder bronzer that triples up as a bronzer, blush and highlighter! Genius, right?
Kevyn Aucoin The Neo-Bronzer has a unique gradient that’s not only pretty to look at but also enables it to be multi-use. Available in 3 shades, The Neo-Bronzer is the answer to your prayers if you’re all about minimalism and having fewer makeup products.
The bronzer is extremely natural, but also extremely buildable. You can use this palette all year round. In the winter you can get a subtle glow and in the summer, because of its buildable nature, you can get your sun-kissed tan too.
The highlighter side of the palette has a slight shimmer, the bronzer is completely matte. Both ends give the skin a natural colour that looks amazing in the winter!
Kevyn Aucoin The Neo-Bronzer can be bought from Amazon / Look Fantastic
5. Benefit Cosmetics Hoola Powder
The Benefit Hoola Bronzer is another bronzer that is amazing for pale skin as well as for the winter months! It’s really soft in colour, making it easy to apply without overdoing the tan.
It’s also perfect for getting a natural tan and glow, with this bronzer, you can definitely skip the sunbed!
The bronzer has a matte finish with a soft subtle colour to it but, is very buildable too. You can wear it during the day as well as build it up for an evening look.
Benefit Cosmetics Hoola Bronzing Powder can be bought from Amazon
6. Physicians Formula Murumuru Butter
The Physicians Formula Murumuru Butter Bronzer is particularly beneficial for the winter months, because not only is it natural looking, but it’s also infused with hydrating ingredients ensuring moisturized skin throughout the cold and drying days.
When it comes to texture, it has the best of both worlds. It has the best combination of powder and cream formulas. It applies softly like a powder and creamy like a cream, it melts into the skin locking in the moisture!
The bronzer comes in 6 natural-looking shades. One thing to be aware of is that these bronzers are lighter in color than they look. Go a shade darker than you normally would!
Physicians Formula Murumuru Butter Bronzer can be bought from Ulta
7. Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez Warm Wishes Effortless Stick
Aside from looking gorgeous on the outside, they are gorgeous from within too! These bestselling bronzing sticks by Rare Beauty are the ultimate bronzers for a natural coverage with a skin-like finish.
The non-greasy, waterproof formula glides onto the skin and is a dream to blend out! With a weightless formula, getting a healthy winter tan has never been so easy.
Its ease of use means you can use the bronzer for contouring too. It doesn’t dry out the skin or make it look cakey. A little goes a long way and its ease of use means it’s the perfect bronzer for a healthy winter glow!
Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez Warm Wishes Effortless Bronzer Sticks can be bought from Sephora
What to look out for in a winter bronzer
Wearing bronzer in the summer months is different to the winter months. In the winter you’ll want to keep the tan more subtle with less shimmer and shine.
Another factor to keep in mind is that in the winter your skin tends to be drier so using more hydrating products is always a good idea!
The trick with looking tanned in the winter is not to overdo it, or it just looks fake. And unless you’re featuring on Love Island, that’s a look you’ll want to avoid! What you should be after is just a little added colour to give you a healthy natural-looking glow.
To achieve this, ensure you’re using a big brush that will apply the bronzer evenly. I also recommend wearing primer because it helps makeup apply more evenly and stay on better.
To get the right colour in the winter, go one shade darker than your skin colour or you’ll risk looking orange. Also, choose a bronzer with a neutral base, again to avoid looking orange.
My Thoughts
These are a few of the best bronzers that will give you a healthy winter glow. There’s something for every budget, from luxury to drugstore bronzers.
All these bronzers give a subtle and buildable tint to the skin and that’s the key to a healthy winter glow!
UP NEXT: 15 Easy Winter Makeup Tips for Glowing Skin
Hollie xx
About Hollie
Hi, I’m Hollie, and I’m passionate about everything beauty. Over the last decade and a half, I’ve tested thousands of products to bring you the best of the best! I also love bringing you fun and creative beauty looks. Learn more.
Beauty profile – 35, dry, aging skin, focused on aging well with a healthy glow and natural makeup look ✨
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Great sharing! A good bronzer is important to contour our face to hide the flaws and bring out the best of our facial features. I personally love Laura Mercier’s Matte Radiance Baked Powder as it is a subtle everyday highlighter which gives the skin a perfect finish. Overall, an informative post and I look forward to more of your beauty sharing! Thanks.
Thanks for stopping by and I’m glad you enjoyed!
My wife was just complaining to me about the way her bronzer makes her skin look in the winter. Of course, I had no idea that there was a difference between winter and summer bronzing makeup… I’m pretty sure my wife doesn’t know either. She will be ecstatic when she finds out.
I know her skin get more dry in the winter. Does this have anything to do with the different types of bronzer? She’ll definitely be interested in winter specific bronzers. Do they also have moisturizing capabilities?
If your wife doesn’t use any fake tanning products in the winter then her skin will be a shade or two lighter than in the summer. Because of that many people use a lighter bronzer in the winter.
With her skin getting drier in the winter, well, that happens to everyone and it’s highly unlikely that the bronzer causes this. She should moisturise twice daily and she will see softer, more hydrated skin.
Nice review Hollie, I read your article on wearing primer and I enjoyed the inside that you provided. The product that I would love to buy among these bronzers is Benefit Hoola Bronzer, I believe that it cost-benefit ratio is better. Imagine how good it will look if it complimented by primer.Adding product prices to reviews makes it easier for people to make a decision on the right one, no everyone does this.