It turned out I had quite a few options... I have bronzes in warm tones, cool tones, with some gold shift and silver shift...bronzes all over the place! I've probably been wearing bronze eye shadow the longest of any other shade. Back in the day when I got my first makeover from Clinique they gave me an eyeshadow duo with a bronze color in it AND a bronze lipstick (mistakes were made, I've learned and moved on from this). So apparently bronze is just one of those great universally flattering colors of eyeshadows. Pretty much any eye color can wear them and they look great on most skin tones. For today's purposes we're just talking about eyes- I have some bronze bronzers (go figure) but it's the eyes where I use bronze the most.
Let's start with creams. So as I mentioned in my previous post I like to use two of these products as eye bases to place a powder shadow over. It's easy and makes the products last a long time. I'm a little more than half way through the Maybelline Bad to the Bronze. This one is my favorite and I'll be sad when it's gone, I'll probably repurchase it because it's a really excellent base, lasts all day and doesn't crease. The other pot is my ELF Cruisin' Chic Smudge Pot half the price of the Maybelline and works just as well honestly. But it has a stronger smell and you have to use a lot of it to build up the opacity. Then I have a jumbo eye pencil from ELF that I totally forgot about! This is in Turkish Coffee and smells so strongly of crayons that I don't use it...I may give it a try but it's not my favorite.
I have several Bronze eyeliners (not pictured in the swatches) that are just okay. I'm not really a huge fan of anyone. I talked about Tarte's Sunstone Bronze in the last post as well and while I hate that it's so soft it gets the job done. I have another Tarte Bronze liner that's just their regular line that is a little more firm but doesn't have the lasting power. I also have a Rimmel Scandaleyez in Brown but it's a shimmery bronzey brown. This one is also too soft for me so I haven't used it in months, if I can remember to sharpen it and let it sit overnight without a cap it's usually fine, but it's way too soft for practical everyday use.
Now I have a few single bronze shadows as well. As mentioned before the Max Factor doesn't have an actual name but it's a very decent shadow. I've tried to use it without one of my cream bases and it just does not pack enough punch on it's own. But layered it's gorgeous. Then I have the L'Oreal Infallible in Bronzed Taupe now this is n interesting one. If I layer it over my Bad to the Bronze it looks very grey and cool toned. It's got almost a silver cast to it, but on it's own it's much more of a typical bronze color. I have a love hate with this thing. It's a pressed pigment so it's got the pay off you want in a shadow but it's very delicate and fragile and can have lots of fallout if you're not careful. I know a lot of people will apply this with their fingers but I'm really more a brush kinda girl and so I don't reach for this one a lot. Then my last single shadow but certainly not leave is my Victoria's Secret Very Sexy Single in Between the Sheets. If you can't tell by the fact that I've hit serious pan on this bad boy, I loved this color. I used to wear this all the time! It's been discontinued and it makes me want to cry. It's the second to last swatch on the right above and it's just the most gorgeous bronze ever. I'm going to leave this bad boy out and finish it up because I forgot how much I loved it. It's a bit of a warmer tone than the other two so we'll have to see how it does, it's also fairly old so it may need a base. We'll see but I'm glad I found it again because I love this one.
Lastly I have a bunch of palettes that have a bronze shade here and there in them. To be honest I haven't been reaching for any of these over the summer because I've been using my creams and singles but it's good to know that there are lots of bronze shadows out there in palettes if I every use up my singles. I doubt I'll ever use up that Max Factor single because there is just a ton of product in that thing.
I'll start with the trios first. I have the Wet 'n Wild trio in Walking on Eggshells and the middle crease color is a really pretty neutral bronze. It's pretty light and comes off warmer on me that some of the others. It's got great color pay of for a $2.99 eyeshadow trio and it's always on sale for less. I got mine for $1.99 so talk about bang for your buck. The other two colors are just as nice. The Clinique trio I can't find online, I got it from my sister and the packaging looks like it might have been in a free gift set, but the middle color Buttered Bronze is another delightful warm bronze. The Tarte 8 Shadow palette was in a Holiday Gift set from QVC called Sweet Indulgences it was a limited release but you can see what all came with it online. The bronze in this kit does not have a name but it's the darkest bronze I have and is much more of a cool tone than some of the others. Then I have two Too Faced Palettes. I love Too Faced and the Too Face palette that I've panned two shadows from was actually my first high end makeup purchase post-college. The Too Faced Natural Eyes is a gorgeous neutral palette and has a couple of bronzey shades in it. Push Up and Erotica are my favorites and they're pretty pretty shimmery too. These are a little too shimmery for me now but for specially occasions I could probably still pull them off. This palette has been repackaged and some of the colors have changed but those two are still in the new one. Then last but not least my Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette I love this thing. Hazelnut and Haute Chocolate are two very different bronze colors but bronzey none the less. Hazelnut is lighter and warmer and Haute Chocolate is very dark. I usually use these two together and it's gorgeous. They're not as shimmery as the Natural Eyes shadows but they're still reflective in a subtle way.
So yah I have a lot of bronze shadow options. I just find it such an easy color to work with. It's very neutral but can go warm or cool depending and it's easy to find. I have a good array of high end and drugstore options in every form and that's fun. I think for the summer bronze is perfect and works for both day and night. You can get a dusty smokey eye with bronze or keep it light and natural. Bronze is the perfect multitasking shadow.
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